Latest / Skinquiries / Making Room for Eczema in Your Wardrobe

Transcript

Making Room for Eczema in Your Wardrobe · Skinquiries

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: One of the most common pieces of fashion advice people
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: give online is don't know what to wear, just wear black.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: And I was so annoyed by that because I was like,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: I can't do that. I'll have my flakes everywhere right now.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: And so I was so annoyed that I decided to
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: make a video saying like, some people say that you
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: should wear all black, but people can't do that all
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the time. And then that's when I decided to talk
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: about my eczema in like a very high level way
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: of showing you wear, but not have to wear black.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: So the internet loves presenting a fashion rule as fact.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Don't mix prints, never wear gold and silver, and apparently,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: when in doubt, just wear all black. Finding your personal
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: style according to the internet is easy. I mean, all
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: you have to do is find the perfect combination of
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: clothes to communicate who you are to the entire world
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: and then mix up your outfits every single day. no pressure.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: But fashion is supposed to be exciting and playful. You
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: should experiment with color, shape, and texture because your style
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: belongs to you. Those fashion rules, they are meant to
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: be broken. And there's something about breaking them that can
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: make you feel all the more confident. When you live
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: with a skin condition, though, those choices come with another layer.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Will this color make every flake stand out? What fabric
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: will irritate your skin? Is it breathable? Can you reach
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: the places that itch? So how do you experiment with
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: your style while still feeling comfortable in your skin? Hello, everyone,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: and welcome or welcome back to Skin Queries. This is
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: a show about skin, but it is really a show
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: about exist in a vacuum. It shapes how we're seen.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: It shapes how we see ourselves and our experiences of confidence, identity, community,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: and care. I am your host, Dylan Maron. Today, my
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: guest is Andrew Polo. He's a fashion content creator who
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: has lived with eczema since childhood and For Andrew, fashion
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: became a way to discover and express who he was
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: beyond his career. But as his personal style evolved, so
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: did his eczema. And it turned getting dressed into a
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: daily balance between what he wanted to wear and what
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: he knew his skin could handle. His story is about
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: finding freedom within those limitations, building confidence by honoring your insecurities,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: and helping others realize that personal style can make room
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: for eczema too. Andrew's relationship with fashion came much later
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: in his life, but his relationship with eczema began when
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: he was just seven years old.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: It just showed up on my arms, like inside the elbow,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: behind the legs. I don't think I really realized it
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: was much of a problem when I was younger. It
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: was just something that my parents would see and they'd
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: be like, oh, you got to fix that. So they
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: would take me to a dermatologist and I would just
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: put on whatever treatments they had me put on. And
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: then as the years went by, it kind of moved
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: all around my body. In high school, it started to
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: be the torso. In college, it started... moving, but still
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: torso dominant. After college, it blew up, got all over.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Everywhere.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: And then after that, it started being on hands and
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: face and still many other parts all around my body.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: But it has kind of changed over the years.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Talk to me about the moment or series of moments
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: when you realize like, oh, this isn't just like a
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: rash that I can sort of ignore. Take me to
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: the point where you're like, I got to go to
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: a doctor. Yeah, so in college, for some reason, I
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: decided to have black bedsheets. And when you have eczema,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: that's probably one of the worst colors that you can
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: have on your bed because you see- Just constant reminders.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, constant reminders, like your flakes are everywhere. And it
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: got to a point where I was like, man, this
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: is not, this doesn't look very normal. I would look
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: in the mirror and it's just like splotchy red all
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: over my chest and my shoulders. And it was like
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: at that point where I was like, I think I
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: should probably try to like fix this because I didn't
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: like how I looked in the mirror and I didn't
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: like what I was seeing in my bed. So that
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: was probably the impetus for seeking medical attention. A dermatologist
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: prescribed me like a massive tub of steroids and I
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: had applied it on my chest and the very next day,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: all the redness was gone. I thought I achieved a miracle.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Magic.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: And I never understood how to use steroids. I thought
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: it was like lotion. Most doctors prescribe that you use
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: it a certain number of times a day or a week.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: And I would do that to start when the flare
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: was bad. And then when it would start to calm down,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: I would reduce my frequency. And then I started noticing
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: that if I reduced my frequency, it would start to
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: get worse. So then I would be like, okay, let
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: me just put this on again and keep doing it.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: So what was the moment where you were like, I
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: might have to stop this altogether?
