Talking about our appearance and our imperfections is a taboo subject and one that we can all relate to. Today, I’m going to focus on my ongoing battle with acne which began in my early teens. Despite the fact that I have become a lot more accepting of my spots, it’s still something that gets me down every once in a while and I still find myself using makeup to cover up the scarring on my face. However, since lockdown began, I’ve been determined to go ‘au natural’ with little or no makeup and it’s the most liberating feeling ever – I’m not even exaggerating! I want to reassure everybody reading this that no matter how blemished your skin is, you should feel comfortable in it, with or without makeup.
I have always had quite sensitive skin but from about the age of ten my skin became very oily and this is when my skin started to break out with spots and blackheads quite severely. Most, if not all, people can relate to the annoyance of getting a spot, whether that be due to a hormonal imbalance or stress and you either squeeze it which makes it ten times worse, cover it up with makeup or do nothing but still feel just as self-conscious. For me, though it’s never just the odd spot or blackhead as instead, I get them in clumps all over my face, especially on my cheeks and chin. With that being said, I would probably say that my most affected areas are my back and shoulders but of course, I can hide those ones quite easily. It used to annoy me when people complained about having one tiny pimple on their forehead but now, I’m a lot more sympathetic and can understand that everybody’s insecurities are relative and personal to them.
I have tried so many acne products over the years, ranging from facial scrubs to clay face masks to oil serums and none of them had a profound effect on my skin. Maybe I became lazy with how often I used the treatments or perhaps I wasn’t allowing enough time for my skin to heal by squeezing my face every time a new spot came up. One thing I know for sure is that it massively knocked my self-esteem and confidence growing up.
Something which really didn’t help my acne was my reliance on makeup to conceal my spots which led to more breakouts – inevitably a vicious cycle. Nowadays, I tend to only use concealers sparingly, but apart from that, I try to embrace my natural skin. This has massively helped with my confidence and even though my acne is still an insecurity of mine, I am much more comfortable talking about it and being open about its effects on my mental state.
Even though I can talk about it more openly now, it’s still something that I live with on a daily basis. My current skincare routine consists of using my Simple facial wash twice a day (shoutout to my boyfriend for the recommendation). Then, after my evening shower, I use hyaluronic acid oil to fade my acne scars and I follow this up with my Nivea moisturising cream using my Micropure pore cleanser to penetrate deeper into my pores. I’ve been trialling this routine for 4 months now and I can honestly say my skin has improved. However, I do still have minor breakouts, so I will keep up with the treatments I’m using for now.
My experience with acne has been a literal rollercoaster and it’s something that still affects me to this day. The message I want to relay here is that you should love yourself and your imperfections but most importantly, you need to feel comfortable in your own skin. If you ever find yourself feeling down, just know that you are not alone and there will always be somebody willing to listen.