Self-Care Is Bullsh*t (But This Saved Me): Best Self-Care Products for Burnout & Hair Loss
- Jill DuBois Wyatt
- Jun 15
- 9 min read
Updated: Jun 16
Transparency Time: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post is packed with affiliate links—meaning if you click and buy, I may earn a small commission (never costs you extra). I only recommend what’s actually helped me survive burnout and come out swinging. These commissions keep my voice unquiet, unbreakable, unfiltered, unapologetically real—and this website ad-free. Thanks for helping me stay loud. |
What Burnt-Out Women Actually Need—And What Real Self-Care Looks Like (Bubble Bath and Beyond)
When it comes to finding the best burnout self-care products, they told you to light a candle. You’re trying not to light your life on fire. Self-care, they said—like a bubble bath could save a woman drowning in unpaid labor, emotional overload, and trauma she hasn’t even named yet.
I remember standing in the hallway at home, head pressed against my bedroom door like it could hold me up better than my own damn spine. My hair was matted with dry shampoo, my skin sticky from a day that had dragged me across hell and back—nursing school clinicals, my mom circling the kitchen for the third time in less than ten minutes, muttering the same sentence under her breath like a broken prayer. She was trying to juggle meds and meals for my blind, deaf grandmother while spinning in stress so thick it bled into my bones. The whole damn house pulsed with tension—hers, mine, the kids’, my husband’s, trauma’s. And in the middle of it all? That endless screaming silence no one else could hear.
I was one missed email from academic death. One sigh away from snapping.
And someone—well-meaning, of course—looked me dead in the eye and said, “You just need a little self-care. Maybe take a bubble bath?”
I could’ve laughed. But my throat closed up so tight I couldn’t even swallow the rage.
A bubble bath? I was grieving the loss of myself in plain sight, and she wanted to talk about lavender salts.
No one seemed to grasp that you can’t self-care your way out of a system designed to break you.
And yet—
The Best Burnout Self-Care Products That Saved My Sanity
That night, after I got the kids down, after I answered my mom’s texts, after I sobbed in my closet with the door locked—I took a hot shower. Scalding. Steam rolled off my skin like the ghosts of every demand that had been screaming my name all damn day. It didn’t fix the trauma. It didn’t hand me peace.
But for twenty minutes, I belonged to no one but myself.
And that? That saved me.
Self-care wasn’t the lie. It was the way they sold it to me—like it should be enough. Like I should be enough.
But sometimes, the hot shower is a revolution. Sometimes, it’s the only moment you can breathe.
Why ‘Self-Care’ Isn’t Bullsh*t—But the Marketing Is
Self-care isn’t bullsht because it’s useless. It’s bullsht when it’s marketed as a fix-all for systemic burnout, trauma, and oppression. When you’re caring for everyone but yourself, and they hand you lavender-scented soap like it’ll heal generational pain.
Sometimes, though? That shower is survival. Sometimes, the bath is the one place no one can find you. And the right lotion, the right body wash, the right deodorant—those tiny things can remind you you still have a body. Still deserve care. Still deserve to feel human.
Lume Deodorant: The Only One That Worked for Me
And Lume? That wasn’t just a random Amazon grab. It was personal.
Why I Chose Lume (Even With the Controversy)
Back in 2017, after my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, her oncologist told her to toss the aluminum-based deodorants—and she passed that warning straight to me. Then, while she was still mid-chemo and recovering from a mastectomy and lymph node removal, I was in a hospital bed, post-hysterectomy at 34 years old. My hormones went feral. I’m talking middle school boy after gym class kind of body odor—something I didn’t even go through during puberty.
There’s a lot of debate about aluminum in deodorant. My mom’s oncologist urged her to switch after her diagnosis. But new research says there’s no real risk for most people. For me, it was about feeling safe, and—honestly?—finding something that actually worked through hormone hell.
I tried every aluminum-free deodorant I could find. Some half-worked. Some half-stank. None felt like a real solution. Unbreakable Women Need Unbreakable Deodorant—Take Back Your Day! Shop Lume Solid Stick on Amazon:
The Real Reason I Recommend Lume
Around the same time, Lume showed up in my Facebook feed—and I had just started my second nursing program. The timing? Brutal. The stress? Biological sabotage. And once the sweat and stink started slapping me around, I gave Lume a shot.
