While you might be familiar with common eczema triggers like dry skin, irritating products, and stress, 24-year-old Samantha Tan has a pretty unique one: racecar driving. Of course, inflamed patches of skin are the least of her concerns when she gets behind the wheel of her BMW M4 GT3 to race anywhere from eight to 24 hours (depending on the length of the race, the team can clock in over 3,000 miles collectively). But the hot, sweaty conditions in the car do trigger her scalp eczema—and sometimes cause flare-ups all over her body. That’s never stopped her, though.
Tan’s racing career is already pretty epic (she recently became the first woman to win the Ferrari Challenge North American series race) and she has no plans to slow down any time soon. As one of the few Asian women in the motorsports industry—and as someone who owns a racing team—her motivation is clear: to inspire other young people of color to feel empowered in whatever they do. Her ultimate goal? To be the first Asian woman to win the highly prestigious Le Mans Race in France (yes, the one portrayed in the movie Ford v Ferrari).
Tan—who is Chinese-Canadian and currently resides in Irvine, California—spoke with SELF about everything from her former nickname of Vaseline baby (thanks to her eczema) to the pre-race ritual that keeps her mental health in check, to what it’s like to win a race on your period and how Shang-Chi, a Marvel movie featuring a kickass Chinese superhero, factors into her drive to win.
SELF: Tell me about your experience with eczema. How do you deal with flare-ups on race day?
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Samantha Tan: I’ve had eczema ever since I can remember. I think my parents found out when I was still a baby, and it was really, really bad when I was a kid. My entire body was covered—you could even see it on my face. People used to think I had strawberry jam on my lip, but it was actually eczema. My cousins used to call me Vaseline baby because my parents would coat me in petroleum jelly. My whole childhood was characterized by trying all these different kinds of steroid creams and skin treatments to try to minimize eczema because I would just scratch in my sleep and make it worse. I remember my parents used to gauze my fingertips to try to get me to stop scratching. My dermatologist told me that I would grow out of it when I was around 12 years old, but unfortunately, I never did.
Now it’s definitely much less severe, but I still struggle with flare-ups here and there. I literally have to bring so many different kinds of unscented products with me to all of my races, and my dad always gives me crap for bringing this huge check-in bag. There have been times when I’ve had a flare-up during a race weekend, just because of all the traveling and changing climates and stuff. I mostly just use the Vaseline unscented lotion (I’ve been a Vaseline stan ever since I was a kid) and sometimes I have to slather Aquaphor on my face. One of the more challenging aspects is I get scalp eczema really bad, especially when I’m sitting in the car for so many hours and it’s hot and I’m sweating. Scratching my head and seeing snow is the worst thing. It makes me a bit self-conscious when I’m on live T.V., and I’m like ‘Oh my god, can people see this?’ Luckily when I do get in the racecar I’m so focused that it doesn’t really affect me.
How do you take care of your mental health with such an intense sport?
Right before I get in the car I have really bad anxiety. I always try to tell myself that it’s good because it keeps me on my toes, but it’s hard to not overthink things. It’s important in racing to be able to minimize that anxiety and compartmentalize, and really focus on the task at hand. Most racecar drivers have this thing called a race ritual. For me, it’s just finding a quiet spot in my trailer and listening to music. I actually used to draw a lot before a race, so if I have time, I’ll sit down with my sketchbook and doodle something. It just gets me in this really calm state. So that’s what helps me the most.
Source: SELF