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: I think I started to recognize that this was becoming
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: more of a problem after graduation in college and when
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I started a full-time job. I worked in tech sales.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: And so you have a quota, you have a number
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: that you have to hit every month or you get fired.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: And I think it just started to consume me from
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: a stress standpoint such that my eczema would get really
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: bad or it seemed like it was getting way worse
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: because I was eating anything I wanted to like help
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: me deal with stress. I wasn't really doing stress management.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: All this stuff was definitely adding up.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, of course.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: And it was when it started popping up on my
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: hands that I was like, what is this? I've never
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: had hand eczema before.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: And I would try the steroid thing and it just
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: felt like it wasn't working. I think that's when I
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: was really starting to think, okay, wait, what's going on
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: with steroid use or topical steroid use? Let me learn
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: a little bit more about it. And I decided to
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: stop taking or stop using steroids. After that, my whole
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: body blew up. It was like lava all over my face,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: my scalp, my neck. And I went through a very
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: big episode of topical steroid withdrawal.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: So you're experiencing these kind of withdrawal symptoms at work?
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. I got so many comments at work being like, hey,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: is everything okay with your face?
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: And The worst part was that, like, when this happens,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: people will ask how you're doing and speak out of
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: concern because they're concerned. But for you, you look at
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: yourself every single day and it's... Yeah. It is so
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: demoralizing to hear... Yeah. Like, hey, is something wrong with
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: your face when you've already been aware of this?
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, right, right, right. I'm doing my best to try
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: and ignore this and you are reminding me of this.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yes. And it's like... I get where people are
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: coming from, but at the same time, it's just, you
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: have to almost enter a talk track that you don't
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: want to have to enter, which is, yes, I'm going
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: through this thing. Yeah. It's eczema. And then it starts
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: becoming like people trying to solve your problems for you. Yeah.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: And you're like, trust me, I'm on it.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: I'm on it. Yeah. I'm trying to solve this too.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Like, oh, have you tried this? Have you done this? Yeah.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: And it's exhausting, but it is the reality of this situation.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: You both like have to like hold the truth of
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: what you're going through and care for them in that
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: moment so that they feel like they're doing it.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: I'm with you. I hear you. I'm with you. Okay.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: So you're experiencing these symptoms. How are you finding ways
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: to treat your skin?
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Well, when I first started, I wasn't. I'd Nothing changed
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: in my life. I would take the hottest showers. I
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: would scratch all the time. I would eat high inflammatory foods.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: I'd never changed anything about my life when I got
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: off steroids and it was only getting worse.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: And it was only until the point where my girlfriend,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: now wife, but my girlfriend at the time, or now
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: my wife. I don't know how to.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Articulate that one, but she was- She, in the present
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: tense of this story, she was your girlfriend, but to
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: honor the truth of the current day, she is your wife. Yes.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: There you go. That is a great way to put it.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: No, listen, I'm with you. I'm here for you.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: She made it her mission to find a solution for me.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Love this.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: And when this happened, I was literally like, okay, yeah, yeah, sure. Like,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: there comes a point I think in everyone's eczema journey,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: especially when it gets bad, that it just feels like
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: this is the end state and this is just like
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: how it's going to be.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: She started looking into a bunch of different alternative methods
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: and found a woman who had a traditional Chinese medicine background.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: She was trained in Beijing and she did acupuncture specifically
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: for skin problems. Oh. And she's like, okay, first you
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: need to totally change your diet and your lifestyle. She
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: gave me like a whole protocol I had to follow.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: After that first session, I would say that my skin
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: probably calmed down 20%, which was a Very big change
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: in the first day. It's noticeable for sure. Still really
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: bad from what it was, you know, like 20% improvement
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: from really bad is still not great. Right. But I
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: had realized in that moment that I think I needed
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: to take my lifestyle very seriously. Um, stopped going to
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: the gym, unfortunately. I stopped eating fried food, removed dairy,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: followed this Chinese methodology behind hot and cold foods. There
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: are certain foods that heat you and certain foods that
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: cool you. I ate boiled chicken and rice and broccoli
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: every day for like a long time. And so I
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: think like with all these types of changes and a
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: lot of sessions having to go to this, my eczema
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: went away for like three years.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: That's huge. I want to jump to this very exciting
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: chapter in your life, which is fashion. When did fashion, clothing,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: when did that become something that you wanted to experiment
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: more with intentionally?
