As many people with mental illness will understand; personal hygiene can be a touchy subject. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it is a taboo subject for many. The reason for this is quite clear. Personal hygiene is considered to be something that people just do regularly. We primp and preen ourselves to maintain an outward appearance of having our shit together. We like to smell good, we like to look good and we want our appearance to be appreciated by others. (Please don’t kid yourself by thinking you aren’t affected by the opinions of others. Of course, at times of peak confidence we may not care, but if we aren’t feeling cute or handsome, it tends to make us self-conscious).

For those of us that are mentally unwell personal hygiene is sometimes difficult to maintain. To a neurotypical person, this doesn’t make a whole…