#and also cause i have terrible acne

[griddleharkbrainrot]

More Gideon art needs to include her terrible acne, she canonically has an allergic reaction to the grease paint and giant pimples because of it

I want to see the buff lady have acne scars and zits

[mysunshinetemptress]

As long as you need

Leah Williamson x reader

Warnings: talks of periods, blood, endometriosis, just fluff, sorry it’s short. Got my period today and have been dying and so this was born

Periods where a natural occurrence for women globally, with each woman experiencing different things throughout their cycles, some suffered from hormone imbalances which caused them to gain acne or moody, some girls bloated during their cycle, some girls felt depressed, some got cramps and some girls had no symptoms but some girls also got all symptoms together or suffered really really bad cramps.

Leah suffered with cramps, not an uncommon symptom of periods but she suffered with them terribly even long before you both had met, she had opened up to you about them two months into your relationship talking to you about how one cycle she could be fine the next slight cramping but when she had a flare up boy did she crumble with pain and discomfort, you had thanked her for trusting you enough with this information before telling her you would be there for her no matter what and you had been there for whenever she needed. You had also been there in the doctors office holding her hand when they finally told her she had endometriosis, when the doctors had finally listened to her and told her that what she was going through wasn’t just her being dramatic like she so feared. You had sat reminding her how strong she was and how you would be there to support her through it all any flare up that came her way.

And today was a a bad flare up today was your four year anniversary and you had been excitingly planning a trip to a local castle to stay for a few nights basking in each other’s presence for a few nights before heading home to The Williamson’s weekly dinner. You had woken up in your excitement texting Leah happily wishing her a happy anniversary and that you would see her just before lunch when you planned to pick her up and drive to the castle. Getting ready for the day you waltzed around your apartment busting yourself with packing the last of the things you needed.

You checked your phone frowning when you noticed Leah had never texted you back earlier before deciding to call her to tell her you were on your way to get her. You began to worry as the phone kept ringing before panic began to seep in when it went to voicemail. You hung up the phone grabbing your things racing to the car to get to Leah’s unsure of what you where about to witness but the overwhelming feeling of wanting to make sure your girlfriend was ok pushed all the bad thoughts to the side.

You jumped out of the car before racing to her door and knocking not wanting to just barge in but after five minutes you pulled the key from your pocket and opened the door shouting into the house “Leah.” You didn’t hear anything as you placed the keys on the counter and began looking for her “Darling you here.” As you made your way down the hall you heard a hum coming from the en-suite in her bedroom “my lovely you ok.” You tried the door to find it locked “Le open the door.” You didn’t hear anything but the lock click bride opening the door to see Leah sitting on the bathroom floor spots of blood covered her pyjama bottoms and the floor before looking at your offaly pale girlfriend who was looking at you her eyes brimming with tears “hey pretty girl it’s ok.” Leah shook her head “I’m so sorry Y/n.” You shook your head as you looked around the bathroom “you have nothing to be sorry for my girl.” You crouched down grabbing her face “what do you need.” Leah looked at you as a tear raced down her cheek “you.” You smiled sadly at her “you have me, I’m here, I’m not going anywhere but do you need anything else.” Leah shook her head as you sat on the ground “I’m so sorry, I thought it was tomorrow and I didn’t think it was going to be bad but I just I woke up and it wouldn’t stop.” You pulled her into your chest “you don’t have to explain anything to me it’s ok, I don’t mind sitting here with you ok don’t be sorry you’re ok.” You continued to talk soothingly to the girl for hours often breaking when she had to puke from the pain but yet she still wouldn’t let you leave. An hour after the last wave you of sickness you could tell Leah was getting sleepy “let’s move you to the bed humm.” Leah didn’t put up a fight as you stood slowly pulling her up before placing her on the edge of the bath before leaving to get new PJs “you want to have a shower now or later.” Leah shook her head “shower later please.” You nodded kissing her head before asking for permission to lift her top “ok arms up.” You kissed her neck softly as you undressed her before pulling her into clean pjs and picking her up to head to the bed constantly reassuring her, Leah whined as you moved away “I’m just going to clean the bathroom and throw your pjs in the wash ok, I’ll be back.” Kissing her forehead again you began cleaning up before getting a hot water bottle and tablets for her and heading back into her room before climbing into the bed not caring about changing out of your leggings and jumper. Leah moved to lie on top of you resting her head in your neck kissing it softly “I love you.” You hummed playing with her hair “ I know, I love you too.” Leah snuggled closer “thank you for looking after me.” You sighed turning to kiss her forehead “I’ll happily look after you for the rest of forever.” You pulled her impossibly closer before closing your eyes smiling softly as Leah kissed you neck once more.

[kamjkaze]

Some Andre HCs cause I feel like I understand my baby the most.. TW: eating disorders

I think Andre struggles with anorexia as a means of having control over his life. If pried about it you’ll learn he genuinely does not believe he has disordered eating. He will fast for days on end to simply feel like he has a grip on his own reality.

I think his brain still thinks I’m german and when he’s only around his family for awhile he fumbles a little when translating his thoughts into English. Cal, naturally makes fun of him for this.

When he’s very sleepy and keeping himself awake his brain defaults to German and Cal usually just goes along with whatever Andre is saying.

Cal and Andre are super different in how they go to sleep. Andre can force himself to be awake for hours even if he’s barely lucid. But Cal, once he’s out, he’s out.

Andre is a mega computer nerd and begged his parents for that little computer for a full calendar year before he received it. He loves to tinker with it and I think once when he was younger his tinkering went too far and he broke something inside it. His dad got suuupppeer pissed and threatened to throw the whole thing out if Andre was so comfortable with breaking the things he bought him. , thankfully Andre fixed it with a bit of reading and stressing

Andre is a terrible skin picker. He has acne as it is but he will poke and prod and squeeze and scratch at all the little bumps on his face. The fact he has dirty man hands all up in his open ass acne is not doing the problem any favors

Andre still struggles with his own religious identity and never fully dropped the idea of Judaism from his mind, even on zero day.

I think he actually enjoys working with his dad, I think he’s a daddy’s boy as it is but being able to be out of the house and actually social with his father most nights is really good for him. Many of his doubts for zero day occurred while he was at work with his father.

I think Andre is very sensitive to weed and cannot handle himself very well with getting high because the Goldilocks zone of “this ain’t shit” to “throwing up and greening out” is so small for Andre. As opposed to Cal who hasn’t taken a tolerance break in the four years he’s been smoking.

This is the opposite for drinking. Andre can smash as much alcohol as he wants in a night whereas Cal is a total lightweight who can’t handle his vodka

Andre sleeps completely naked no matter the season. Andre is also naked most of the time in his bedroom or when left alone in the house. It’s a small quirk about him that he doesn’t really know where it came from. “I guess I was just meant to be a nudist. I mean, it’s how we’re all born”

Andre is not the type to admit his jealousy but it is one of the few things he’s able to laugh about just because I think he understands that he is a very jealous person and has more or less come to terms with it (unless of course pushed too hard about it, Andre would get mad about anything if pushed too hard about it)

When andre was a small boy his favorite book was The Runaway Bunny

Andre Kriegman is my life and joy PLLEAASSEEE share your Andre Hcs with me I beg of you

[vladdyissues]

I like the idea of "halfa's ghost form changes with their personality". First of all, it looks the age halfa feels himself/herself (so, yes, I doubt that Phantom is forever 14). I guess, Danny will get a full knight armor and, maybe, some stuff like a cape.

