Suit of the Week: Etro
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For busy working women, the suit is often the easiest outfit to throw on in the morning. In general, this feature is not about interview suits for women, which should be as classic and basic as you get — instead, this feature is about the slightly different suit that is fashionable, yet professional. Also: we just updated our big roundup for the best women's suits of 2025!
If you have a spare $3000 and a big event coming up, I have just the suit for you: this gorgeous green and purple paisley suit from Etro.
Paisley suits are not for everyone, but Etro's prints are always amazing — there's this more pastel number on sale at Neiman Marcus (70% off so lucky sizes only!), as well as this brown corduroy one at NET-A-PORTER. Decisions!
Personally I like the teal and purple paisley print the best of the three — I do think you could wear the pieces as separates but I think they are still going to be for a creative office or a festive day at a more conservative one. For some reason I'm seeing the pants worn separately with an untucked crisp white blouse and a black rollneck sweater on top — or I could see someone really having fun with mixed prints by wearing black pants, the paisley blazer, and a print blouse (perhaps a light purple gingham?).
The blazer is $2180, and the pants are $980, both at Neiman Marcus. Try code NMTREND to get a gift card with your purchase (possibly up to a $1500 gift card).
Sales of note for 8/12/25:
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your full price purchase, and $99 dresses and jackets — extra 60% off sale also
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 10% off new womenswear styles with code
- Dermstore – Anniversary sale, up to 25% off everything
- Eloquii – Extra 50% off all sale
- J.Crew – 30% off wear-now styles & up to 60% off all sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – Up to 60% off everything and extra 60% off clearance
- Mejuri – Up to 25% off everything
- M.M.LaFleur – New August drop, and up to 70% off sale – try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off.
- Neiman Marcus – Last call designer sale! Spend $200, get a $50 gift card (up to $2000+ spend with $500 gift card)
- Nordstrom – 9,800+ new women's markdowns
- Rothy's – Ooh: limited edition T-strap flats / Mary Janes
- Spanx – Free shipping on everything
- Talbots – Semi-annual red door sale! 50% off all markdowns + extra 20% off already marked-down items
Not my problem–I already know this. A good friend has been confiding in me about her 16 year old daughter being ungrateful and as having no perspective on work and sacrifice. I told her to direct her kid to get a job so that she starts to understand what her parents do to provide for her and so that she can start handling some of her own expenses (gas, shopping, that kind of thing.) She and her husband are divorced and neither seem willing to push their kid to do what she doesn’t want to, which includes getting a job, because “school is hard” and “she has extracurriculars.” She has one extra-curricular and lots of things are hard.
I don’t really care whether she works or not, but it seems like an obvious solution to me. I’m perfectly happy to keep parroting the same response back to the same complaints I’m getting, but am I missing something? I already told her school is not a job and that her daughter never have the perspective to appreciate what she’s given if she doesn’t understand what it means to work.
Honestly I’m very glad this isn’t my problem. But I’d like to make my friend less anxious.
I agree with you, fwiw – I had a 15 hour a week job at McDonald’s in high school and it took only one paycheck for me to start thinking in terms of “that top is $20 and it will take me 7 hours of work to pay for it at this rate”
but my parents also wanted me to treat school as my “job” in that it was my top priority, not that it’s literally a job, so I don’t think you should get hung up on that argument.
You’re not missing anything. Nothing changes if nothing changes — so if your friend wants a kid to have a different understanding of work, then something has to change.
But like you say, this isn’t your problem. I like a phrase someone mentioned in a different thread: “Are you looking to vent or looking for advice?” If the former, just let her vent. If the latter, then you can say what you’ve already said. Even volunteering would be a way to get some persepective, or a summer job, etc.
I think you’ve posted about this in vague terms a couple of times before? Not your circus, not your monkeys. Last time someone suggested responding “Do you want advice, or do you just need to vent?” as a way to signal that you’re not interested in listening to endless complaining about the same topic.