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, in my corporate career, I changed jobs where the
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: company had a presence or like a headquarters in New York.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: And I lived in San Francisco at the time. So
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: I was very used to what you would almost consider
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: to be textbook San Francisco, but tech bro outfits like
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: very transparently that was what i was very familiar.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: With we're talking a vest we're talking button down in
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: a vest yeah i wore the same and slack like
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: i would wear the same pants every single day uh
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: sorry for the hygiene people no obsessed we support it yeah.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: And i would wear like a different button down that
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: was cut the exact same way every day at this
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: new job the office was right on soho like right
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: on broadway and it seemed that people were expressing themselves
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: through what they wore. And I thought that was actually really,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: really cool. It made me ask myself, oh, am I
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: expressing myself? Like, am I actually communicating who I want
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: to be out into the world? And the answer was no. No,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: I'm not. Because my identity was my job and how
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: hard I worked in my job. And so from there,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: essentially started my obsession with trying to figure out, oh, well,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: how do I want to communicate myself to the world
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: by how I dress because it is such a beautiful
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: way to express yourself.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: I love this. And, you know, obviously we're here to
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: talk about eczema. So to just relate the two.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Where was your eczema when you started experimenting with fashion?
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: I think it was... Oh, I remember. There is a
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: photo of myself where I had really bad eyelid eczema.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: That was maybe within three months of being on the job.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: So my skin was starting to get worse at the
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: same time that I was starting to explore how I dressed.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: So the decisions that I was making for what I wore,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: it was definitely based off of the state of my skin.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: And when did you kind of start getting into creating
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: fashion content? What inspired the leap to do that? Yeah. Okay.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: So for a very brief context. Please. In high school,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: I used to be a YouTuber. Oh, great. And it
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: was early days of YouTube. And I had gotten a following,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: like a decent size following at the time.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: As a high schooler.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: As a high schooler.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: That's impressive.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: And it was just one of those things that I
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: just did for fun. Yeah. And then in college, people
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: like found out and they kind of made fun of it.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: And it was almost as if doing this was really cringe.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: So I stopped doing it, put it away, decided to
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: be really good at being a corporate career person, build
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: all the skills there. And then as time has gone
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: by and I was starting to learn about my fashion,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: where do you go to try to figure out how
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: to dress? You can go outside or you can go
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: on your phone. And so I went on my phone,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: I watched YouTube videos. I felt like I wasn't learning.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: I went to Instagram, felt like I wasn't learning fast enough.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: I went to TikTok. I was learning fast enough, but
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: I didn't feel like anyone made videos the way I
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: would have wanted to hear it.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: An opportunity presents itself.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I was literally just thinking, oh, I think I
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: can make, I think I can do this. So I
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: started documenting my fashion journey while also having a goal
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: for myself saying, oh, well, let me just like make
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: videos because I used to do this. And it has
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: actually been maybe one of the most fulfilling things of
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: my life so far, which has been kind of bringing
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: a full circle moment for how I was as a kid.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: I love this. Also, showing them all, your high school
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: people who thought YouTube was cringe, now here you are.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: I know when you were initially making videos, you were
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: not focusing on eczema. What made you want to start
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: talking about it in your videos that were obviously not
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: about eczema?
