Sponsored post: I’m so excited to announce that the next leg of my trip will be in France. I’m leaving South Africa tomorrow and will be flying to Paris then to Montpellier. I’ll be staying at Avène‘s Hydrotherapy Centre for Sensitive Skin. I feel very, very lucky. There are a handful of non prescribed products that I can safely use for my skin – and Avene’s range is one of them. Avène Thermal Spring Water is a key ingredient, which makes the products calming and hydrating, and they complement the other ointments and skincare I use very well. When I was contacted by Avène last year, inviting ..read more

May is Ichthyosis awareness month. I hope the organisations supporting people with Ichthyosis focus less on going hiking, finding cures and genetic editing, and more on supporting mental health or how to overcome the shame and hatred and yearning to change appearance, or getting a job – when it’s clear that so many people with Ichthyosis struggle with all of these things. Image: Carly, a woman with a red face and short dark curly hair wearing a floofy purple dress, smiling. She’s against a grey background. Black text is next to her, as above. The post This Ichthyosis Awareness Month, I want ..read more

Very soon, on SBS, Insight is discussing super fans! It airs at 8.30 pm AEDST. It will also be free to watch on SBS On Demand after it airs on TV. I’m not sure if it’s available to watch overseas, sorry. A scheduling change has meant that this episode will not air on 2 April as planned, it will air later in April. I will advise when it will air. I am a guest on the show, discussing my super fandom of Savage Garden and Darren Hayes. The other guests were wonderful – bravely telling their stories of super fandom. Many of the stories were relatable across fandoms – football codes, music and TV ..read more

It’s 1 April – April Fun Day! I hope my previous post with me wearing neutrals made you giggle. I am resuming regular programming, with a very bold clattern pash! I told Adam my “news” this morning and he said “I’m putting my foot down. You’re not wearing beige! You’ve got a wardrobe full of colour.” There was some to that post, though. Those are vintage jackets that I wore to work experience at at my first office job, and I did enjoy wearing them. And I will incorporate them into my existing wardrobe, because they’re in great condition and they still fit! I love dopamine dressing. I love thi ..read more

Big news!  I’m in my neutrals era, and it feels so good! After years of dopamine dressing, I am toning it down.  I’ve decided to stop wearing colour. Brooches begone!  Blending in is the new standing out.  Maximalism is actually feels mundane.  A guy I used to have a crush on once told me I should only wear greys and browns because I shouldn’t draw attention to my redness with colour. I’m revisiting his wise words.  This move back to only navy, grey, black, beige and brown feels so right. So me. I can’t wait to get a little daring with taupe, olive and cream!&nbs ..read more

This is a gifted post, containing spoilers. I saw The Hate Race at The Malthouse Theatre today. It’s an adaptation of Maxine Beneba Clarke’s memoir of the same name – exploring her childhood in the Western suburbs of Sydney in the 1980s and 90s.  Maxine, played by Zahra Newman, is sassy and smart, yet uneasy in her African identity. She dreams of a white version of herself, and then realises the strength in her identity.  Maxine and I are close in age, both Australian born, to migrant parents, raised in a very white Australia. (Her parents are Guyanese and Caribbean, via England; mi ..read more

Today is Rare Disease Day – raising awareness and generating change for the 300 million people worldwide living with a rare disease. When parents get their child’s diagnosis for a rare disease, doctors often say, “I’m so sorry”. They apologise for life not turning out as planned. They unwittingly instil fear and shame. And adults with rare diseases continue to face loneliness, stigma and feelings of deficit and misunderstanding. I have a rare disease – Netherton’s Sybdrome, which is a form of Ichthyosis. Netherton’s Syndrome is very rare. According to the National Organization of Rare Disorde ..read more

image: Nelly Robinson and Carly Findlay in NEL Come with me to NEL. A couple of weeks ago, on Valentine’s Day, I took myself out on a date while I was in Sydney for work. In 2022 I got to meet and work with the wonderful Nelly Robinson, head chef and owner of NEL. We filmed four episodes of The Cook Up for SBS Food, hosted by Adam Liaw. NEL is a super fancy restaurant, serving a degustation menu. The current menu concept celebrates native ingredients – including a pepperberry jaffle, smoked burra (eel), bush tomato damper, kingfish carpaccio, warrigal and saltbush taco, kangaroo kebab, anise ..read more

It’s World Day of Social Justice – a United Nations sanctioned day that reminds us each year of the need to build fairer, more equitable societies.  For me, social justice, when applied to Face Equality, means that people with facial differences are respected and valued and feel safe in society. It means that we can report acts of discrimination and our experiences are validated and are acted on. It means being protected by the Disability Discrimination Act – or the equivalent act in your country.   It means that we can feel proud of our facial differences, and not conceal ..read more

Exposure doesn’t pay the bills! Stop asking writers to write for free. Stop asking speakers to speak for free. Stop running unpaid advisory and consultation committees. Stop asking marginalised people to share our lived experience and expertise for free. Value us. Especially when you’re paying everyone else but us. It’s not just an article or speech we are writing and delivering. It’s the years of experience we’ve had honing our skills. Its the time it takes to write, rewrite and practice. It’s needing to put aside money for tax and superannuation. It’s the time we spend travelling to and from ..read more