I can see where your friend is coming from. I have an 18-year-old college sophomore. We did not require her to get a job until the summer after she graduated from high school because keeping up with her IB schoolwork and extracurriculars was running not just her but the entire family ragged. During the summers in high school she was taking courses or attending camps. Her first summer job after graduation was stressful, and I don’t think she could have handled it any younger or with school stuff going on at the same time. She worked part-time on campus during her freshman year of college and handled a demanding full-time job this summer just fine. I started working at age 15 and am a firm believer in the value of paid employment as a way to build self-confidence and maturity for teens, but for some kids and families it’s just too much while they’re still in high school.
Until my kids are driving, I am fine with not having a job for them be on my list of responsibilities. They have made some $ in the neighborhood doing babysitting and watering plants. But until they can get themselves to a job (or get fired), adding that to MY list of tasks on top of other car errands is not something I am urging them to do (different story if they could get a job that lined up with my commute).
I started working a summer job at 13 (different rules back then for farm kids), so I definitely believe in the value of teens having jobs. However, my parents never made me hold down a job during the school year. Logistically, it would’ve been very difficult and they wanted me focused on school. Now it’s my turn to have a 15-year-old. I think he would greatly benefit from working; however, after lots of discussion, DH and I decided we could not add that to our plates, too. So he gets a pass until he gets his license at 16. I also can’t see making him do it during the school year. He has a full course load (all AP and differentiated learning courses) and is in several very time-consuming extracurriculars. Plus, he has ADHD and needs some downtime built in to keep up with everything else. I think pushing him to add a job on top of that would be a big mistake.
I feel like with divorced parents neither wants to be the ‘mean’ one so unless BOTH parents get on the same team and stop giving her cash and make her get a job nothing will change.
I think you should respect that parenting is hard, solutions to problems will vary with the child and family, and that not all problems have instant easy solutions. Lots of children are ungrateful and don’t understand work and sacrifice. Gaining wisdom and perspective (growing up in other words) can take years. Yes, a job could accelerate that but maybe her family can only handle so much right now.
+1 my parents did not want me to have a job in high school because they wanted me to treat school like my full time job and get into a really selective college (they were tiger parents before tiger parenting was a thing). I think I turned out fine. Most teenagers are pretty ungrateful, regardless of whether they work a paid job or not.
More kids need to be working summer jobs in high school rather than going to “camps”.
I hear you and yet a lot of older teens are now CITs at those same camps as teens. So maybe not a total loss?
I was babysitting until I could drive (17 in my home state). My mom worked, so not a lot of better options.
In my field, summer programs are where a lot of the learning happens pre-college. Kids get to work at a much higher level than is possible in high school, and they get exposure to college faculty that helps in the admissions process.
Living away from home for an extended period of time also helps prepare kids for college. My daughter, who attended sleepaway camp from age 6 on, was just telling me how the biggest reason kids dropped out of college during her freshman year was that they couldn’t handle living away from home for the first time on top of all the normal college stressors.
I’m the 2:24 poster and I had intensive sports training and selective academic programs during my summers in high school. So basically more of the same things that would prepare me for college and look good on a college application. Not generic camps. I enjoyed it, so I wasn’t complaining to them about it or anything, but I think they would have had a stroke if I’d suggested working at McDs over the summer.
You could have still learned a lot by going to camp. Exclusive and expensive academic programs are what you probably need less of in your young life.
Seeing a bit of how the real world works is important.
It really woke me up, taught me great skills and empathy.
I don’t think anyone “needs” expensive academic summer programs, but they do help a lot with getting into Ivies and my parents, like a lot of parents, cared a lot about that. And they were fun, and I don’t think you should underestimate the importance of teenage mental health and the value of doing something really fun and social over the summer. Mental health wasn’t a particular issue for me, but I know it’s something a lot of kids struggle with and friends at summer camp that aren’t wrapped up in the school drama can be a lifesaver. Sometimes literally.
