What do you wear in the summer?

[Carly011]

So it is almost summer time...days are getting warmer. Thankfully it has been kind of cool and rainy the whole month, usually it is hot by the beginning of april-mid april but not this year!! But now it is warming up Ugh i always look forward to winter because its easier to cover up scars and cuts!

So my question is What do you wear in the summer? Most of my scars are on my upper thigh, with a few on my stomach, arms and hips. So far i am looking for shorts that cover my cuts, lots of dresses and skirts(because then i can wear leggings!) But what do you do for swimming?

So what is your usual wear for the summer? i need ideas! I get really hot because of heart problems but hopefully i can make this work...

[xXl0sth0peXx]

My cuts are on my wrists/arms, and so last summer (first summer after starting SH) I bought a hoodie, but it was really thin. I wore it everywhere pretty much; And I told people I was always cold. And they believed me. Still works. So thin clothing works pretty well I'd say.

As far as swimming, there's not really much you can do unless you wanna show your cuts. You could try a wetsuit, but explaining to people why you want one instead of a normal suit might be hard. Otherwise you can't really do much.

[IAmTheLizardQueen]

Super thin long sleeve shirts; with a tee over it and jeans are kinda my fallback... My third summer hiding scars and i'm kinda at the same spot you are. Working on a tan on my arms though (reading in my back yard) hopefully that'll JUST get me by with short sleeves if people dont go looking for scars.

I think you might have to sit out on the swimming though unless you plan to show people your scars.

[Ambrosia]

I live in east Texas, so it gets up into the 100's here in the summer (And even in the Spring). I no longer cut my legs but the scars were pretty gruesome until I get some big tattoos over them so I can wear short-shorts without a problem now. My arms are easy to cover up because I wear a wrist band over the cuts/scars at all times, and the scars on my shoulders have become faint over the years so I can wear what I want more often.

[Maiden]

i managed to quit cutting during the summer last year, so i could go swimming as usual. But this summer... idk what to do, me and my friends usaly go out with the boat quite often and then we swim go waterskiing etc. now i got my ankles full of cuts so i need to move where i cut so i can wear shorts this summer.

unless someone has a great idea how to hide ankle cuts.

[Carly011]

Yeah, I have alot of lace leggings to wear so its not to hot but coverd my scars. I think I am going to avoid cutting anywhere but my thighs, then I can wear shorts over my swim suit.

Would it look weird wearing lace leggings under shorts? Otherwise I will be living in dresses and skirts!

[Mutibann]

unless someone has a great idea how to hide ankle cuts.

Anklets work

[Desuetude]

I wear my normal clothes all year round. Black top, black hoody, black jeans, trainers which makes it less suspicious in the summer which is always great. Yeah I get really dehydrated and hot but you win some you lose some.

I would say loose, light clothing and you could try skin coloured tights if you get a darker colour than your skin. That sometimes works although black tights would do the same thing (just a little hot though).

[Wolverine.]

I wear the same clothes no matter the season haha. It gets pretty hot here in summer, but I have learned to cope with it. I wear black stockings, boots, dress with a t shirt under it pretty much. It hides them well. And I swim every year, no one has noticed the scars on my thighs and ankles.

[Zeh Crazy]

When I first started cutting on my wrist when I was 12, I always wore hoodies in the Summer. Now I wear lots of arm bands when the cuts are fresh. But I don't cut on my wrist anymore. I always wore jeans back then, so hiding the cuts and scars on my thighs was no problem. Now that I wear shorts, I always cut above the line of the end of my shorts so no one will see...I've always tried to hide it somehow.

[FullyAlive]

This year I haven't cut my arm in a few months and when I have cut I've been cutting the top of my thighs so this year all I need is a skirt or shorts for my legs and a hoodie when i'm around people I don't want to see my scars, but scars are different to actual cuts and i'm a bit more.comfortable showing them. A week or so ago I was in Poland and it was 28°C so I wore a vest top I caught one girl looking that's all.

So basically your ideal solution is stop cutting, scars are easier to hide of course I understand you probably aren't ready to do this. So I have some other ideas.
leggings under skirts and shorts is a pretty good idea as I often found you could see all my scars through opaque tights even black ones, so leggings might be better.
You can also find long sleeve dresses that way you look summery and people question it less. I have a white long sleeve cardigan so I could wear that instead of black ones to try and keep cooler. Depending on where they are you could wear a lot of bracelets to cover them. Or try make up.

As for swimming well you could get a kaftan that covers them and only take it off once in the water but I pretty much gave up on swimming.

But don't forget the sun helps to fade scars so when you do have the opportunity keep them uncovered.

[MemoriesLost]

Most of my cuts are on my arms, so I usually wear fairly thin long sleeves, arm warmers, or about an inch of makeup. .___.
For the ones on my legs, I wear a lot of long skirts and (like you said) tights and leggings. It works pretty good for the ones on my calves especially. I have only one scar on my stomach, but all my shirts go low enough to cover that.
About swimming..... I don't. Swim suits are far too scary and risky for me...

[Mortal Coil]

There are some swimsuits that cover your thighs. If you want an excuse you can choose from the following:
-embarrassing birthmark (only works with strangers)
-gross ingrown pubes that another bathing suit would show off (only works with close people)
-self-conscious about body shape
-want to minimize sun damage.

Good luck!

[Carly011]

Thank you everyone!!! I am going shopping today and tomorrow and stoking up on more skirts/dresses and tights/leggings :) then i am going to look for shorts that cover my thighs a bit more then normals.

As for swimming, i think i found a way! I am going to get swim shorts or just regular soffe shorts to wear over the bottoms. I am so glad i switched to my thighs before i had to many scars on my arms/stomach. That way it wont look weird when i wear a bikini top with shorts over the bottom, i used to do this all the time so it wont be to abnormal for me!

As for my arms, i think makeup will work well enough :) thankfully i don't get tan so i wont have splotches all over my arm :)

[Erasmus]

Shorts and a t shirt.

[Carly011]

How do you manage that with scars and cuts?

[bes004]

I cut on my hip, so it's fairly easy to hide. I wear swim shorts so that's no a problem. However, I used to cut near my ankle, but stopped doing that because I couldn't wear anything but long pants. That was horrible

[Fourth Dimension]

my cuts were always on my arms and i never really hid them but usually i wear a hoddie all year round even in 100 degree weather the hoodie never phased me lol

[Carly011]

Wow, a hoodie all year, i think i'd die!! I really appreciate all of the answers. Its really helpful, i dont people knowing about my cutting. Hopefully one day i can quit, but until then i'd like to keep it a secret!

and i just realized i dont think i have to worry about swimming!! I am having heart surgery this summer, so i won't be able to swim anyways!! By the time i am recovered it should be the end of summer :) Otherwise i would have just worn shorts

I do my hip too---only thing is there isn't enough room :/ But i think i am going to try to move to there again to hide it more. Or at least further up my thigh. Ugh i wish quitting was easy :/

[georgiamay]

I don't have many scars on my arms. I found long sleeve opaque tops were good in summery colours. They were light and only partially see-through, and summery colours make it less obvious that you're trying to cover up. I always wore a vest top underneath it, y'know, for obvious reasons.

For thighs and hips, most shorts will cover them, as long as you're not looking at shorts that are more like underwear. Stomach, just keep your top. There are some really really thick tights that could work. They're tights, so no one will really question it, and you can hardly see through them. Even for recent cuts, it'd be hard to see unless you were looking for it. You could wear them with shorts or skirts or dresses.