As for Vlad, I have more headcanons (but I should warn you, I see his hair as long and loose which is better for bitter broken lonely soul). The first change should has happened after "Masters of All Time": Vlad was at full force all the time to heal yourself, preventing ecto-acne symptoms, but since he is cured, his ghost form is in normal state, Plasmius' eyes aren't the whole red anymore, it's human-alike but still red, maybe, there're some pink inclusions.

At the start of Vlad's redemption arc he must develop his creative skill (ecto-constructions, weapons that works on his pink ectoplasm), trying new forms. Slowly but surely he will approach to his dream - to raise a child - he will learn how to create a life. It will take decades or even centuries but soon he will learn to make something beautiful and durable. Something like this will add to the ghost form, something like a… pink rose's tucked behind the ear.

And the last change in Plasmius' look I see is breezy hairstyle which is formed after the mutual love confession of Vlad and Danny.

I'm sorry if these hcs sound too corny for Vlad but after all I see the bitter broken lonely man who develops by love and the young halfa into the beautiful burning soul but still bitter-sweet because he can't forget what he comes through. (I love him)

No no no, these headcanons are great! Beautiful, actually. (I firmly believe there's no such thing as a "corny" headcanon. That's like saying only certain hopes and dreams have value while others are worthless—and what are headcanons but our hopes and dreams for stories and the characters within them?)

Evolving ghost forms, especially for halfas—who, unlike spectral entities, are still changing and aging—makes a lot of sense. And the idea of Vlad having long, flowing biseinen hair is very appealing 🌹

You also brought up a fantastic point about Vlad's ecto-acne being cured in Masters of All Time and how that would affect him going forward. I have a pile of headcanons about that myself but I'll make a separate post about it since it's more general meta.

But yes, imagine if Vlad was allowed to be more than a 2-dimensional cartoon villain, and curing his ecto-acne removed a terrible, irritating thorn from his side. When one is no longer suffering or in chronic pain—or living in fear of the next flare-up—imagine the difference that would make mentally and emotionally.

How could Vlad possibly be unchanged after that? The Fentons cured him. (Okay, it was more Danny discovering the cause and Maddie developing the vaccine, but still, it was their combined efforts that ultimately saved him.) If there was going to be a turning point for Vlad's character, that would have been the place to start, just like you said.

And hey, we can still dream that's what really happened, right? 🔮

[vera-yaps]

Something that makes ZD so realistic

Is how fuckin CRINGY they are,

like i’ve talked with my moots about this but i’m sleep deprived, off my antidepressants, and need to go to my 9-5 job at the laundromat in like less than an hr so let me have my slivers of serotonin

But like it came from me rewatching zd and realizing how much…secondhand embarrassment i got from some of cal’s tapes

like dont gmw. theyre chilling as all hell. i dont think i’m feeling anything not supposed to be feeling here. but like…They really are just edgy teenagers, like “just sticks in the mud🤓☝️” thats some shit an edgy 17 year old would say to make himself look big and bad when he really justheard that on the last action movie he heard. like stfu nerd and go do ur algebra homework, its due tomorrow

Forget the final scene for a second here. Forget the fact that they were planning to do something horrible.

Cal was probably so embarrassed that he was 17 and still needing to get braces off

he probably for years begged his mom and orthodontist to get them off early, the reality was they aere just too crooked for them to do anything yet, much to cal’s dismay

of course, as may 1st approached he gave less and less of a fuck. i mean, his teeth were gonna be blown through his cranium. what does it matter if they had wires on them or not.

andre probably hated his voice cracks. theyre not terribly noticable bc hes pretty grown into himself at 17/18, but he still has that happen on top of that damn acne problem. chris dealt with acne all through middle and high school. he joked college seemed to have cleared his skin magically. must be genetic, andre thought.

they tease each other, as teenage boys (also heavily repressed) often do. when theyre not fantasizing about putting buckshots in their peers, they play mortal kombat and curse at each other for beating him, cal is surprisingly alot more quick at his movements, whilst andre thinks his button mash combos through more. of course MK doesnt seem to care much about that.

Cal’s gotten a few confessions here and there. he wasn’t bad looking. he knew that. andre’s felt some girls looking at him before, but he was alot less approachable than cal. the closest thing he got to an outright confession was a letter in the 1995-96 school year, Melanie something - or - other

cal teases him about it at the bonfire, andre eventually is able to seize the note and to not say her name

he’s able to respect the privacy of strangers, but he wants to put ends to human life.

Andre wants to respect two guys doing interpretive poetry when Cal was rudely interrupting them and insulting them but didnt hesitate in the slightest to put bullets into his peers.

Bullets do a fuckton of damage. like what you see in ZD is disturbing but (thankfully) coccio made the artistic choice to not make it very gory all things considered. but bullets do alot more than just insta kill people and make them fall.

they shatter bones, damage organs, cause severe bleeding, cause differences in limb length long after recovery, its genuinely carnage and disturbing

and they talked about crushes, girls, family, birthdays, poetry open mics as if they weren’t planning to inflict that damage and more.

whats more eerie is how they talk about it. like they talk so casually about it as if theyre talking about what theyre doing next weekend and not destroying lives.

the same awkward teenagers i described committed mass murder that we see unfold play-by-play. and thats a big part in why zero day is so fucking terrifying.

[yanderecrazysie]

I really love your writing especially the angsty one such as the most recent one. Related rant but I hated most movies where the FL(Female lead) would start as cliche “ugly girl” with glasses and Terrible fashion and in the middle of the movie she takes her glasses off and suddenly become the “pretty” girl and then have a whole scene where they do a make over to make her charm the whole school. It just felt superficial and very vain, like the FL was fine the way she was, glasses don’t make you ugly as if paired with right outfit, can make you look actually cute. After all glasses are there to help you see, the fl suddenly gets her vision fix when she has her make over? And its really rubs me the wrong way that you need to have a whole make over, with a pretty dress and everything just to get people to like you. And its also pretty disheartening to see that people won’t like you if you have acne, like it natural to have acne and you shouldn’t be shamed for it.

But unto the actual request itself: can I have yandere Oikawa (or atsumu miya) x reader with this related context in mind: The reader has a crush on oikawa and with the advice of a friend, she stops wearing her glasses and does a whole make up and hair routine just to catch Oikawa’s attention. It works and one thing leads to another and both reader and oikawa start dating. At first Reader is ecstatic to finally the man of her dreams but slowly she starts to become uncomfortable with the way she looks like she no longer recognize herself. The make up starts to feel itchy and unnatural to her skin and she starts bumps into thing due to her not wearing her glasses anymore. Despite reader being miserable she till persevere and try to keep up the facade of “Oilawa’s ideal girl” but as time goes on the need to please Oikawa and the stress of keeping up appearances finally gets to her and she just breaks up with him.