This. I sense a lot of judgment toward your friend, who sounds like she’s struggling with parenting a teen. It’s hard. Really hard. There is what I thought I would do as a parent, and what I actually have to do based on the child I have.
THIS is why all of those Victorian-era novel families send their teen girls to be sort-of servants in other people’s houses while they wait for a husband.
I will say I’ve never had a good employee who didn’t have a McJob, whether that job was in highschool or university is irrelevant but having awful customers service experience is essential to making a competent office worker.
This right here.
With God as my witness, I will never work in food service again*!
(*unless I have to)
(*totally honorable work)
(*I’m grateful to know I could do it if I had to)
Seconded!
Genuinely, how do you know? My high school job stopped going on my resume before I graduated college
You can tell. Our BigLaw hires who never got a w2 before (or had some cash job) were obviously new to work and had no prior job of any sort, just soft internships. Red flag to me now.
I ask them in the interview! ‘Have you ever worked fast food or customer service type jobs?’
Me too! “What was your first job, not on your resume, and what did you learn?”
I’m the former nepotism kid from a few weeks back; I worked my butt off and my company loved me.
I worked a McJob before that, and my manager actually asked during my interview. He noticed the same thing you did: people who had terrible jobs in high school appreciated the office environment more.
I will also say that working before you, eg, graduate from law school is crucial to knowing whether or not you don’t like your job because it’s a bad fit, a toxic environment, or if you just don’t like working.
Ok, maybe she can’t get a job because of time or driving constraints, but surely she could help out around the house more. My parents didn’t require much in the way of chores from me because I was “busy” with a school, and I think that was a huge miss on their part. If teens have time to scroll social media they have time to vacuum, start laundry, make a meal plan and shopping list, or unload the dishwasher. Contributing to the family will give the teen perspective and a self-esteem boost
Maybe suggest they do some volunteering together. Helping homeless families, running meals on wheels or contributing at a food pantry gives a whole new perspective on what actually matters and what being lucky feels like.
I think it’s pretty hard for 16 year olds to find jobs that work with their school schedules these days. They exist, but it’s a different world from when we were younger. I know 16 year olds with volunteer commitments and certainly a lot who babysit off and on, but any with real jobs? No. Second semester seniors in our area definitely get real gigs because they can leave school earlier. My friends son looked for months for a gig for summer, it fell through last minute, and he found something else but it was hard.
As the parent of a teenager I can confirm this. Adults are now taking a lot of the part-time jobs that teens used to take. For retail and restaurant jobs, on-demand scheduling is the trend and is hard to juggle with school and sports schedules.
A few of my daughter’s classmates did work a lot of hours in restaurants or at the amusement park during high school. They were the kids who stayed local for college and then dropped out after the first year. Now they live at home and still work in the restaurants and amusement park, with no future prospects. The ones who went away to college and were successful did not have time to be working in high school.
Plus there are so many local stores that are perfect for teens… but you have to apply through a web page. Finally I asked one of the teens working at a place I frequent and he said, apply in person, go in and talk to the manager, wait until the manager is there. My kid had no idea this was required or barely how to do this.
Some kids are just more functional than others, which I think is what is driving OP to keep making the point that a job would help.
I agree with this – the only kids I know with food service jobs either work for very small local chains OR they had a connection to the fast-food franchise owner. My kids have done more odd jobs or babysitting gigs.
“That sounds rough” and change the subject
Too bad summer is over. A summer job does not interfere with school or extracurriculars. Ultimately, not your circus not your monkeys, but perhaps a summer job is a good option for this kid. I never worked during the school year, because my parents wanted my focus to be on school, but I did every summer starting at age 15. But they were always talking with us about the value of hard work, what it actually takes to support yourself, and would have never tolerated ingratitude for material things. Again, it’s not for you to solve, but there’s probably some better messaging that needs to take place here.
agree, not your circus or monkeys – but you might suggest the daughter volunteers instead of works. a) you can argue it’s good for college admission and helps her test different careers and b) it’s probably required by the school anyway. one friend’s son worked as a volunteer paramedic and wrote on his college essays about losing patients on the way to the ER — talk about a different perspective than your typical ungrateful high schooler.
