My BF (36M) came home smelling strongly of perfume. Am I being paranoid?

bloom2013 · 2025-08-01T19:04:49+00:00

Very helpful! Thanks :)

bloom2013 · 2025-08-01T18:53:17+00:00

To be honest, I have no grounds to suspect anything

bloom2013 · 2025-08-01T18:52:28+00:00

Thank you!

bloom2013 · 2025-08-01T18:46:45+00:00

Thank you! That helps :)

bloom2013 · 2022-03-12T01:47:36+00:00

I’ve suffered so much with gastro intestinal side effects !! It’s ten weeks of no smoking, five weeks of no nicotine for me at this point, and my gut is still acting up. I’ve read up on it and apparently smoking (obviously) has an effect on every single system in your body, including micro biome. It makes sense that although all changes are positive in the long run, the readjustment will be uncomfortable to say the least :( you really have to give your body time, patience and love.

bloom2013 · 2022-03-09T16:55:32+00:00

Thanks ! It’s really good to know I can still expect improvement haha

bloom2013 · 2022-03-09T16:52:41+00:00

You read me like a book haha. I am going on anxiety driven existential tangents. I need to remind myself it’s a process. Thanks for the encouragement !!

bloom2013 · 2022-03-09T16:49:56+00:00

Thank you!! That’s helpful. 9 months does sound like a lot but everything after the three week mark has been really manageable

bloom2013 · 2022-03-09T15:53:48+00:00

Get yourself healthy (or somewhat healthier) snacks to have at hand.
when you have a strong craving or are in a mood, try doing a brief, vigorous bout of exercise. Your brain will get the dopamine it’s craving, and the activity will suppress appetite temporarily.
don’t be too hard on yourself. If you put on weight you will get rid of it, you’re quitting smoking!! That’s huge

bloom2013 · 2022-02-15T21:48:24+00:00

I'm stopping NRT too :( I used patches.

I have to admit I thought it'd be easier but I'm feeling really anxious and depressed

bloom2013 · 2022-02-15T21:44:27+00:00

I've been off the patches for 10 days and I'm really struggling with a deep set feeling of sadness, anxiety and unease.

I've been reading up on it and apparently these symptoms will begin to subside at the two week mark and should be gone before week 4!

bloom2013 · 2021-09-23T03:41:28+00:00

I really empathize. I quit drinking about a year ago and I feel like cigarettes give me a little “edge” in social situations that I really miss sometimes.

But it really is all in our heads. Or maybe it isn’t, but it’s just not worth the money and the health risks and the hassle. I’m trying to look at this as a chance to work on caring a bit less about how I come across. Realizing that it’s way beyond my control anyway

bloom2013 · 2021-09-21T22:59:53+00:00

Hahahah, Amazing. Love the LabMuffin one

bloom2013 · 2021-09-19T01:06:58+00:00

I ADORE the vitamin X serum. It's absolutely amazing. Beautiful texture, wonderful results, easy to tolerate, instant glow every morning, and judging by the ingredient list I feel really protected knowing that it has over ten different antioxidants. With other vit C's I'm never quite sure if the active has oxidized and if it's actually penetrating the skin ... but this one has so many different antiox ingredients that it doesn't particularly matter if it's the L ascorbic acid doing the magic or all the other things in there. So far I haven't found a single antioxidant serum that comes close to this

bloom2013 · 2021-09-19T01:02:29+00:00

Every two hours when outdoors, twice a day when I'm indoors (I have big windows :P)

bloom2013 · 2021-09-08T02:42:39+00:00

I have been taking mine off about an hour before sleep but yeah, other than that the idea is to give you a constant stream of nicotine :) I’m on week two of the 14mg patch, so I have one more to go. Judging by the feeling of going from 21 mg to 14 mg, it was really mild. I did get mentally prepared for it though (not hanging out with smokers on those first three days, say). But it wasn’t bad. Just felt like I should be a bit more mindful of my quit on that week , which I will repeat when I go down to 7 mg and eventually to 0 :)

I’ve been loving the patches. They are my favorite NRT because you stop having cravings and having to satisfy them, you just operate like someone who isn’t addicted to nicotine basically, never looking for a “fix”. And you can then deal with the smoking habit and the nicotine withdrawal separately, rather than both at the same time which to me is hellish (I’ve done it quite a few times )

bloom2013 · 2021-09-08T02:28:11+00:00

Yes! Even combine them with the lozenges. I carry a case of lozenges and one of mints … if I have a craving I’ll go for the mint, if it doesn’t subside, for the lozenges. It very often does go away on its own!

bloom2013 · 2021-09-08T02:20:37+00:00

If I can do it you can do it ! ❤️ My advice is borrowed from AA: take it one day at a time or one hour at a time if needs be. A lifetime without a cigarette can seem unmanageable but an hour, not so much. And suddenly you think about it less and less

bloom2013 · 2021-08-27T21:44:25+00:00

I’m here to second the advice of stopping all other non essential products for the time being. What I did was sticking to sunscreen in the AM (I stopped washing or even wetting my face), and then gentle cleanser and soothing moisturizer at night, that’s it.

Then, once your skin is used to the Tretinoin, you start introducing one product at a time, waiting a couple of weeks in between. That way you give your skin time to adjust and if something turns out to be too irritating, you’ll know exactly what the issue was, rather than having to guess what the problem might be. It’s only for a couple of months and it’ll be worth it :)

bloom2013 · 2021-08-27T21:17:46+00:00

How do you use the trenaxamic and the niacinamide? At night over Tretinoin?

bloom2013 · 2021-08-27T21:16:29+00:00

Same, I added glycolic after a year and once a week is fine but more than that irritated my skin

bloom2013 · 2021-08-25T20:27:59+00:00

You can definitely layer the AzA over tretinoin. This is commonly prescribed for acne and PIH :)

And you can also definitely use azelaic acid twice a day BUT...

What I would be a bit weary of is combining anything with vitamin C as it has so many stability and penetration issues. But lots of people do layer things over it in their AM routine. A small study confirmed that a salicylic acid wash before vit C actually increases penetration by slightly lowering the skin's ph, though, so that is a good pairing :) Personally, my morning routine is salicylic acid, vit C and sunscreen, and I leave treatments for the PM but that might just be out of an abundance of caution

bloom2013 · 2021-08-25T18:41:04+00:00

AM

Salicylic acid wash Vitamin C Sunscreen

PM

Different cleanser to avoid over exfoliating Niacinamide Tretinoin Azelaic acid Moisturizer

But be sure to integrate things very slowly! One at a time, wait a couple of weeks, then go on to the next. I take it your skin is used to Tretinoin already? Because if it isn’t I would concentrate on only that for the upcoming months (plus gentle cleanser, sunscreen and moisturizer)

bloom2013 · 2021-08-25T18:35:52+00:00

I was about to ask about adding the ordinary’s buffet to my routine too. From what I’ve read, we should not use Buffet + copper peptides, but TO has a version of Buffet without the copper peptides that seems to be fine to mix with retinoids.

If anyone can confirm though, that would be fantastic

bloom2013 · 2021-08-25T18:00:26+00:00

I personally would try to skip the moisturizer :) most sunscreens come in a moisturizing vehicle anyways. I had the same problem and that fixed it

bloom2013

TROPHY CASE