From the age of about 10 I have always had bad skin. It started in year 5 and I got eczema on my arms and over my nose and some of my face. A girl at school told me the way to get rid of eczema was to itch your face so I used to scratch and pick at my face – nice I know! My skin was always red and irritated and I hadn’t even started puberty. I was probably the only child in primary school with spots and I hated it. I would wear plasters over spots so I didn’t scratch them and every night I would put layers of sudocream on my face which helped with irritation however made my skin more oily.
As I hit puberty the spots went from being eczema to actual spots. I think it is safe to say I tried almost every product marketed for acne and sensitive skin. I used a Clinique face wash and toner; which hazel wash and stick; anything tea tree from the body shop; neutrogena wave; Clean & Clear none of them worked for me or at least none of them worked in the way I wanted them to.
In my head when something said it for acne prone skin that meant it would get rid of my spots but it didn’t, it kept my face clean but spots were not magically disappearing. I also came to the realisation that I could just put anything on my skin as it is sensitive and if I apply a £1.50 fake tan wipe on my face it will not only go a horrid shade of orange but it will also cause my skin to breakout horribly (no sadly I don’t have a picture of that unfortunate decision). Although the process was expensive and tedious and I was waiting for dramatic results I did learn a lot from it, I know what irritates my skin, how to cover bad spots and what that everyone has spots! Gradually I became more able to just except spots, my skin has got a lot better with age but they are still there. It is weird that they are such a common thing yet people want believe they are this disgusting thing that with the right cream can magically disappear just because the model in the skin care ad is older, covered in make up and photo shopped.
I came to a point where I gave up caring, I still look after my skin and use concealer. My skin gets bad when I am stressed or eat badly but for the most part once I began to ignore them and not think of them as the focus point of my face who I am they started to seem very unimportant! I hope this is helpful to any teenager who has problems with their skin, there is no one miracle treatment but they aren’t permanent. Don’t pick, wash our face and drink lots of water. Also I promise you, no one notices them as much as you think they do!
muchadoaboutmascara 