I hate make up and experimented with it when I was in junior high school.
Decided that I hate it so much that I refuse to do that any more. Ever.

I have never colored or permed my hair.
Keep it at waist length. Sometimes loose, sometimes in a bun but mostly in one braid down the back.

Grew up with being allowed only one whole bath & shampoo a week.
With nightly washing up at the sink before bed.

I will wear the same clothes the next day if I didn't do anything in them to get them dirty.

Here is a little secret about me.
Everything I learned about home making and personal hygeine I learned from my Grandmother who learned from her Mother.
My Grandmother grew up in the woods, far away from civilization. No electricity or indoor plumbing. No car, only horses. We are Ojibwe. :)

Her stories were much better than Laura Ingles Wilders stories. :D

She taught me how to live with what we have at hand and to keep close to the earth.
Keeping my self clean was taking care of my health. Skin needs to be washed regularly to keep it healthy.
Clothes and linens touch our skin so they need to be kept clean too.

All those fancy expensive grooming and cleaning products are not necessary.
We can do a great job with just the basics.

Doing the basics keep us healthy. Prevents infections and other issues.
Before antibiotics came about simple infections killed many people.

Now days we have super bugs that antibiotics can't cure.
Our skin is a shield against bacteria and the healthier it is the healthier we can be.

thanks MayMay and Dianne, helpful reading how and why you do and don't do basic self care. When I was 23, I showered daily, lipstick and mascara daily. Now that people don't see me daily, I have let it slide, and there is comfort in wearing clothes I slept in, yikes, that sounds gross. Yes it is true, I will wear the same clothes to sleeep in and get up and wear them up to 4 days. Hey, that explains why I dont' want to, try on pants, would have to change my routine of leaving the same clothes on for days. Writing this, I see the insanity of having more than 50 pairs of pants, when I wear so few. Thanks everyone

I love taking showers and baths. :)

I take a shower 2 times a day; and every Friday I always take a nice long bath. :)

I've never really been into wearing perfume. But I do love body lotions. My favorite store is actually "Bath & Body Works". I've also never really liked wearing a lot of make-up either. For some reason every time I put on a lot of make-up, all I want to do is immediately take it off. Plus people always tell me that I look younger without make-up. Like sometimes when people who aren't "regulars" come into the bar that I work at, they'll ask me if I'm even old enough to work there; because I look so young without make-up. I'm 23. But sometimes when I'm not wearing make-up, I'll be mistaken for a 17 year old or an 18 year old.

Lets start working on the basics.

Hoarding, illnesses and depression all cause us to neglect the basics.

Getting into a routine takes paying daily attention to doing the basics. Soon they will become good habits that we do routinely without having to think much about it or force ourselves to do.

In the morning we should always brush our teeth.
This freshens our mouths and allows us to smile freely without worry.

Brushing our hair is something to do for ourselves because it improves our self esteem.

After I am finished drinking my morning tea I brush my teeth.

Every morning I get my hair brush and start brushing my hair.
But when my little girl cat sees me with my brush she cries and cries until I put down my brush and pick up her brush and brush her first.
Then I can get back to brushing and braiding my hair. :)

does that mean I should brush my hair daily? Ok, usually brush it but never take time to style it anymore. Have a cowlick in back so have bedhead that looks like I did some spins on the back of my head before getting up. I often go days without shower and stopped doing daily face washing even, except when I am going to be seen by others. Wow, I didn't realize how badly I treat myself, yikes. Helped reading about not brushing teeth for a week. I used to brush am and pm. Now just pm, and have to talk my self into that, reading the weekly, made me realize I will be there too if I don't start the am pm and part of my self care. I will start by brushing teeth twice a day and tackling back of my hair daily even if only my dog sees it. I could easily go on, but will stop here and go brush head and teeth. Thanks so much for starting this, I really didn't know this was part of letting things go as get deeper into hoarding.

From reading around I see that everyone has decide to take the first steps. :)

Make those appointments with your doctors.
Get those new glasses.

This is a great start and we can use this thread to discuss other ways we should be taking care of ourselves.

Even things like manicures, pedicures, hair care and other pampering are important to our over all wellbeing. :D