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Okay, so I'm on my phone and one of the
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: most common pieces of fashion advice people give online is
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: don't know what to wear, just wear black. And I
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: was so annoyed by that because I was like, I
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: can't do that. I'll have my flakes everywhere right now.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: And so I was so annoyed that before I went
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: to work, I filmed in the morning And I decided
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: to make a video saying like, some people say that like,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: you know, you should wear all black, but like people
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: can't do that all the time. And then that's when
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: I decided to talk about my eczema in like a
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: very high level way of showing someone, hey, how can
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: you like feel good about what you wear, but not
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: have to wear black because you literally like, it doesn't
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: make sense to do it. Love. And then the feedback
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: in the comments were so interesting because people were saying, oh,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: I really resonate with this. I connect with this. And
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: here I am. I'm just posting something because I was annoyed.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: by what I read and suddenly I feel like a
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: community started forming with my content and I was thinking
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: oh I didn't realize that this would be relatable so
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Why don't I just start to think about that in
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: the back of my mind as I make content?
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: That's great. So it was a big response. It was
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: a big positive response. So how is dressing, how is
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: deciding what to wear, picking out an outfit, how is
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: that informed by your skin?
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: I think the best way to think about it is
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: that when I have an eczema flare, anything that bothers
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: or triggers the idea or the reminder that I have
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: eczema bothering me will bother me even more. So can
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: I put on clothes that look nice but minimize the
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: sensation of I'm having a flare? And so for me,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: it's wear natural fibers, wear loose clothing, and have easy
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: access to scratch. I don't know if you noticed on this,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: but I've been itching... every so often because I am
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: actually going through a flare. I'm wearing a hat so
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: I don't scratch my scalp.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Like this is, this is great. And I think this
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: makes it more authentic. You know, this is, this is good.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: This is good for a show called skin purries.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Come on. You gotta, you gotta.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Perfect. When I first started with my fashion journey, I
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: wore super oversized clothes because I was, I mean, partially,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: I think it was like over, I don't know if
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: overcompensating is the right word, but it was just making
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: sure I was fully comfortable, but also I'm experimenting, I'm
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: trying something. Nowadays, I like playing with the shapes, and
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: so on days when my skin's not as angry, I'll
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: wear the things that maybe I shouldn't be wearing. But
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: then on days where it is angry, I'll dress in
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: my very safe outfits.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: Love this. I love this. Eczema safe outfits and eczema
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: risky outfits that you can be wild and put on
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: when you're not having a flare.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: I'm wearing black today. You know, it's like that.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: I'm obsessed. Come on.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: I guess I'm curious, like, are there particular fabrics or
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: textures that you try to avoid? Fabrics and textures that
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: you kind of gravitate towards?
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: You know, so in terms of gravitating, like at minimum, 100% cotton,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: some linen fabrics. I think lyocell works really nicely. Sometimes silk,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: but it all comes down to does it feel breathable
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: and does it scratch my skin? And sometimes all of
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: these can do that, which is why I really want
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: to try on the clothing or feel it. For someone
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: who's super sensitive, it would be best to avoid 100%
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: polyester because it's not very breathable. Cotton is very breathable.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: for your skin. And so it's kind of counterintuitive, right?
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: You go to the gym and you wear polyester shorts,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: you wear polyester tank or muscle tee. But in reality,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: sometimes that might actually bother you depending on the person.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: So I think prioritize natural fibers, but even fibers like
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: wool can be really scratching. So I sometimes avoid those.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: It really depends. Then it's just experimenting with sizes and
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: reading the care labels and seeing what it says and
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: trying to make your best judgment.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: I'm curious, as you become more open about eczema in
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: your content, how has that changed your relationship with fashion?
