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Embarrassing question reguarding personal hygiene

maryschupbach
maryschupbach
Hi, im new to this site. Im here cause im hoping I can ask certain questions & talk about certain topics without embarrassment or judgment. This specific question is about personal hygiene. When I was younger, before I became a heroin addict, I had great personal hygiene.. showered & brushed my teeth daily. But after 8 years of a severe heroin addiction & couch hopping & being homeless, I found that during those years I stopped taking care of myself.. stopped showering as much & pretty much never brushed my teeth. I know this is pretty common among heroin addicts, but my problem is that I cant seem to get back into those good habits again even after being off heroin for 5 years now!! I still struggle to get back to my old self & my old living habits even after years of being clean from heroin. Does anyone else have this problem? Im of coarse better than I was when I was on heroin... but I still can go weeks without brushing my teeth and shower about once a week! You wouldn't know it if you saw me tho, I still clean up good & look perfectly presentable.. but I know that I struggle with these things still & it makes me feel guilty and gross and depressed. I don't know why, but its actually hard for me to get myself to do these things again after so many years of living like a bum. Im hoping someone here can relate.. I hope im not the only recovered junkie struggling with this issue. And if anyone has any suggestions of coarse id love to hear those too. Thank you..
dontstop
dontstop
I wonder if setting an alarm and look at it like a routine chore. Try not to think about your past habit of not grooming and just force yourself to do it. If you do it first thing in the morning and get it out of the way, you won't have to worry about it for the rest of the day. Let me know if it helps.
bememymine
bememymine
i kind of struggle with this, too.
for the most part, i am 100% opposite of my grungy heroin days and have been known to shower 5 times a day just to not be like that.
however, when i am stressed, overwhelmed, depressed - anytime anything is off-kilter emotionally, hygiene is the first thing to suffer.
i'll shower once a week (if i'm lucky), and go days without brushing my teeth.
i still look decent, but...eh...i feel gross.
i try so many things to combat this.
most successful has been buying really awesome bath products.
like stuff that smells amazing and feels great on your skin.
if i know i have some shiny, new, amazine-smelling soap or something waiting in the shower for me - i am more inclined to shower.
also, my bf is stellar at telling me, "dude, you stink. take a shower."
or "man...put on some deodorant."
it used to piss me off, now i realize he's doing me a huge favor.
Goodvibes
Goodvibes
I suffer with the same thing and i always thought it was just me, I haven't been clean as long as you three, unfortunately, but it's been almost two years now and just like bememymine said, it's like as soon as my anxiety, depression, bad thoughts, stress, and/or overwhelming thoughts start to get bad then I just lose myself in all that and hygiene is/has always been the first thing to go out the window...and I get so in my head and then I just feel so embarrassed that I don't go out at all and then when I really have to then about 89% of the time I can force myself to take a shower and get clean and put real clothes on but sometimes that 11% is when everything feels just terrible and I feel so dumb and worthless that I just cancel anything I was going to do and wallow in self hatred and embarrassment and I don't know how to fix this... I've never even told anyone about this but I'm trying to give this website a chance and I saw this post and decided to just say whatever comes out but I still just feel so embarrassed by even saying it... if anyone has any advice for me I would greatly appreciate it. And I hope you both are doing better and are happy
GamblingIsLethal
GamblingIsLethal
Hello everyone :-D First off I want to say there is nothing to be ashamed about here... When people are depressed or have nothing in particular to show off for they slack in the hygiene department. I know that when I was doing opiates heavily I would go DAYS without showering and it got pretty gross... I was always ashamed of it too, but the drug addiction and laziness/depression got in the way. Something about being constantly high just satiated all of my internal natural drives and desires- even basic ones like hygiene and eating. Even now when I have a day off I NEVER shower, but I normally work 5-6 days a week and shower before work each day. Sometimes if I have two days in a row that means I wont shower for two days... I cringe at thinking how I could go 4 or even 5 days without a shower in the past, but its definitely happened.
Part of the problem is the depression I think- which I still suffer from daily. Another part is a-motivational syndrome mostly from smoking marijuana. I still don't have great eating habits and will often times eat only one meal a day.
My advice is to find something where you HAVE to shower every day, like a serving job, or working out at the gym, etc. I have to shower every single day in order to be presentable to my tables, otherwise my income will suffer.