On Oikawa perspective (being an entitled prick) is obviously dismayed as he wanted to have the perfect facade of a power couple. He wanted to shape the reader into his ideal pretty girl. So both reader and him have a mutual break up since both of them are now dissatisfied with the current predicament. But as oikawa sees the reader old self, he starts to fall in love (or obsessed) he finds the reader’s glasses cute and he finds that the reader is even more adorable when she comfortable and happy. Like he finds the reader more attractive when she was being her typical self without the glitz and glam. Like even if the reader has acne and wears dorky glasses, Oikawa finds that strangely attractive.

-Sorry for the mini rant, I just recently watch a movie similar to this and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Like as person with both acne and glasses, I’ve been told by some people that I stop wearing glasses due to it not “suiting me” like I wasn’t wearing it for fun, I wear it cause I need to see. Its even worse when I had acne and my friends told me to hide it with make up only to find out that make up worsens the acne problem. Thanks for listening to me

I totally get what you mean- I always found glasses attractive on guys and adorable on girls (to the point that I tried to pretend I had reading issues as a child to get myself glasses), so it was always sad to see it portrayed as “Now that she’s taken them off, she’s pretty!” I think everyone looks nice in their natural way, no makeup needed, so makeovers have always rubbed me the wrong way a little too! I personally don’t wear any makeup at all, too much of a hassle.

Title: Change

Pairings: Oikawa Tooru x Reader

WARNINGS: Yandere themes

Summary: You don’t like your new look, but it’s gotten you so much attention. Do you really have to choose between your old look and your happiness?

Part 2: here

change

/verb/

make (someone or something) different; alter or modify:

You looked in the mirror, stunned by your reflection. Your glasses were gone, the contacts in your eyes being the only reason you could see that fact in the first place. But besides that, your hair had been swept back in a pretty bun with a braid on either side of your head and just a couple locks of hair fashionably left down. Your skin looked flawless, thanks to the makeup. You could thank the makeup too for the way your face looked so much more mature and alluring.

Your wardrobe had undergone a great change as well. Since your college didn’t have a uniform or strict dress code, you’d put on a short white dress with black stripes and a belt around the waist. A fake diamond necklace laid across your collarbone, perfectly matching the bracelet clasped around your wrist. Even your feet were squeezed into a pair of fashionable black slips.

You turned back to your friend in awe, “You’re a miracle worker!”

Your friend laughed, but it was nothing short of the truth. Before this, your hair was always left down, hanging over your glasses-adorned, lightly pimpled face. You never wore a dab of makeup and your clothes usually amounted to an oversized T-shirt, faded jeans, and ratty sneakers. You didn’t put any care into your appearance. Until now, that is.

“You’ll have to keep this up on your own, now that you know how,” your friend reminded you, wagging a warning finger at you, “But this will totally grab Oikawa’s attention! You’ll be his girlfriend by the end of the week!”

You were turning heads from the moment you walked through the school doors. How could you not? You were a gorgeous girl accentuated with the latest fashions and professionally done makeup. All you had to do was bat your long, fake eyelashes and guys would throw themselves at your feet.

Your friend was right. You’d caught Oikawa’s attention very quickly, and soon enough, he was blowing away the sudden competition by offering to carry your lunch tray and walk you home.

The attention flustered you and made you so happy, but a small part of you felt sad. He’d never noticed you before. But that was the point of this makeover, right? To get him to finally look your way? 

When Oikawa had asked you to meet him by the fountain in the courtyard, you knew exactly what he was going to ask you. You pretended to be surprised anyway, completely shocked and honored by the question.

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

From that moment on, you were the school’s power couple. Everyone regarded you with awe or jealousy. “Oikawa and (Y/n)” became synonymous with “popular” and all of his friends, the people you’d looked at with envy not long ago, welcomed you to their table and inner circles.

But as time went on, you felt yourself drifting away. Oikawa always talked about appearances and critiqued you whenever your hair or makeup wasn’t perfectly in place.

It felt fake.

Your makeup, your sense of style, your relationship, everything felt so unbearably fake.

Like you were no longer yourself.

Every time you looked in the mirror, your heart sank. You didn’t even recognize yourself anymore. Being perfect had somehow become something that you despised. 

But whenever you brought up wearing your glasses again or dressing down, Oikawa wouldn’t hear of it. “What would everyone think of that?” “You have to look your best.” “We’re a power couple, sweetheart, we don’t wear things like glasses, okay?”

The stress began to tug at you until you could take it no longer. One look in the mirror on a fateful Monday morning that already hadn’t been going well and you were done.

You had to be true to yourself, even if that meant no longer being “perfect” or popular. Even if it meant losing Oikawa, who didn’t even feel like a boyfriend. More like a costar on a filming set.

That was a good way to put it- your life had become a movie and you were just an actress putting on a show. Caked in makeup and forcing a smile.

Dear Oikawa,

I can’t do this anymore. I want to go back to the way things were before we started dating. I know we already talked about how that won’t work for you, so I understand that means we’re breaking up. I’m sorry, but I think this is best for me.

Love,

(Y/n)

It felt good to undo the bun and braids. It felt even better to slide your glasses up your nose and slip on a simple, comfy T-shirt. Nostalgic might be the best word for what you were feeling, but either way, you were more comfortable than you had been in months. Why had you ever given this up?

You looked in the mirror and smiled. You’d washed off all of the makeup, revealing more than a few blemishes, but you didn’t care. You liked the way you looked and you’d be damned if you went back to drawing on your face every morning.

It was strange walking into school that morning. It was like you’d become invisible. No longer did people turn their heads to look at you, nor did you walk alongside Oikawa. But it didn’t feel lonely. What was the point of having a boyfriend when it was just for appearances? You’d always felt like there were miles between you both- as though you couldn’t reach him even with your fingers intertwined.

Your first class was with Oikawa and you weren’t looking forward to it. He might be mad, after all, that his “power couple girlfriend” dumped him and went back to looking nerdy. You chose your old seat, one near the front of the class, instead of the back row where all the “cool people” sat.

When Oikawa entered the classroom, he stopped dead in his tracks, staring at you as though he couldn’t believe it. You couldn’t blame him- you looked completely different than he was used to. You were actually surprised he even noticed you.

He walked closer and you shrank into your seat a little, not looking forward to a confrontation. But to your shock, he slid into the seat next to you, dropping his backpack on the floor and pulling his stuff out of it, settling into the desk as though he’d always sat there.

“What are you doing?” You blurted out.

When Oikawa turned to you, he studied you with great interest, as though you were an art piece in a museum. There was a tinge of pink on his cheeks, something he’d never had when the two of you were dating.

“Aren’t you just the cutest thing?” Oikawa crooned, reaching a hand out to your face.

You jerked away, startled and confused. What was with this sudden change in behavior?

“You know, you never really officially broke up with me,” Oikawa shrugged, a creepy, possessive grin curling across his lips, “And even if you did…”

He turned to you, eyes dark with something you couldn’t place. Something that chilled you to the bone.