I’ve been using it ever since—December 2022 and not looking back. I’ve tried others during emergencies, even the new whole-body creams other brands are now pushing. But nothing gives me the same confidence—nothing. That’s why both the solid stick and the invisible cream are locked into my Amazon Subscribe & Save. Because when your body’s already working against you, the last thing you need is deodorant that taps out when you’re just getting through the damn day. Lume is the only aluminum-free deodorant that actually works for me—and I’ve tested damn near everything on the market. Forget the ingredients debate. I recommend Lume because it passed the only test that mattered: surviving my daily, stress-drenched life, when every other natural deodorant tapped out. Rub It In. Everywhere. (Trust Me.) Not just for armpits—it's for pits, bits, and the sassy in-between slits!
Shop Lume Cream & Stick Bundle on Amazon
Mighty Patch: The Real Solution for Stress Acne
Your Face Is Screaming. Is Anyone Listening?
You know the drill. Life’s an undertow, pulling you under, beating you raw, and daring you to surface: the unending hustle, the silent sacrifices, the constant damn fight to keep everything from crumbling. You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and what do you get? A fresh crop of stress acne, blazing across your face like a neon sign screaming: I’M NOT OKAY.
Why Stress Shows Up On Your Skin
It’s not just a zit. It's a hot, screaming protest on your skin. A raw, pulsating reminder of every late night, every swallowed insult, every moment you put yourself last. They tell you to just “relax,” to “breathe,” like a deep breath will obliterate the hell you’ve lived through. Bullshit.
But here’s the truth: your skin doesn’t lie. And you deserve more than cover-up. You deserve to heal, even the parts that feel impossible. Because when your face screams, you damn well better listen.
How I Use Mighty Patch
I’ve been there. My skin mapped out every trauma, every burnout cycle, every time I thought I had nothing left. And then I found the brutal truth. For those awful, embarrassing flare-ups that feel like your face is betraying you, there's a weapon: the Mighty Patch™ Original.
This isn't some fluffy skincare fantasy. This is science that gets the job done when your body's screaming loudest. It’s for the nights you pass out from exhaustion and wake up with a fresh reminder of the war you're fighting.
Stop picking. Start healing. Get your Mighty Patch™ here:
Because your truth isn’t pretty, and neither is your healing. But both are damn powerful.
Moroccanoil & Hair Loss Recovery: My Go-To Products
These are the best hair products I’ve used for stress-related hair loss, hormonal imbalance, and post-trauma hair repair.
Moroccanoil isn’t just a brand I use—it’s been part of my damn survival kit since 2004.
I’ve tried drugstore. I’ve tried trendy. But nothing has worked for me—through stress, hormone crashes, hair loss, and burnout—like Moroccanoil. That signature scent? It’s nostalgic. Healing. And their Treatment oil? That’s my day-one product. I’ve had it on my counter since before I had kids.
Let’s be real—they’re not cheap. I get it.
Long-Lasting Results
But they last. My 33.8 oz Scalp Balancing Shampoo lasts me 4 to 5 months, depending on the season. My Hydrating Conditioner? Stretches to 6 months easily, especially because I rotate in the Blonde Perfecting Purple Conditioner 2–3 times a month to keep brassiness away. These are long-haul, worth-the-money products.
And if the full bottles feel out of reach right now, I got you.
Travel/Trial Sets for Any Budget
Moroccanoil offers travel and mini sets so you can try my top picks without the commitment. These are the same ones I stash in my overnight bag and recommend to every stressed-out mom, nurse, or survivor who needs their shower to feel like a reset button.
These are my real, subscribed, sanity-saving Moroccanoil go-to’s—and yes, they’re affiliate links. Because truth deserves to be paid for, too.
🌿 My Favorites (Full Size)
🧴 Shampoo & Conditioner Bundles (Hair-Type Specific)
💆♀️ Scalp Care + Treatments
💧 Deep Hydration Hair Masks
🛁 Body Favorites
✈️ Try-It Kits (Budget-Friendly)
These are my go-to sanity-saving picks. And yeah, they’re affiliate links. Because women deserve to get paid for their truth too.