Not your circus and since you’ve brought this up to her once, you need to drop it now.
That said, I will say neither of my kids were able to get these mythical Mc Donald’s jobs when they were 16. People work those jobs for their livelihoods now. My daughter did a lot of babysitting evolving into being a part time nanny in college, but no one wants to hire boys for babysitting, so my son didn’t get a job at all. (COVID also didn’t help).
Now the kids are both employed, one is two years out of college and working in her career. The other has one semester to go and has been employed part time in his field, working remotely, since the summer of his sophomore year.
Both of my kids ended up with a great work ethic. The 16 year old job slinging burgers turned out not to be a necessary component of that development.
I think you’re saying the right thing, but FWIW, my teenagers are mostly grateful and hardworking BUT still don’t have a lot of perspective sometimes. For instance, my son will casually suggest we go a $$$ restaurant on a school night but worry about asking us for $20 to buy the required band shoes. Or my daughter will be SO sweet and thankful about going on a fancy-ish trip BUT be super irritated that I’m <5 minutes late for a dance class pickup after I fought through LA traffic for 90 minutes.
ISO dry shampoo that is actually unscented and non-aerosol (no benzene). Any recommendations? TIA!
Cornstarch in a salt Shaker. Works pretty well as long as your hair isn’t too dark.
Straight rice starch! The trick is to comb and brush it out really well. You want it to absorb the oil and then get it out of your hair as much as possible. That avoids the white cast, and also keeps it from trapping smells or oil and clumping (this is true with any dry shampoo – a lot of times people aren’t vigorous enough with brushing it out).
Bumble and Bumble
Verb
The secret to plain corn/rice starch is putting it in the night before. Use plenty, rub it in thoroughly, sleep on it and brush it out in the morning, it works like magic.
My decade old Chi G2 straightener finally bit the dust this week. Any recommendations on the best ones out there these days? I have 2c curls, quite coarse and thick.
babyliss. but also just ask around at Ulta. they know.
2B here. I use the BABYLISS
Nano Titanium Ultra-Thin Straightening Iron. (I only use it 2-3x/month so wanted something sub $200).
so for those of y’all who talk about sex with your girlfriends — like what do you talk about? when i was single it was more “we did it!” or “things are great in bed but elsewhere…” but i can’t imagine talking about anything in the context of a committed relationship
We discuss frequency and birth control and how much IUDs suck for periods and that’s about it these days. We used to talk more about vibrators but not so much lately.
I don’t consider talking about birth control methods to be talking about sex. I think of it more as saying he did this specific thing that was great or horrible.
I wonder if some of the disagreement seems from us all meaning different things when we say “talking about sex.”
Yeah agree.
+1. And if that is what people mean by talking about sex, then yes I talk to my girl friends about sex.
Talking about BC methods is talking about health care.
Depends on the context. “I don’t like the feel of condoms” isn’t health care. Neither is “we like the idea of a vasectomy so we can be more spontaneous.”
I’m someone who says I don’t talk about sex with my friends, and I would be fine with either comment. That is technically connected to sex, but I would put it more under the birth control topic.
Same as the 4:11 poster, those comments are more about birth control than sex to me.
Talking about birth control, periods, hormone changes, pregnancy, etc. aren’t talking about sex. They’re talking about being a woman.
Disagree, it definitely relates directly to sex. We’ve had many conversations about how our birth control methods affect our sex lives.
Can we talk about what we enjoy even if we’re not talking about specific incidents?
I’m not sure what that would accomplish? My friends don’t need to know what my f3tishes and preferences are.
I mean, seems kind of obvious that some people are comfortable sharing that sort of thing and find value in discussing it, even if you don’t? It accomplishes the same things that discussing anything accomplishes.