“I wouldn’t accept it.”

[totalfknloser]

Idk if it's I'm being asking way too early from the last request , but how about a list about Zack , Brodie , Dion and Giles green and red flags ? Like a top who has more ? ( ahem , it's way too obvious who but let's keep the mystery )

You're writing is awesome 🤟

LMAO THANK YOU SO MUCH THIS IS SO FUNNY LOL but tbh idk who has more red flags?? zakk is a meanie pants and i feel giles would be.. interesting.. dion would just be kind of nervous and brodie is completely just 😻 i think it would be zakk tho cause well it’s zakk but he’s hot soooo..

.☠︎︎. ⚂ .⛧.♫.

♫ BRODIE! MY SWEET BEAUTIFUL BRODIE! (can you tell i like Brodie a lot?) i feel that Brodie would be a very normal boyfriend and person, just a little weird because as a metalhead myself i can confirm metalheads are a little weird in their own each way. Brodie is a very sweet boy and i feel like he has very little red flags to none. i think his green flags would be that he can cook and take care of himself (i headcanon this because of his parents cause don’t kill me if i’m wrong but considering his dad is i think.. dead? and his mom is a crazy bitch, i think he learnt to care for himself pretty fast.), he’s, as i always say, a total softie who’s a wonderful boyfriend, he’s a calm person to be around other than, well, when there is like a zombie demon thing apocalypse, and other yk, good boyfriend type shit. I think his red flags wouldn’t be too red and more beige or barely a red flag. I think Brodie’s little things would be like he’s not too into actual skincare and just does basic things like wash his hair and use soap and stuff, but he still has like dirt under his nails sometimes and picks at his acne n shit. but i believe he would be more than happy to have you care for him for him lol. i also think he would be sorta lazy and be pretty messy, but blah blah, basically he’s a good boy.

☠︎︎ second on our not that red to bright vermillion flags is Dion. Dion is like, overly a nerd. which isn’t a bad thing, i love me a sweet nerdy boy. Dion has little things too like idk picked his nose till 7th grade in middle school, or watches too much porn but not to an addiction, just more random little things. much like Brodie, he’s a good boy. but until you as a lover would get him to open up to being a little more used to what love is like, he wouldn’t do very much to keep up the relationship lmao, he just loves being around you. Dion is very sweet, just a little more unusual, but more than Brodie.

⚂ GILES! Giles is weird, i think Giles is weird. I don’t hate him, i LOVE him platonically, i think he’s funny. but would i date him? no. i just think he would be a bit too peculiar. nobody can tell me he doesn’t have a porn addiction, and hasn’t fucked something weird which yes, you cannot tell me otherwise cause yes he has fucked something weird, it’s mentioned in the movie! i think it was a dummy or something. I think Giles is just very weird sexually, like not piss kink weird (sorry to everyone with a piss kink), but like too much porn and hot babes weird. and i don’t think he would be very like loving at first? like he would love you as much as anyone else in a relationship, he just wouldn’t know how to show it, but he’d eventually get it, much like Dion.

⛧ and finally, our beautiful blood red Zakk. Zakk is a nasty mean boy as we all know. before he really loves you, i believe he would be a man with a bit of a sick sense of humor (yk like dark jokes or laughing at sort of fucked up stuff), would be terrible at caring for himself in not all ways, but most. and he’s like, a total asshole, obviously. i saw someone say that Zakk would have bpd and listed why and i so agree which bpd or any disorder (trust me y’all i have 4 disorders lmao) doesn’t make you a red flag till you let it make you a red flag, and i think Zakk would let it become a red flag. Zakk is just kinda fucked up. from weird things on the internet he saw when he was too young, to definitely having trauma, i think he’s a little fucked from the start. I still love him and he would def learn to love you. I think his version of love would be a bit possessive and overly clingy, like if anyone hit on you he would get more possessive than he really should. I also think he would hold onto you forever and ever and never let go, and if you left and especially if you hurt him when you left, he’d never forgive himself for letting someone get that close, and other sad bullshit. i think i could work through Zakk and get mutual love out of him but it would be hard. but i don’t really care though cause i know he got some meat down there and he has a pretty face so idgaf! <33 + i know deep down there he is a lovable man. for his green flags, he’s a sweetheart when you get to love him, as i’ve said before. he’s very capable of genuinely caring and loving, it’s just hard to get him to do so. we love our boy Zakk no matter what.

.☠︎︎. ⚂ .⛧.♫.

MY HEADCANONS ON THEIR RED FLAGS AND GREEN FLAGS! I LOVE THEM! I LOOOOVE THEM!

[its-still-cuppi-cakes]

I have a few personal hcs of Guy that I'd like to share

(Some I have adopted from others that I've found on here, but I will have my opinion on them)

Guy is a huge starwars and avengers nerd. He probably has many action figures, clothes and merch of the characters in his room before honey and him started dating. I feel like the terrible roommate they had once messed around with them as a "joke" and Honey called her out on it and made her apologize for it. And pay for any of the damages she caused.

He. Needs. To wear. Glasses. But he doesn't like wearing them because of how they feel on his nose so he wears contacts. He does wear them when he's writing though! And he looks good too. He probably has those ones where it's prescription and bluelight. And an all around black frame.

He's a lego builder! He also collects Starwars and Avengers lego sets. And some other types of sets that he thinks looks cool.

He has a caffeine addiction. He drinks so much caffeine Honey has made it a rule where he can only have two cups/cans of caffeine each day. Which is a lot better than 5.

Has hair ties/hair clips for himself because his hair gets in the way when he's looking down to write, type on his phone or work.

Has pins on his apron for work. One says "My pronouns are he/him" and anytime someone comments about it, he just says "Well I am an English/creative writing major so pronouns are important to me." Just to make them mad.

Is called "Son" by Max, his boss. Idk why but I feel like Max loves him like his own. Has called him "Dad" by accident. Now him and Rosa call him "Papa Max" as a joke.

I feel like he forgets his lunch a lot and Honey brings it to him, claiming they're gonna stop and let him starve, but never actually does stop because they like seeing his face when they have his starwars lunch box at hand as they walk through the door.

Has bad acne that Honey helps him take care of. They definitely have skin care date nights. They do have matching skin care headbands.

Can be very stylish. But chooses not to. He likes wearing tshirts and jeans all the time.

Reads before bed. Reads to Honey to help them sleep. Reads. (Someone plz draw Guy reading the hobbit)

Thank you for coming to my ted talk. I'm so normal about Guy. Goodnight.