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: So I think like I don't want eczema to fully
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: consume how I get dressed. I want to have some
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: wiggle room. for things that I want to wear, even
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: if I know that it's not great for my skin. Yeah.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Just because I like wearing fun things. I love that.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: But I think when it comes to bringing eczema into
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: how I present myself, it's really weird because even though
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: I'm aware that I talk about eczema with my fashion
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: and how I present myself, on the internet, I'm much
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: more quiet about this in real life. Like if I'm just,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm not, I'm not like pronouncing to the world, Hey,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I have eczema.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: I'm dressing like this. Like that's what you're shouting down
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: the street every day when you walk.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: I've been hearing you. Yeah.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: This is my morning routine. Yeah. Yeah.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Eczema is unfortunately a very quiet experience. Like you kind of,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: you don't want to share that a lot with other people.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: And so for me, it's more of like, you know
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: how am i feeling today am i feeling confident in
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: my skin today if so all right i'm gonna wear
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: this oh how am i feeling today is my eczema
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: bothering me am i not feeling confident okay i'm gonna
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: wear this and yeah based on this like I try
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: not to let it consume me, but I give myself
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: options on how I want to, you know, wear clothes
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: and present myself and all that stuff.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: This rocks. This rocks a lot. What's your relationship with
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: eczema today? Where are you in it?
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: I actually am really upset about my eczema today. I
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: feel like I'm dealing with it in the most annoying places,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: which is my hands and my face and my scalp.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: So like... Every time I move my hands, I'm reminded
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: of how this feels.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Every time I look in the mirror, I'm reminded of
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: how it looks. And for some reason, like my scalp
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: is just so itchy sometimes. It is a lot better
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: than it was four months ago because I've started to
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: adjust some parts of my routine. But I mean, my
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: hand eczema, it's like, what did I do to get
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: these blisters that are now going to cause me so
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: much pain?
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: You know, for the next three weeks, because it's going
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: to take three weeks for the skin barrier to heal.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: So in terms of current relationship, it's not great, but
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: I just have this mindset, like I will figure this out.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: It will go away and life will be better. Like
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: I refuse to not think anything else because if I do,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I'll just let my skin problems consume me. And I just,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: I can't, I can't imagine that. I hear you in
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: a big way. You know, just to reflect back, I
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: think what's really beautiful about how you're talking about this,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: and especially when you were talking about like picking out
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: an outfit, is like it really calls you into presence.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: You're like, where am I today? Today, I'm here. And today,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: this is what I want. And I'm going to make
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: a conscious decision to do this. And this is where
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: my skin is. And this is where my fashion sense is.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to unite them together. It's cool to hear.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: And it also feels... really hopeful for all of us
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: who'd like deal with skin things to be like, okay,
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: we can, we're going to survive this. It's going to
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: be day by day.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: My final question for you is what would be your
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: advice to someone who really loves fashion? Maybe someone who
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: wants to experiment with fashion hasn't yet, but they feel
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: restricted by their eczema.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: A lot of times people say, wear whatever you want,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: which I actually think is horrible advice for someone who's
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: trying to figure out what they want to wear. Love.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: What I actually think is good when you're first starting
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: is that you should dress for your insecurities such that
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: you start to become comfortable.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: And then you can start to figure it out from there.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: So love that. If you're worried or concerned about something
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: and you're like, I don't want to wear red because
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: it accentuates the redness on my face. don't wear red,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: wear something else, right? And so the best advice I
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: think is, you know, people say, oh, fashion's all about
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: like expressing your most confident self. Don't hide what you're
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: insecure about. I actually think if you feel comfortable hiding
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: or masking your insecurities such that you start to feel
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: comfortable in your own skin, then you can then start
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: to present yourself in the best way you want to
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: as you get comfortable. Then do that. And so that
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: is probably my advice, which is, It is okay to
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: dress for your insecurities. And eventually you just start to
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: experiment and figure out what works best for you.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: I love that. By tending to your insecurities, you are
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: actually building up your confidence.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: 100%. Okay.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: What a perfect way to end this.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Great.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Well, Andrew, thank you so much for chatting with me today.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: It's been such a pleasure.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Thanks. This was super fun.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for being with us for Andrew's story.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: I cannot believe it, but we are almost at the end.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: We've got only one more episode for you this season.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: So until we meet again, may we ignore the fashion
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: advice that doesn't quite fit and wear whatever helps us
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: feel most like ourselves. Skin Queries is a production of
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia. Our producer is Reem El-Meghabi. Project
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: lead is Maria St.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Alban.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: And sound designer is Sam Seguet. I'm Dylan Maron. We
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: will see you next time.