Or they’re exhibitionist, or trying to lay groundwork for a proposition… things can get weird fast.
Then don’t share it with them. But your way is not necessarily what works for other people.
I don’t an never have, except for the occasional offhand comment like “we’re good in that area”, but my BF says I am doing it wrong and my friendships must not be close if we’re not having more explicit conversations about sex. Of course, that makes me wonder what he has said to his friends.
We are not all Carrie Miranda Samantha and Charlotte. I might ask generally but I really don’t want to know details about my friends or their SOs. My questions / discussions are far more general, verge on jokes, and discuss more “getting in the mood” and also my body.
Same. The first time I met him, my best friend’s now husband told me that she lost her butt virginity to him and I just thought it was so crass and TMI and it really put me off him. I’ve never grown to like him. I’m not sure I would have liked him even without that comment, but it definitely didn’t help.
There is only a small subset of people I would discuss this with, but we have had talks along the lines of “have you tried this?” and “[Bob] wants to try this, do you enjoy it?”. Stuff like that.
Love the genre of comment where the OP demands people tell her things that she will definitely judge them for.
Exactly. With an added inability to understand that others don’t always do things exactly the same way or have exactly the same thought process.
Whatever happened to “good for you, not for me”?
General discussions about frequency and birth control options if there’s been some kind of life change. Like someone is done having kids, so they ask the group if the woman stayed on the pill or got an IUD, man got a vasectomy, or some combination of those options.
And frequency tends to be more general, and usually in the context of some bigger life problem. Like someone has been traveling a lot recently or someone is going on a long backpacking trip and thinking a bit about logistics. When covid happened and we were all working from home suddenly, there were some comments about, “And geez, DH thinks that there’s time for an afternoon delight, am I the only one with a husband who doesn’t understand that I’m WORKING, I’m not just home for funsies!?!”
In very rare situations with long-time, close friends, we might talk about specific acts, but again, more in confidence of “is this normal?” or “do you do this, because I kinda don’t want to, but DH wants to”. I’ve spoken with a few friends about @n@l, because one partner really wants that, but the other partner is nervous about it (not opposed in a way that they’re being abused if their partner asks for it), but they know that the close friend does that act, so they ask for advice. Or someone discovers their partner is watching p0rn and they don’t like it, so they ask how we handle that in our relationship.
It’s never detailed specifics and it’s not casual dinner conversation. It’s much more in the vein of advice because something is different, and we’re all VERY discreet about it because we know each other’s partners. I wouldn’t want my husband talking about nitty gritty details of our gardening to his friends, so I afford him the same courtesy when talking with my friends.
We definitely talk about vibrators (and various reading material for women).
For my friends that talk about it, we have certainly talked about what positions help us orgasm better. I think that’s just generally helpful information. You’re not saying last night at 7 we did this x times and I had x orgasms. Although maybe we would if it was a lot.
Also how perimenopause is making things different or issues for men.
what is your favorite game available thru the NYT or the like?
My daily games are 1) Squaredle, 2) LA Times crossword, and 3) Blossom – from Merriam Webster
Wordle and Connections.
Spelling Bee, Connections, Letter Boxed
I’m obsessed with Spelling Bee these days. But I do them all.
Strands, sudoku, and the new pips game
Loving pips here too!
I’m a classic crossword person. And wordle.
Crossword, connections, wordle, pips, spelling bee is my order. I do all but SB every day– SB takes too long!
Spelling bee does take too long! I am so determined to find the pangram that I spend too much time on it, so I don’t do it any more.
Waffle is a quick fun one that’s not from the NYT.
I do Wordle, then Strands, then mini Crossword, then Spelling Bee (I only bother trying to figure out the pangram – don’t have enough time to try to do the whole thing!), then my fave is Connections and it also requires the most creative brainpower so I do that last.
uh, and I guess now I’ll be adding Pips to the mix, which I hadn’t realized was new…
Connections. I do pretty much all of them daily but am enjoying the addition of Pips.