[demphen]

thomas' vague "skin disease"

someone please correct me if i'm wrong, but i don't think thomas has ever gotten an explicit diagnosis for his skin disorder in canon?? i know in a comic it's referred to as "skin cancer", despite the fact that if thomas truly had cancer since birth (??) and it eventually worsened to the point of eating away his nose, he would be dead. straight up. cancer, untreated? i know that boy is strong, but he is dead!

i've also seen it described as a vague "skin-eating disease", though when you look it up, such a disorder would require immediate care and show many more symptoms such as pain, fever, and vomiting. and again, i don't think thomas would have survived 30+ years with such a disease.

i am so terribly obsessed with this Franchise and This Man in particular so you bet your ass that i wanted to find something definitive to diagnose him with—and i think i found something!

after some research, i found a chronic skin disease called rosacea, and i specifically think thomas could have 2 subtypes at the same time:

subtype 2: papulopustular (or acne) rosacea, is associated with acne-like breakouts, and often affects middle-aged women.

subtype 3: known as rhinophyma, is a rare form associated with thickening of the skin on your nose. it usually affects men and is often accompanied by another subtype of rosacea.

now, despite thomas losing his Entire Nose by 1973, the rest of this could Work Out i think. perhaps he could have a really aggressive form of this disorder (since men who develop it are more likely to have more severe symptoms than women), and due to the acne-like breakouts caused by subtype 2, thomas could be left with discolored scarring, which we already know he has. since it has no cure, i could also see thomas growing frustrated with no amount of washing and scrubbing his face working to get rid of the disease, eventually leading to him trying to Cut the infected skin Out (as we learn he did during the beginning of the 2006 movie). as for most people afflicted with rosacea being between 30 and 60, let's just say thomas is part of the unlucky 13% that develop it in adolescence.

of course this isn't 1-to-1 with thomas' symptoms, but i wanted to try and find something to explain them. i think i will begin writing and drawing him with this "Diagnosis" in mind, but this is by no means an attempt to say that i'm Right and other people should Listen to Me. thomas is Not a Real Person after all, i just thought it'd be interesting to speculate!

[venomous-ragno]

Writing advice...

... About military things by a soldier :)

Disclaimer: My experiences and knowledge are mostly based on the German military, the Bundeswehr. They may differ from those of other countries.

Happy writing y'all :)

Pt. 6 / ?: Combat wounds (Pt.1)

Before we get into this, let me make one thing clear:

Most people imagine battle hardened soldiers to be terribly scarred, but that is most often not the case. If something gets close enough to scar you, it's close enough to kill you. In war it's either death or not; if it can kill you, it will. Having lots of scars could also just be an indicator that they're unskilled enough to let themself almost get killed one too many times, so think good and hard what scars your character has and how they came to be.

What are scars and how do they come to be?

Whenever your tissue gets damaged, your body tries to fix the loss by releasing this funky lil protein you may know from skin- or haircare: Collagen. It builds up where the tissue got damaged and helps heal and build up fresh new skin, hence why scars are lighter in colour. As collagen builds up for several months the blood supply to that new tissue increases, which is what causes scars to protrude.

But scars aren't just scars: They come in different types.

1. We have contracture scars for one, which are typically burn scars. They cause the skin to tighten and may possibly restrict movement, which can be quite frustrating if the scar is big in size. This comes from the underlying tissue healing by pulling together. Contracture scars can impact the muscles, joints and tendons.

2. Next up are atrophic scars. Fancy word that you may not know, but I bet you've heard of acne scars before. When the skin is unable to form new tissue, a little dent will appear, and that's an atrophic scar.

3. Flat scars are pretty boring. They're called flaz scars cause they flatten down over time, and go from a pinkish red colour to one that somewhat resembles your skin tone.

4. The nastiest ones in my opinion are keloid scars. These lil shits are basically clumps of tissue that grow near the wound, but can also expand past it. They're thick and look somewhat misshapen. Keloids are the result of excessive healing, which means they can pop up anywhere. Perhaps you've seen a friend w an infected piercing that didn't heal well, and they have these dark bumps around it. Yep, those are keloids.

5. Conversely to the atrophic scars we have hyperthropic scars. Sounds fancy, but when medicine names one thing with a- in the beggining, hyper- is usually the exact opposite. Whereas a- indicates too little, hyper- indicates too much of smth. In this case, hypertrophic scars are raised scars. They come to be when too much collagen builds up around a wound, which makes them similar to keloids, which but one decisive difference: Hypertrophic scars don't grow past the wound. Thank god.

6. My favourite scar of all are definitely stretch marks. I have 'em, you have 'em, they're absolutely normal. Stretch marks occur when the skin shrinks or grows too quickly for your body to catch up, thus causing tissues underneath the skin to become damaged.

Anything can happen in war - what are the most common combat injuries?

If I tried listing every possible injury I'd never finish this post, so I'm starting with the most common ones: Second and third degree burns, broken bones, shrapnel wounds, nerve damage, paralysis, loss of sight and / or hearing, PTSD and limb loss.

Sounds scary? Well, it is. But the best weapon against fear is information, which is why I'll break down the first four of those injuries in this post, and the rest in a second part.

Burns

What is a burn? A burn is an injury to the skin (or other organic tissue) caused by heat, radiation, radioactivity, electricity, friction or chemicals.

Burns are classified in four degrees, whereas one is the lightest and six the most serious type of burn.

First degree: Superficial burns, like a sunburn. Red, dry, and ouch but without blisters. Temporary change in skin colour but heals well.

Second degree: Red, swollen and blistered skin. May cause an increase in skin thickness but heals well.

Third degree: White and charred skin. Extensive skin damage. Will heal in (possibly) thick scars.

Fourth degree: Charred skin. Possibly exposing bone or organs. Probably causes permanent damage; may require an amputation.

Fifth degree: Charred skin. Will definitely expose bones etc. Definite permanent damage; amputation required.

Sixth degree: Loss of skin. Damage extends to the bones. Definite permanent damage that requires an amputation, but can lead to fatalities.

Broken bones

A broken bone, or fracture, happens when pressure is exerted unto a bone that it cannot withstand, because of which the bone can break partially or completely. A fracture has to be immobilised with a cast or surgically inserted metal rods / plates. The exact treatment method depends on what bone is fractured and how severe the fracture is.

Are broken bones fatal? Well, they certainly can have severe impacts on your health if not properly treated. Infections, permanent deformities or long-term joint problems are all feasible consequences to a botched treatment.

Luckily for us tho, bones are really good at healing. Doesn't mean a fracture ain't painful tho - the most painful bones to break are the femur, tailbone and the ribs.

If you wanna be mean but not fatally mean, I'd recommend giving your character a cracked rib or two. It's a serious injury that'll put 'em out of commission for a good two months, but they will most certainly recover; be careful of breaking them tho, as the jagged edges can puncture major blood vessels or internal organs, such as the lung. The two lower ribs rarely fracture as they are more flexible than the upper and middle ribs, which are anchored to the breastbone. If you break them however, they can cause serious damage to the spleen, liver or kidney.

Symptoms of a cracked / broken rib include strong pain in your chest area that worsens when breathing or bending the body, swelling and / or tenderness surrounding the ribs, eventual bruising on the skin, and quite literally hearing your ribs crack as they break.

Cracked / broken ribs cannot be as easily supported as other bones, so they're left to heal by themselves.

Shrapnel wounds

When the metal of an explosive pierces the skin, that's when it's called a shrapnel wound. The type of wound depends on whatever caused the injury; most often though they stem from so called IED's - Improvised Explosive Devices. In other words: Bombs, mines, bullets, or even shrapnel bombs and ammo, which are specifically made to cause as much damage to the human body as possible.

