Talking to my best friend about her scalp skin cancer experience

I was busily humming away in my own bubble of concerns when my best friend Suzie sent me a text saying we should hang out and oh also she had skin cancer on her scalp.

WHAT!?

Given that I run a skincare blog and Suzie wants to help other people avoid the same experience, we decided to record a conversation about what it’s like to discover that you have skin cancer on your scalp, the surgery process, and things learned along the way. We’re not experts at anything other than Ugly Betty trivia, so we’re focusing on what it’s like to navigate scalp skin cancer as a patient.

Here we are in 2011 at my wedding!

Suzie was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma in February of this year and had surgery soon after. She has healed very well, but she’s bummed to have a pretty big scar on her head that’s hard to cover up while waiting to see if and how her hair returns.

One’s risk for skin cancer varies quite a bit, so ask your dermatologist or GP if you need to get regular checks. I’m about Suzie’s color and I don’t think anyone in my family has had a spot removed despite a wild disregard for SPF/love affair with our closest star, but my dermatologist pushes strongly for an annual exam. I groan and comply, but I won’t hesitate to strip down in the future after hearing about what happened to my bestie.

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How to Authenticate [Some] Korean Beauty Products

Fans of Korean beauty often want to know how to make sure that the stuff they’re buying is authentic, as in, actually made by the company that…you know, makes it.

The best way to do that, of course, is to buy from trusted sellers. I have a list of Korea-based shops I like, but sometimes it’s not possible to shop with them and sometimes you happen to get a sheet mask or product and you don’t know its provenance.

So how do you know that your Korean beauty products are authentic?

There’s an app for that.

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A Visual Skincare Routine Guide

First published: 2 September 2015; updated 19 February 2022.

My goal for this post is very modest: I want to turn words into pictures. I see lots of confusion and questions about when to apply which skincare products. And for good reason: it’s confusing!

I think that simplifying things drastically by removing most words for a moment could be useful. Think of this post as a cheat sheet for constructing and following a routine.

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