Does anyone know of any private nursing hotel-like places for hip surgery recovery in Northern Virginia? I see a lot of places for plastic surgery but this is for hip surgery (where there will be PT needed after). This is for a relative who is 300+ pounds (so too heavy for any older sibling or even me to help lift, so in-home doesn’t seem to be an option).
Not aware of any, and I’m a fairly experienced consumer in this area. Likely a skilled nursing/rehab facility will be required, and if not paid by Medicare or insurance, it would be private pay.
You might look at The Fairfax’s rehab facility – family member had a good/recent experience there if beds are available.
Inova Mt Vernon Hospital has a very good rehab dept. I imagine this hip surgery is medically necessary, and given what you’ve said about the patient some sort of professional inpatient post surgical care/rehab could be medically necessary too, with insurance paying.
Don’t let the situation be dumped on you because you are family – there are options you may just have to push a bit to get them considered.
I say this as a person who refused the discharge when the Fairfax Hospital ER tried to send my husband home with me after an accident. “No, I won’t take him, and if you continue to insist I will leave without him” opened up a whole world of proper care and services vs me managing a person a foot taller and 75 pounds heavier than me, who had multiple broken bones and could not stand.
My jewelry wardrobe is pretty basic, my everyday pieces are engagement ring, diamond wedding band, and diamond stud earrings. I remove everything at night and remove my rings for things like gardening (literal). I just realized I haven’t had any of these items cleaned in 5+ years and that the diamond would be more brilliant if I did. What is a simple but effective home cleaning routine?
I buy the Connoisseurs brand jewelry cleaner and put my jewelry in there and swish it around and leave it overnight. I buy it at grocery store or pharmacy.
Read the instructions – I might be doing it wrong lol
But do NOT clean pearls or opals or soft stones. Or fake stuff!!
Denture cleaning tablets is an old folk remedy, lol
I recently bought the “Diamond Drunk” cleaning kit and have been DISGUSTED by the stuff that comes out of my jewelry, especially watches, after even a short soak. Totally worth it. And for gold/diamonds, it’s gentle enough to leave overnight. So I drop my rings and earrings in it when I brush my teeth in the evening and leave them there until the next morning.
This is an unconventional approach but . . . I use an old electric toothbrush head to clean my rings a few times a week in the shower. Gets out all the lotion and gunk that accumulates. I can’t get my engagement ring off my finger at present, so it’s effective!
Take it to a jeweler to get it done first since it’s been so long, then get jewelry cleaner.
Get an ultrasonic cleaner and a baby toothbrush. That’s all you need. I put a drop (just a drop) of dish soap in my ultrasonic cleaner. It loosens the dirt/grime and the baby toothbrush gets rid of it. Rinse and done.
(Don’t put pearls or porous stones/beads in the ultrasonic by the way).
I also polish my silver bangles with Wright’s cream. If I wore them daily they might not need it but they’re more of a once in a while thing for me so it’s when I decide to start wearing them again that I make the effort.
my son gets these deep, gross scars from mosquito bites that he picks at – honestly it looks like we’re putting cigarettes out on him or something. bandaids and newskin aren’t cutting it (or my nagging to stop picking at it) – do i need hydrocolloidal? something else? not even sure what to google.
Have you tried the Welly bandages? As someone who fully admits to being a grown adult that has trouble not scratching a bug bite, the big square ones stay stuck for multiple days and I can’t scratch them off.
Not to be that person: he can wear lightweight, long sleeve shirts and full length pants, plus mosquito repellent, when out at night or hiking.
Reconsider activities that lead to these bites.
Good luck. When you are someone the bugs love, this ain’t gonna work.
Yep. They will bite me right through the fabric.