Some of these can contain uranium, which makes them poisonous to life forms.

Shrapnel is a nightmare to deal with. The pieces can travel within the body, making them harder to find and remove. You definitely wanna remove them cause they can be hot zones for infections; contrary to what you may have heard though, shrapnel is a relatively rare cause for lead poisoning. I'm gonna focus on gunshot wounds, but if you have any questions concerning other types of shrapnel wounds feel free to shoot me an ask!

Gunshot wounds

Gunshot wounds are caused when a bullet is shot into, or through, the body. They can cause serious injuries such as: Severe bleeding, damage to tissues and organs, broken bones, wound infections, and paralysis.

The exact damage depends on the location of the injury as well as speed and type of the bullet, though wounds to the head or torso are likey to cause more damage. Someone who's been shot has probably had surgery to do either of these:

Stop the bleeding

Clean the wound

Find and remove bullet pieces

Place drains / tubes for bodily fluids

Remove portions of organs (or even whole organs)

There may however be bullet pieces that remain in the body. Often these cannot be removed without causing more damage. Scar tissue will form around these remaining pieces, which may cause ongoing pain or other discomfort. In case of worsening pain, bleeding that won't stop even after applying pressure, increased drainage from the wound, rising body temperature (fever), or red streaks leading away from the wound, paying the doc a visit is a must. This means the wound isn't healing well and needs medical attention.

It will take months, perhaps even years, for a gunshot wound to heal properly - and that's if the victim is lucky enough that the bullet didn't shatter bone, or pass through arteries and nerves. Loss of limbs is also a very possible outcome. Skin-deep cuts and abrasions don't pose much of a problem in terms of healing. Following that would be muscle groups, which may heal in weeks. Tendons and bone can take months. Organ damage will take just as long, or they may be permanently damaged and never heal.

Remember that people heal differently. Especially when it comes to wounds so dependant on the exact caliber and loading of the gun; The size of a bullet and the energy it carries affect the size of the wound channel and cavity. Low powered rounds would not do as much damage as higher powered rounds (e.g. .22 LR vs .223 Rem), and smaller calibers will do less than larger calibers (eg. 9mm vs .45 ACP).

Combat knives

They weren't mentioned above, but seeing as this is supposed to be helpful to writers, oc creators and rp players, I decided to include knife wounds as well.

What is a combat knife?

It's a military issued knife that every soldier is required to carry on them at all times. It is designed with hand to hand combat in mind, thus functioning in a way that the blade can be flipped open and wielded with one hand. The blade is made to 'stand' on its own, aka two hands are needed to fold the blade back into the knife. These two criteria may put the military combat knife under assault weapons law in some countries (e.g. Germany). They are also designed to for utility use, e.g. cutting through shrubbery, thick ropes or opening ammunition crates. Now, I don't know what combat knives look like around the world, but our German one is embossed with the Bundesadler, the eagle that's our national emblem, and it's also a Swiss army knife - meaning that it has additional gadgets like a screwdriver built in.

What are knive wounds and how do they work?

The overall shape of the wound mimics that of the blade being used. Generally speaking, combat knives are meant to stab and slash, although stabbing has a greater possibility of internal organ damage. A well placed slash may sever an artery tho, so your character would do best not to let a knife get close at all.

Most often, a person doesn't die from the wound itself but from shock - not the emotional kind of shock, but the kind that your body goes into when it loses 20% of its blood in volume. In other words, the victim is more likely to die due to bleeding out rather than the wound itself.

That being said however: A stab and some blood loss won't be stopping someone powered by adrenaline and the need for survival. It's quite possible the brain simply drowns the wound out until the body collapses from cumulative blood loss. Every second counts in a real self defense situation. The assailant may be mortally wounded, but as long as they're able to do the same to you, you'll still die.

A trained fighter won't go or the head or neck, but the attacker's weapon wielding arm. Think of it like pulling the fangs out of a snake: By severing the tendons or the muscles that power them, the hand can no longer close and grip anything. A well placed slash can and will have more stopping power than a stab.

How and if a knife wound heals depends on the type of knife used, wether it stabbed or slashed and how deep, as well as the location of the wound. Much like gunshot wounds it can take years to fully recover, if the victim even recovers at all.

[ctheathy]

Rio Ranger Fluff Alphabet 3/4

Rio Ranger x Reader

Fluff Alphabet Letter OPQRSTU

Author’s note: Currently getting back into my work~ I have a lot in store for this a$$hole. Let the trauma begin >=}

Potential ⚠️TWs⚠️ :

Rio pushes his dreams onto you • Apathetic characteristics

O n Cloud Nine - What are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings?

He is absolutely terrible when it comes to expressing himself, but it's most definitely visible to those around him and closer to him. Safalin, especially. It's more obvious to the other players rather than his own self. He'll find himself wanting to stay close to you by will despite the current situation. It doesn't matter where you are, what time it is or who died, he wants to stick close to you. The participants also happen to catch him staring at you from across the room at times, he happens to be much less harsh with you and you'll notice him making exceptions for you.

He'll noticeably grow less snarky towards those around him when you just so happen to be around, honestly making the other participants stick close to you for comfort [which ends up biting them in the a$$ due to his boiling jealousy]. He is like a love sick puppy, just wanting to be in the same room as you while being in a better mood for the rest of the day because you simply just exist.

P DA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching?

This can go two ways, but I think this happens to be a simple matter of time. At first, he'll feel slightly embarrassed for being in a relationship with a human while he literally berates them all the time for the sake of fun and entertainment. He'll keep quiet and nobody will likely know about it at all, even if it's more than obvious. He doesn't want it to be directly ‘confirmed’ due to his own inner problems, it making him feel even more weak than he already is. But he tends to warm up.

As soon as your support helps him recover from his inferiority complex, including his many insecurities; he'll grow more much more comfortable than he was beforehand. As soon as he gets the help to work on himself, he'll feel a whole lot less pressure among the relationship and has no problem openly speaking about your true bond either. In fact, he'd likely even grow a bit too excited over the relationship you two have with one another. He literally doesn't shut up and he'll grow to love talking about you. You always manage to find your way into every conversation and he'll keep on babbling until you forcefully drag him off.

Q uirk - Some random ability they have that’s beneficial in a relationship.

His status as the third floormaster can definitely be beneficial for your safety and emotional wellbeing. If you were ever to be mistreated by one of the other participants, they'll be humbled by Ranger real quick. They already fear him like no other, so they'll keep their hands off you for the prevention for a fate worse than death for sure. But the fact you've managed to tame him to a certain degree also result in a sense of awe and respect from the others that they normally wouldn't show.

His perfect physical body lacking flaws and such could certainly cause slight insecurity on your part, but I can see Rio being very strict yet still understanding among the appearance part. He is insecure himself, but he also thinks you should adore your human body until the end, something he just couldn't have ... If you were to struggle with acne, scarring, birth or stretch marks, etc; instead of ridiculing you for it, he'd offer you up to do your skincare with you as a regular activity to help you feel better. He'll hype you up to show off your scars and marks to its fullest all while being supportive of you.

