summer, self harm, long sleeves
 

ok so summer is here, hot weather and all. if you wear long sleves and its hot, you get wiard looks, and often people ask "are you not hot"...even if you are you say no but.....
what happens when its so hot your wearing long sleeves and your sweating and look like your goin to pass out... what do you do then,
obviously wearing light tops would be best, but what if you dont have the money to splash out on that stuff... and you only have hoodies??
what do you say to the comments???
please help

This stuff http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...er/0540924.htm is relly good for scars.

I say it's not their bussiness (if it's a stranger) and to friends I say I don't want to talk about it or that I don't want to dig out the past.

Well, you're going to get strange looks either way. So I would just say to heck with it and wear short sleeves. But of course you will probably find it awkward and a little scary at first. When I started wearing short sleeves I began by covering the scars on my wrist that made me most uncomfortable by wearing bracelets, and I wore a long sleeve shirt at first so I could roll down the sleeves if I needed to. It's much better to risk the stares than to risk getting heatstroke. Honestly though, most people never notice.
It's best to be as honest as possible when explaining it to people but that doesn't mean you should spill your guts to busy bodies. I normally just say that I was ill for a time or that I don't wish to talk about it, and than people drop the subject.

If your scars are on your upper arms can you try wearing 3/4 sleeves? I wear them a lot and no one notices anything. Bracelets are a good idea as well. Can you wear an ace bandage or something? If anyone asks you fell out of a tree, down the stairs, up the stairs (oh wait...that would be me) etc and you sprained your wrist/arm/elbow/shoulder.

Quite personally - I never wear long sleeves and if I'm at home - rarely wear tops. I dont care who sees my scars/cuts because its not of their damn business.

But if it does bother you - you can wear things like fishnet arm sleeves, light arm warmers, etc. And they cover um pretty well depending on how light the scar is. You can actually design your own really light weight arm warmers out of panty hose :3 You can make a few - at least 2 - from one panty hose and if get the really cute/girly ones theyre stylish <33

Also - if you get the fishnet ones - you can go for a more goth look. Though - if your scars are deeperish ... Or wider, they might be noticeable with fishnet =/

over the past few years i really srugeled with this

this year as oit has goten walmer,...whn i am not going work i have kinda said to myself

well **** the...im not going to bother with thier stupid judgements, it is something that i am not proud of, but has made me who i am today, and effected me a lot

i have decided not to care what they think

If you live in the UK, then theres a really cheap shop called primark you could buy a few long sleeved light stuff from there.
Otherwise if you dont want to cover up then dont, just be prepared for some questions but remember its up to you if you want to tell anyone, you could just say its a long story or you dont want to talk about it.
You could also get some cream to fade scars but i think those are quite expensive, maybe if you saw your doctor you could get it on prescription?
xxx

to be honest in my experiance very few people think "self harm" when they see the scars... we only think they will as we know we'd think that, but that's only because we are part of the "self harm world" (as it were).

I consistently wear very thin long sleeves and since I do that day in, day out with a layered top on the top most people just think it's my style. Also try to crochet or knit some armwarmers, or buy them from a store like Hot Topic. :)
Stay safe!

I think it really depends on location/severity and whether they're healed or not.

Most people wouldn't automatically assume self-harm, but I know it's really hard for me to try and cover them up without long sleeve shirts, but if I leave them in the open, it's kind of obvious what they're from =/

I don't give a **** what other people think


(I don't have many scars though....)

It depends on where they're at really... All mine are upper wrist so I can wear short sleeved stuff all I want as long as I hv bracelets on.. Try that... Or make up.. That's what I do when I can't wear bracelets.. I guess depending on where they're at, make ups gonna be ur best bet though..

Oh em geee! This was what I was going to say! Bought a thin jumper for like £3 the other day. Layer stuff up and make it look fashionable ;) If you wear hoodies then try maybe wear shorts too? It won't look so covered up and suspicious. There are plenty tattoo and scar camouflage make up kits you can buy from any big store like debenhams :)!

*THIS MAY BE TRIGGERING*
hey guys, thanks for all the support.
my arms are totally scarred, from burns and cuts, words burned on my arm stuff like that. so bracelets arnt really an option, i would where short sleeves but i dont want to be seen as attention seeking.
i used to where short sleves but the looks i got from staff and kids where i live were unbareble, now if i come down in short sleves i feel awfull. someone mentioned cover up makeup i was wondering if that would work on arms that have flesg "gouged" out???
hope to here from you guys soon

I don't know about all makeup but I've tried regular concealor and it doesn't work very well for me if the scars are big, indented or purpley. If they're indented it sometimes makes it worse- that could be because I used a really, really cheap, cheesy brand though. :/ You can try it when you're alone to see how it works and then just take it off and put on long sleeves before you leave if it doesn't work. I hope you find something. I know someone who has these really long gloves with the fingers cut off from hot topic. She doesn't SI and isn't covering anything with them but they look like they would cover stuff up well, hers are red, and they're this fish net kind of material with ribbons and stuff. She wears them with regular clothes all the time- maybe something like that would help. I think they're from hot topic. They also look really light so they wouldn't be too heavy to wear in the summer. I hope you find something, I wish I could help more. :/

the proper camoglaue make-up you can buy works fairly well, some of it is aimed at tattos so if they can cover them they can cover scars. However, if you're skin has becme sort of uneven with lumps and depts it won't cover them, it just makes them the same colour as the rest of your skin so less noticable...

Last year I had to wear a cocktail dress to an event, which showed off a huge scar I have on my leg which is raised to an inch (you can see it through trousers :ermm: ) in the past poeple have noticed it as it's red (and changes to purple in the cold lol) but with the make-up over it noone noticed. In fact less people noticed during that evening than do when I ewear trousers and jeans and they see a big long lump poaking up through them :ermm: . so it's fairly effective. THen again I've found in the past that if you wear a colourful braclet and have your arms out then people don't notice the scars as their attention is drawn to te braclet and away from them.


I have a book somewhere on the scence and psychology of attention which has a whole chapter of "hiding in plain sight" will see if I can find it later as it has loads of little tricks like that in it

:sad: Your arms sound like mine. I can totally relate to being asked if you're hot all the time! As 'DontLookUp' said you can buy long sleeved, think tops really cheaply - you would only need to buy a couple & alternate/wash them. Plus you can keep them for next summer so it's an investment worth making.

Can you wear shorts? Or thin, lightweight trousers & sandles/flip flops - that will keep you cooler as well

This is really random and might not really fit in with the .. information you want type thing but as far as like not caring what people think, and i know it can be scary i like cover up then go for a walk somewere were not alot of people are and take my jacket of etc so i get used to my arms been out in the open .

I know not alot of people can do this the way i do it as i have my horse so i take her out for a long hack and when were out far from the yard thats when i take my jacket off. So it kinda works.

sorry thats quite lame advice.