Dear Prudence,
I have a kind of an embarrassing, low-stakes question. I’ve been sick for about a week, with a virus affecting my entire body, especially my nose, mouth, eyes, and skin. I’m hoping that next week I’ll be able to go back to school and start living my life. The thing is, I’m self-conscious about how I look. The skin on my face is flaky and dry, my eyes are bloodshot, and my lips are chapped to hell. I also have a hair-pulling disorder that got a little worse as I laid in bed and around the house for days on end.
I’m embarrassed to go back to school like this, and I don’t have a supportive relationship with my mom to ask for hygiene advice. I already feel like crap, and now every time I look in the mirror I see a haggard, picked-at face. How do I pull myself together after a week in the dumps?
— Pulled Out of the Gutter