R omance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

This absolute manchild is the least person you should expect to behave romantic all the time. Each and every activity needs to have an entertaining swing to it to prevent his boredom. Rio will at most make small gestures that could be considered loving and hopefully make it clear that he does in fact love you. For example, Ranger would mainly use sticky notes to leave around your room because he has no idea how to word his sentences properly. He'd write down small compliments or habits of yours he likes and then just stick em on your door. Other small things he'd do is create more expressive face cards that usually includes hearts emotives and such, which he'll only use around you.

S upport - Are they helping their s/o achieve their goals? Do they believe in them?

This is a rather difficult topic regarding Ranger. He definitely wants to help you in any case scenario imaginable, but he tends to oblige his own hopes and dreams onto you at times. Due to your status as a human and the fact that he views you as much more tenacious than him or the other dolls, he tries to gain access to a normal life and perspective through you. There's going to be times where he disregards your wishes to instead compare it with his own, pushing his needs onto you and making his support rather for himself instead of his partner.

But besides from that flaw, he does try everything in his power in order to support you in your goals. His floormaster role also tends to come in handy, especially as the others would be more willing to listen with Rio by your side. If your desires happen to include selfless services or helping the other participants, he'll definitely silently judge you for it and throw in a sassy remark here and there for your overly sweet demeanor [how dare you be the angel he so desperately needed in his life]. But despite his stubbornness, he'll most definitely end up giving in and helping you out no matter what.

T hrill - Do they need to try out new things to spice out your relationship? Or do they prefer a certain routine?

Oh, nuh uh. If you think this menace is going to stick to a certain routine, you are DEAD wrong. The whole reason why he gave this lovey dovey lifestyle a chance in the first place was for the sake of change. He wants to try out practically everything with you. As soon as a chance in given for a new experience, he's going to take it with open arms and you'll automatically be dragged with him in the process. He wants to try and keep everything entertaining for the both of you, especially with his current position in the game, wanting nothing more than to be that one person who can snap you out of your current boredom no matter the cost.

All his life he's thought that his only purpose was to cause despair and hopelessness towards the humans among the killing game. But your appearance happened to make a huge change in the matter. He wants to keep you satisfied with him and his antics, while wanting to keep himself well pleased aswell.

U nderstanding - How good do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?

This is another complex situation when it comes to Rio. He's especially talented among reading humans and the emotions they may hold in the current circumstances, but in terms of his empathy ...that is a different story. Rio is already naturally apathetic and lacks the ability to feel compassion for pretty much everybody out there, no matter how hard he tries to rearrange [pun intended] himself into feeling otherwise for your sake.

Don't get me wrong, he cares a lot about you in his own way. And he is willing to put on an act to try and make you feel less detached. Especially when hinting at the fact he has been misunderstood by many himself. But in shorter terms; he understands you and can read you very well for that matter, but ... He has immense trouble caring for that spectrum. He wants to, and he knows he should, which directly explains the facade he prefers to keep on around you. Which is why you'll might have to dig a bit deeper in order to change that habit into genuine sincerity...

[canichangemyblogname]

People who hate anyone who doesn’t fit into the cis-hetero-white normative beauty standard will tell trans men, “Testosterone makes you fat and hairy and bald and full of acne.”

And—like—many of the people who they’re saying this really don’t give af. Like… okay? But also… for some of us, our problem was always estrogen and progesterone. My uncontrolled and sudden weight gain (a sign of health issues)? Caused by an excess of estrogen. My terrible acne? Caused by spikes in progesterone and high estrogen. My thinning hair? Caused by high estrogen. My chronic fatigue? My chronic pain? My insomnia? My uber-heavy menstruation? Well—I think you get the point.

People are way too single-mindedly focused on estrogen=girl hormone, testosterone=boy hormone when people afab and amab produce a concoction of all the above. The fallacious ad naturam argument “If it is produced ‘naturally’ by your body, it is therefore good and whole” transphobes make ignores the reality that—like—that isn't how this works at all. And don’t even get me started on because of how people think estrogen=girl hormone, they’ve imbued having the hormone in your body with moral assumptions like it’s “passive” and “has no effect on the body” because it’s GIRL.

GTFO, y’all are a bunch of goofies. Estrogen irrevocably fucked over my health, all while it was considered my “natural” hormone.

[vladdyissues]

Fun (scary) fact: Amity park's citizens will die of cancer, furthermore, at 'young' age (30-50's years) because ectoplasmic pollution (small particles or ectoplasm itself) in the air or in items ghost had possessed is a radiation. Human somatical cells mutate faster than they should. It also affects on their reproduction: the number of born-mutants will increase, problems with fertility as well. (Of course, halfas are immune, they don't care about poor people (Vlad got ecto acne before he developed this immune))

It could be an alternative subject for Danny's bioproject (s1 ep3). Ah, Sam, your little ghost boy could scared your classmates to death but you suggest to research gorilla's behaviour.

(I've just realised 80% asks for you was mine: ghost king au with pompous pep marriage, DP as anime?, omega/malewife Vlad, soulmates, contact infection au and etc. (but not Vlad's bites-detectors) I guess I talk too much :( )

That's very plausible! Maybe the worst thing about it is that it takes 10 years for all the cancer signs to show up, then another 10-15 years to figure out what's causing it. If the Fentons haven't moved out of Amity Park by then, they'll have to when angry mobs start showing up on their doorstep. Maybe things get bad enough that the GIW gets involved. The federal government comes under fire for allowing private citizens to pollute an entire town, intentionally or not, and Jack and Maddie are faced with the difficult choice of ending up working for the GIW (why let all that good research go to waste?) or going to jail for a long, long time.

And then Vlad steps in, perhaps after 20 years of living in recluse following the events of Phantom Planet. He's barely aged. He offers to help the Fentons out of their jam and redeem himself in the eyes of the world by developing a cure for the ecto-cancer he's been working on* (a derivative of the cure for ecto-acne that he received during the events of Masters of All Time), for which he needs their help.

The cure works, and the Fentons are allowed to continue their research under the supervision of Vlad Masters/Plasmius, who went from most hated man in the world to its beloved hero... and of course Danny is disgusted with this turn of events. (But at the same time he's also kind of glad to see Vlad again. The old fruit loop seems to have calmed down a lot in the past 20 years, and he did help his parents out of a terrible mess, basically restoring the Fenton family name... Maybe it's time to forgive and forget.)

* I like to think that after Vlad got out of the hospital in the early 80s, he stole the ghost portal plans from Jack, perhaps trying to find out exactly what was causing these strange new abilities he had. In the process, he ended up rebuilding the portal and correcting for all the flaws—such as leaking ecto-contaminants. (Maybe that was his role when working with Jack and Maddie: always better at improving upon ideas rather than coming up with new ones.)

