It can be hard to find long-sleeved tops and light jumpers in the summer. If you believe it’s important to have a wardrobe that suits how you feel about showing or not showing scars on your arms then autumn is a good time to go shopping.

The shops are filled to bursting with t-shirts and vest tops in the spring and summer. It’s really hard to find long-sleeved tops when everyone else seems to want light t-shirts. Worse, if you find a great design online, it may only come as a t-shirt – long-sleeved versions aren’t always produced.

Right now, the shops are catering for autumn and winter, so even if you have enough big chunky tops to see you through the cold weather, have a browse and see if there are any light tops that you’d like to have for next summer. If, like for so many people, your budget doesn’t stretch to new clothes right now, think about a birthday or Christmas present for yourself, and keep browsing for the sale and reduced items.

Being comfortable with past scarring is important, and showing our scratches, scars, bruises is a personal choice. It’s not all about covering up all the time. LifeSIGNS is not promoting the idea of hiding everything, or being ashamed. There are just circumstances when many of us would prefer to have control over how we present ourselves – when we want our personalities and skills to shine forth, not our past experiences.

Sadly, not everyone is given this choice, as some places of work or study have clothing policies that either force people to wear short-sleeves or wear long-sleeves, regardless of how the person feels.

I don’t know why I like shopping in the summer – I think it’s because I like to sit outside in a café as well, but I’m always annoyed that I can’t find the sort of tops I want because the shops are swamped with t-shirts. So this is just a reminder that autumn can be a great time to go browsing for next year’s clothes – unless of course you’re a fashinista and would never be caught in last season’s styles!

Photo credit: misat0

Wedge

Read more about showing our scars, covering up, and reducing the appearance of scars.

While this article talks about shopping for tops, we know that self-injury is not all about hurting one’s self on the arms. Different people have different ways of hurting, and different ways of coping.