Bugs love me and my body explodes when I am bit. Despite how much I hate the heat and therefore am not a fan of long sleeves etc in the summer, this is my solution and it helps a LOT.
don’t see my MIL for summers, got it
Is she allergic to long sleeves on other people?
My guess is that MIL is the type of person to want to sit on the porch or at the outdoor fire pit while everyone else is mosquito food, and will also complain if people “look uncomfortable.”
Mosquitoes can absolutely bite through lightweight clothing.
I wear pretty much exactly what you describe, but for sun protection not mosquitoes. I get bites through leggings and lightweight UPF shirts.
If you’re ok with the trade-offs with chemicals, I have had great luck home treating my outdoor clothes with permethrin, agree that they will bit through thin fabrics otherwise
Fellow sufferer here. A few things that help me – Benadryl anti-itch cream. They also have a spray version that is a little numbing. I have one of those devices that applies heat to the bite – that helps me A LOT. May or may not be appropriate for your kiddo.
For healing once the itching dies down, Aquafor, Weleda Skin Food, Mederma … have all been helpful for my skin at various stages. Perhaps a stretchy bandage/wrap to make it harder to get to and scratch?
I have a kid with this issue. We do neosporin, bandaid and then an ice pack on top of the band aid for a bit. It mostly works.
I’m that person who will get the only mosquito bite when surrounded by other people. The correct answer here is The Bug Bite Thing.
You know in old westerns how someone would always suck the venom out of a snake bite to try to save the victim? Similar principle. Apply this suction tool over a FRESH (not old and scabby) mosquito bite and the bite will never progress to the itchy stage, so no gross scabs.
I have one in my purse, in the car, in my husband’s car, in my makeup bag, in the junk drawer… For someone who’s always getting bit, they’re life changing.
Second this! We started using it this summer and it’s made a huge difference. My two year old used to get massive, hard welts that left scars, but The Bug Bite Thing has really reduced all that.
+3. If you can get to the bite immediately, the bug bite thing works beautifully. Hurts but recommend 10/10.
There’s an electric zapper that’s a million times more effective
Link? Name?
This is me. I am a delicious snack, and I would never describe myself that way except for in the context of mosquitoes.
I recently had a bout of contact dermatitis (turned out to be laundry detergent related) and got a prescription for Clobetasol. It’s like 100 times stronger than OTC hydrocortisone cream per my dermatologist (she also says the OTC hydrocortisone is “useless.”)
We went on vacation toward the end of my contact dermatitis battle and boy did that Clobetasol help with the insect bites! Just one dab and no more itching. I didn’t have to apply it more than once.
Third this. I asked asked a question earlier in the summer on here about how to deal with mosquitos and bought both the Bug Bite Thing and the electric zapper that were recommended and prefer the Bug BIte Thing, but they aren’t expensive and it’s worth trying both. The Bug Bite Thing is honestly kind of amazing–I used to get horrible welts that would take forever to heal and don’t anymore if I use it.
Fourth (fifth?) this. It’s amazing.
Try biocorneum on it if there is a scar. Works much better than other scar creams.
A slightly different take: skin picking is a real psychological condition that you should consider seeking treatment for. It’s associated with OCD and needs specific therapeutic approaches; it’s not just some unfortunate habit he’ll grow out of.
my picker kid just likes the bug bite thing for the sensation – same stimulation from picking but without the deep skin damage. Also a prescription steroid anti-itch cream from the dermatologist.
Plus one million for the Bug Bite Thing!! We have multiple ones in the car and at home. Though I found if you scratch later after using it, the “venom” seems to get pushed back into blood stream.
To your question about bandages, hydrocollod is amazing for healing after the initial itch is gone. I’m talking about the big patches intended for wound dressing (like 3”x3” or even bigger that you can cut down to size). My daughter has patches of dry skin / ezcema that she scratches til bleeding when falling asleep or in nervous situation as self-soothing mechanism. These patches are great to help heal and to deter her from mindless scratching. They stick on and last for weeks through swimming, sweat, showers!