Sorry, anon, I seem to have gotten carried away. LOL 80% of these asks may be yours, but I don't mind! They're fun and I really enjoy answering them, so no need to apologize :)

[a-commas-a-pause]

Was doing some cursory research about low concentration salicylic as an over-the-counter acne treatment (been having a flare-up, likely due to a combo of stress and shifting environmental factors, and since I'm a terrible skin picker I'm trying to find ways to avoid giving myself scarring without needing to visit a doctor) and as I was scrolling through the Wikipedia page I learned from the epidemiology section that acne apparently affects women slightly more than men:

...and I don't know why, but this really struck me.

I guess I grew up with the belief, picked up from the culture and media around me, that acne was this "greasy teenage boy" problem, in some way inherently unfeminine. I didn't really think boys got it more than girls, I figured that was a stereotype, but I kind of assumed the stats were pretty much equal. And back when I still thought I was a girl, I felt worse about my own acne, since it felt like yet another way I was performing girl/womanhood incorrectly.

Finding out it's actually slightly more common in (cis) women is throwing me for a loop, even though it rightly shouldn't be - that's a very neutral and harmless fact! But you never see acne treated as just a feature of a teenage girl's face, it's always something awful that needs to be fixed (never mind that in real life, you often can't "fix" acne completely, can only manage it). That's not to say it's treated as something positive in boys either - usually boys with acne are also treated as undesirable, be that a loveable nerd or just a creepy loser - but I'm not sure I've ever even seen a girl character with even moderate acne (like I had at that age, though it certainly felt severe at the time) on screen.

I took isotretinoin for my acne in school, which is a pretty powerful medication that is highly effective at stopping acne but also comes with some serious risks - I had to take regular blood tests when I was on it to make sure it wasn't killing my liver. Due to my (mentioned before on this blog, lol) massive phobia of all things medical and spiky, I fainted for every single one of these. On top of that, it increased my already very high (I'm about as white as you can get) sensitivity to sun, so I couldn't go out even on cloudy days without suncream. And it causes birth defects, so they kept making me take supervised pregnancy tests "just in case" for months, until I changed dermatologists and the new one was like "what? why? no, you don't have to do those, just sign a thing saying you're not sexually active and it's not our fault if you're lying about that and you're chill".

It was a Lot, is what I'm saying.

Isotretinoin isn't the first port of call for treating acne - my GP tried several topical solutions and two different kinds of antibiotics (one of which I was allergic to, which naturally, me being me, I discovered by fainting about it. Again. in music class, this time) before finally referring me to the dermatologist who was allowed to prescribe me The Serious Drugs. Moreover, I stand by my decision! I wasn't pressured into taking it by family or friends, I was allowed to make my own choices, and going through all that rigmarole was absolutely my choice.

...I might even have taken the same choice if I'd lived in a society without all this weird stuff around acne, to be honest. As mentioned at the top of the post, I have a skin picking problem and acne not only doesn't help with that, it was causing me actual pain.

But also. I don't know. The societal stuff didn't help at all. My dermatologist suggested at the time that insecurity about my acne might be contributing to my chronic neck and upper back pain, of all things (much like the acne, something that started in my teens but hasn't stopped since I left them), since it might be making it harder for me to stand up straight with confidence. I laughed the idea off at the time, but now... I don't know. It could certainly have been a contributing factor.

I wish I had a call to action here, but I don't really know what can be done about this, especially not at the individual level. This is a societal gender discrimination issue, and I guess an ableism issue as well? I wouldn't normally call my acne a disability, but it is certainly a medical condition, and it does affect my life (and acne can certainly be the basis of unconscious discrimination, though I'm very grateful that that hasn't been something I've faced personally). If anyone has any more productive suggestions, feel free to add them onto this post. And I guess, put characters with acne in your stories? Including women, and including adults! 5% is one in twenty. One in every twenty 40+ year old women (according to that cited study, anyway, which I can't currently verify because my institutional access is fucking broken again) still "have problems" with acne. That might be worth representing.

[little-klng]

hi random person visiting thru one of ur posts. i also have evil hell dandruff and i found coal tar shampoo is basically perfect for helping to keep down the flaking :) unfortunately the itching wont go all the way away tho :(

Oh yeah for sure, I actually have like 6 bars of coal tar soap, plus coal tar shampoo, plus Neutrogena acid free face wash (it has salicylic acid), plus normal shower stuff. I am in itch and drift hell. Basically the only time I don't itch is straight after a shower, but if I just tousle my hair a little bit it's a snow drift and feels Terrible

(For those unaware, salicylic acid is a skin product that helps dead skin strip off easier and acts like a mild antibacterial, usually used for acne or, if you watch hoof gp videos, the powdered form is used to allow dead skin to separate and keep exposed live skin from getting infected. In the case of dandruff, all it does is help make the top layer of dandruff easier to remove. Coal tar extract and coal tar, however, actually inhibits skin growth specifically, preventing dandruff and such caused by shedding excess overgrown skin like in psoriasis. Another option for who's issue is eczema instead of psoriasis and normal causes is products containing Colloidal Oatmeal, since eczema involves try skin that cracks and needs moisturizing and soothing, rather than scales of dead skin that are easily peelable. Usually dandruff shampoos have neither, such as head and shoulders which has pyrithione zinc in normal products, and usually selenium sulfide in stronger products aimed at fungal issues that cause dandruff. If you suffer from untreatable dandruff, explore your options on potential causes, and try different active chemicals that attack different sources of the issue)

[THIS POST MADE BY FLAKY SCALP GANG. DO NOT REBLOG IF THE IDEA OF A FLAKY DRY SCALP IS GROSS OR MAKES YOU WANT TO LEAVE A NASTY COMMENT. CURSE OF BAD SCALP UPON YE]

[pcos-and-endo-awareness]

What's pcos

PCOS stands for PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrome. This is a hormonal disorder that wrecks havoc on the body causing symptoms such as menstrual irregularity, infertility, enlarged ovaries (inflammation/pain), weight gain, insulin resistance, excess hair, acne, and of course as the name says, cysts on the ovaries.

There is no known cause, just that androgens are elevated for some reason. It is likely a genetic disorder. PCOS is common in people with ovaries, and it is often a chronic condition. There is no cure. The medical treatment is hormone therapy aka birth control, which can sometimes worsen symptoms instead of helping them. If there are cysts, they can be removed via laparoscopy.

In my own journey, I discovered I had PCOS when I was in college. I have always had irregular, painful, extremely bloody periods since I was 12. I thought it was normal. In my younger twenties, I was having extreme pain so horrible I went to the OBGYN and that is when I found out via ultrasound that I had a cyst on my ovary. I was confirmed to have PCOS. This cyst burst and it was terrible pain and swelling for days. I got on birth control and it was heaven; most of my symptoms disappeared. Eventually I stopped taking it when I left college and switched insurances and doctors, planning to get back on it eventually. The cysts formed before I did. There were two this time, and while we were monitoring them waiting for them to shrink, one of them torsed (twisted) and cut off the blood supply to my ovary. This was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. I had emergency surgery and lost my ovary. (Side note, that surgery is when my OB discovered I also had endometriosis.) I am going to remain on hormone therapy to protect my lone ovary so that I might one day be able to get pregnant. Birth control has saved my life.