Supplements That Actually Help with Hair Loss and Burnout
Let’s talk about supplements that actually help with hair loss from stress and hormone crashes. Because no amount of expensive shampoo is going to fix the burnout if your body’s running on fumes.
I learned that the hard way.
At first, it was subtle—my skin started breaking out in weird patches, looking dull, flat, and lifeless like it had given up right along with me. I blamed it on clinicals, maybe not enough water, maybe the cheap cafeteria food. But then my hair started falling out. Not just the normal few strands in the brush. At first, it was a little more than usual when I’d take it out of the tight buns and ponytails nursing school required us to wear. But over time, it escalated—fast. Every time I stepped into the shower, I watched chunks of hair swirl around the drain like a silent scream my body was trying to get out.
Stress was bleeding out of me in ways I couldn’t hide anymore—not in my face, not in my scalp, not in the mirror.
That’s when I started taking MaryRuth’s Liquid Multivitamin + Hair Growth. Not because I thought it would “fix” everything overnight, but because I was desperate to support my body in some small, consistent way. Biotin. Lustriva. Clinically tested in women for thicker hair, better skin, and fewer wrinkles. And while the results weren’t magic, they were real. It gave my body something to work with when I had nothing left to give.
And in the chaos of everything else falling apart? That mattered.
MaryRuth’s Liquid Multivitamin + Hair Growth is my “body’s running on fumes” fix when stress is eating me alive.
Recharge Your Body—Shop MaryRuth’s Multivitamin on Amazon
Truth-Telling Self-Care: What Burnt-Out Women Deserve
We’ll still hit hard here:
Permission to rest without productivity
Boundaries enforced with fire, not guilt
Rage rooms over silence
Nutrition and sleep that isn’t skipped for others
Safe spaces and paid healing—not shame
Self-care isn’t a face mask. It’s giving yourself back to yourself. Maybe—just maybe—it’s letting the bath be sacred because you finally said fuck it to the rest.
Need somewhere to start? Take the bath. Use the deodorant. Burn the rules.
If you’re searching for real self-care for moms, caregivers, and women rebuilding from burnout—you’re in the right place.
If you’re done pretending a bubble bath fixed the burnout?
Subscribe. Read. Rage. Reclaim.
Reclaim your body. Reclaim your time. Reclaim your damn life.
This space was built for the women who’ve had enough—and are finally done being sold silence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I know if I’m experiencing burnout or just regular stress?
A: Burnout isn’t just tired—it’s emotional exhaustion, physical drain, and that numb feeling like you’ve lost yourself. Key signs? Constant fatigue, emotional flatline, hair loss, or skin flares.
Q: Can self-care actually fix burnout?
A: No. Self-care alone won’t fix burnout caused by trauma, overwork, or impossible expectations. But the right rituals can give you a lifeline until real change happens.
Q: Do aluminum-free deodorants really work?
A: Most don’t. I tried them all—Lume is the only one that survived my stress, hormone crashes, and 12-hour days. (Get it on Amazon here.)
Q: What’s the best quick self-care for exhausted moms and caregivers?
A: The shower. Lock the door, turn up the heat, and make those 10 minutes yours—no apologies.
Q: Why am I losing so much hair when I’m stressed?
A: Chronic stress and hormone swings can trigger hair loss. You’re not crazy or alone—it’s biology, not weakness. The right products and a multivitamin can help, but rest is medicine too.
Q: Is it worth spending money on “fancy” hair products or supplements?
A: If the drugstore stuff isn’t working, invest in something that does. I don’t recommend anything I haven’t used through hell and back myself.
Q: How do you handle stress acne when nothing seems to work?
A: Stress acne isn’t just about skincare—it’s your body screaming for help. The Mighty Patch is my emergency go-to, but real healing starts with tackling the root causes: stress and hormone chaos.
Q: Will my hair grow back after stress-related hair loss?
A: Yes—if you address the stress and hormone storms behind it. I turned it around with a mix of Moroccanoil products and MaryRuth’s supplements, but healing means treating both the body and soul.
Q: What if nothing seems to help?
A: Then it’s time for radical rest, better boundaries, and maybe a full-blown rebellion. (You’re not meant to do this alone. Subscribe for my next hard truth.)
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I LOVE Moroccanoil Treatment too!