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Autistic self care

B

I've thought about this for a while but having done a search, I see that the subject is even more complex than I first thought:

Here is a link on the subject to Autism Central, an NHS site:

https://www.autismcentral.nhs.uk/guidance/personal-care

There is some useful information here too (a PDF document):

https://ausm.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Self-Care-Toolkit-for-Autistic-People.pdf

I think I've neglected most of the areas mentioned but one thing that particularly strikes me as a woman is not paying for services eg. some people pay to have hair removed, nails painted, go to beauticians, saunas etc.

I have never done this and it's as much as I can do quite often to cut my nails.

One of the reasons for me has been exhaustion from being overwhelmed by life.

I think there must be lots of reasons behind this but they all come down to the same thing: self neglect.

Do you feel that you neglect yourself or do you feel that your self care is good - physical, mental, spiritual etc etc?

Parents

  • I get impatient with the need for self-care. I know it's not a waste of time but I find it intensely boring. When i do have to pay for services, such as a haircut, I have to put up with the sensory intrusion of a salon, plus the social chatter of a hairdresser. I know that level of social interaction is one of the things that makes a hairdresser successful in their trade, but it's exhausting when one isn't NT. 

    One of the problems for me is lifting the mental worry of organising the house and garden. I hired a cleaning company for the house in order to minimise that relationship chat stuff (just like hairdressers!) but the company have dumped me recently because I go away so frequently to spend time with my closest friend. I guess they just want weekly contracts that don't get interrupted and I do understand their scheduling problems, but it's just another self-care problem, back in my lap. 

  • in reply to Alexa
    Alexa said:
    I have to put up with the sensory intrusion of a salon, plus the social chatter of a hairdresser. I know that level of social interaction is one of the things that makes a hairdresser successful in their trade, but it's exhausting when one isn't NT. 

    Lol this is exactly why my hair is so long right now. I have the time. I have the money. I just don’t have the spoons to survive having someone touching my hair and making small talk lol.

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  • in reply to Alexa
    Alexa said:
    I have to put up with the sensory intrusion of a salon, plus the social chatter of a hairdresser. I know that level of social interaction is one of the things that makes a hairdresser successful in their trade, but it's exhausting when one isn't NT. 

    Lol this is exactly why my hair is so long right now. I have the time. I have the money. I just don’t have the spoons to survive having someone touching my hair and making small talk lol.

Children
  • in reply to Marianne72

    I would never trust a robot to cut my hair! A good hairdresser is looking at and feeling things like where your hair is thicker in places, where your natural hairline is, any growth patterns that will affect how a cut looks on you. All hairdressers will have experienced clients with two hairs and a parting who want the "Rachel" cut, it just won't work on some people, Jennifer Aniston has very thick hair which may have extensions in too, I don't know, most people don't have that much hair. How would a robot cope with someone who's not very articulate? Some people just come in an ask for their hair to be cut and you're left asking questions to try and get some sense of what they want, do they want an inch off the ends, or 6 inches off and a total restyle?

    Then you got chemical treatments, these need not just manual dexterity, but knowlege of how a particular hair type will cope or not with the clients wishes, nobody wants their highlights washing down the sink because the hair was in to poor a condition to take the chemicals. Also perms are often a matter of eye as timings, I could see a robot knowing all the times processes are supposed to take but without the knowlege of when to leave something to process for longer. How would a robot know what strength of perm lotion to se, or how to chose the colours for a 3 colour woven highlights?

    I wouldn't want to robot massuer either, what if it did it to hard and you couldn't make it stop!

  • in reply to profdanger

    One area where a robot might be useful!