Everyday Autism: Body Care + Cosmetics

People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) need fixed routines and rules to navigate the world. They are uniquely different and perceive their environment differently. A fixed daily routine can help them find their way in everyday life. This routine includes daily personal hygiene through body care rituals. What can selfcare rituals look like for people with autism, what is different and what proves to be particularly challenging?

(Natural-) cosmetics for body care

The association is committed to a self-determined life of autistic people.

Due to their perceptual peculiarities, autistic people have many challenges in everyday life, for example with their sense of smell. The beauty of natural cosmetics is the fact that the fragrances, due to their naturalness, do not smell as strong and are therefore less intrusive than fragrances in conventional cosmetics. The association "Selbstbestimmt Autistisch 2019 e.V." has helped us to better understand the world of autistic people:

• Hyposensitivity: In the case of hyposensitivity, the sense of smell may be completely absent, resulting in a lack of personal hygiene.
• Hypersensitivity: In case of hypersensitivity, odors can be overwhelming. Often, hypersensitivity results in an aversion to strongly scented perfumes or shampoos with chemical ingredients, as well as towards people who smell like them.

By a happy coincidence, we met Konstanze Klüglich, who founded the association „Selbstbestimmt Autistisch 2019 e.V“. She can report from her own experience with her children and has been campaigning for many years to increase education and self-determination for people with autism. She received AWESOME SOAP from affected parents as a thank you gift for her support:

"As soon as I received it, the scent hit my nose.... and that made me very curious. Of course, they couldn‘t know that I used to work as a medical cosmetician once. I worked with natural cosmetics, the ingredients, essential oils, the method of production etc. are to this day extremely important to me. Therefore I can immediately tell by the smell whether a product is natural or not (...) A great product that I really liked without reservation, which is not so easy to come by. So of course I had to know more and went to your website."

As a medical cosmetician, Konstanze (yes, we are on a first-name basis) is of course very familiar with natural cosmetics and was so enthusiastic about our natural soaps GIMME MOOR and ROSEBUTT that she contacted us. We would like to draw your attention to a special project of her association, which addresses the topic of body care and cosmetics for autistic people. Here people with autism of all ages and stages have fun using great products for daily body care and are able to make positive memories. Why is this important?

Do's + Don'ts of autism body care routines

Body care rituals are really helpful for people with autism.

If we're honest, everyone has stood in front of a shelf at one time or another and has been overwhelmed with the variety of available products or even felt overloaded with products. Autistic people in particular suffer constantly from such a sensory overload. They have to choose between many products they don't know. The product labels are often confusing and not very informative. How do you find the right care products?

First of all, it is important to know one's own skin type to make sure not to irritate the skin unnecessarily. This is exactly what the association helps with, with its individual "Body Care and Cosmetics!" course for autistic people. The following course contents belong into a perfectly coordinated care routine:

• Determination of skin type
• Determination of suitable care products
• Application and precise instructions

In this workshop special attention is paid to the difference between natural cosmetics and conventional cosmetics. The ingredients are examined and the positive effects of natural essential oils are explained. Fragrances, consistency, feeling on the skin can be different with solid or liquid body care products and are also perceived as such by autistic people. In this course, participants will find out what they like and what suits them best. And why all this?

Konstanze explains: "People with autism often have difficulties due to their perceptual peculiarities and the additional lack of planning tasks ahead. Very often this brings difficulties in areas such as daily personal hygiene. Taking a shower or washing hair may not be possible because it hurts, learning to brush teeth independently seems out of reach. Sometimes they shower until the bottle of shower gel is empty, or shower gel can't be used because it stinks. Developing flow charts makes life easier and promotes independence."

Support the Autism Project "Body Care and Cosmetics!"

AWESOME SOAP for awesome people with autism! We would like to support this project together with you: You can now indefinitely redeem the coupon code SUPPORTAUTISM. For every order received with this code we will donate one AWESOME SOAP to the association and its "Body Care and Cosmetics!" course. With your order you treat yourself and support a good cause. This makes shopping twice as fun!

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