“I’m part of a pet family,” writes Meg St-Esprit. “We’ve had a snail colony and a beloved bearded dragon named Ender. We’ve lost a hamster in our house, had an aquarium randomly shatter as we scrambled to save our beta fish, and our backyard is littered with dog toys from our two pandemic puppies. But somehow, we’d never faced the death of a pet until our cat Zuri had to be euthanized unexpectedly, at just 4 years old.”

And it turns out St-Esprit wasn’t entirely ready for the conversation that followed, so she’s here with a little warning about something you probably didn’t know.

Kelly Faircloth, Executive Editor

“Back in 2020, after months of hunkering down to ride out the first wave of COVID-19, I visited a hair salon for a masked and socially distanced cut and color to give my strands some much-needed TLC,” writes Arielle Tschinkel. “After this particular visit, I experienced a non-COVID health crisis, breaking out into full-body itching that no antihistamines could quell.” She got tested… and learned she was allergic to a couple dozen contact allergens commonly used in personal care products. She had to totally overhaul her regime, and now she’s sharing her recs.