Prepping Psoriasis for Party Season

I don't know about you, but the words "party" and "little black dress" fill me with anxiety and feelings of dread. Oh no, what will I wear?

As a huge introvert, parties are hard work for me, but having to feel good enough to enjoy the party always involves feeling comfortable in my clothes, and that is a challenge always.

Preparing for holiday parties when you have psoriasis

You can interview and gets ideas from a stylist! And don't panic, after living through more than 20 party seasons, I did this for you. I interviewed a stylist on my podcast on how to dress confidently with psoriasis, and I share the best tips and tricks I picked up.

It's also important to learn and know your psoriasis triggers so you can enjoy party season without flaring. You can also work towards masterminding a treatment plan for better control and balance.

Tips from a stylist

In the podcast, I interviewed Isabel from The Wardrobe Edit. We came up with some great suggestions for dressing during the holiday party season.

High coverage with statement jewelry

Full length dresses with statement jewelry or belts can detract focus from the areas you are most concerned about.

Example: Wearing a full-length dress, with big gold statement earrings draws focus from the arms to the ears. This is now my go-to. Even though I have psoriasis in my ears, I can treat that in five days with a touch of mild steroids. This strategy can work for you in combination with a chat with your doctor if you have flaky ears as I do.

Wear silk

Usually, I avoid this high maintenance fabric, but its very breathable and sweeps over lumpy bits in a very flattering way. A pure silk shirt can elevate what feels like a frumpy skirt or culottes you're using to cover scabby knees into a thing of beauty. Silk is also super soft on skin that's sore and scratchy.

Example: Use patterned silk to draw the eye. A fitted long sleeve cotton top with statement silk skirt can be dressed up for parties or down for daytime events. This can make your silk investment worthwhile. If your skirt has several colors, all you have to do is change the color of your high coverage top. This gives you several outfits from year to year. It's ideal if you have psoriasis higher up on your neck. This strategy can also work well with polo necks and a statement necklace on top.

I'm not greatly girly, so I much prefer the flexibility of culottes but of course, its all personal preference. The important thing here is that you feel comfortable.

Play with texture

If you feel more comfortable with high coverage, then playing with texture helps to break up the block colors. I love lace and embroidery in the winter, even if it's in the same color as the top.

I am also a huge fan of velvet in the winter. It's so elegant and sexy. I will even dare to wear it in black. One glass of wine in my black backless velvet catsuit and I'm slinking around the party like a social panther. Even though this shows off some of my worst patches of psoriasis, its the outfit my husband finds the sexiest.

When I wear velvet I show off all of my psoriasis and still feel sexy and as Isabel rightly says - it's not about how much psoriasis is showing, no one will notice if your feeling confident. So remember, the key is that dressing for parties is not about how you look; it's about how the outfit makes you feel.

Know your psoriasis triggers throughout party season

Psoriasis has lots of triggers and several of them are prevalent in party season. The ones that come to mind for me are stress, dehydration, flaring from infections and histamine overload.

Stress and psoriasis

Stress makes psoriasis worse, it's a generally recognized fact. When you are trying to balance the pressures of Christmas, with three (about to be four!) children, being social and running your own business, you can't be surprised when things get a bit hectic.

Staying hydrated

Dehydration of skin happens a lot. From external pressures like the heat in my home drying out my skin to realizing hot chocolate has been my only source of water intake (and its 6 pm). My psoriasis patches are bound to be more noticeable and flakier. I need to develop healthier habits, be more conscious of water levels and the use of emollient ingredients in my daily skin routine.

Histamine and psoriasis

Histamine. I am sensitive to too much histamine and it makes me itch. Unfortunately, wine contains quite a lot and in an ideal world, post 6PM I would swap hot chocolate for a spicy glass of red wine. Therefore if I am at a party, I will stick to white spirits like gin and tonic as it reduces my histamine and sugar intake. Drinking red wine all night means waking up with raw, scratchy skin and it's not worth it.