How To Be Confident With Acne: Tips And Advice
We're massive beauty and skincare junkies here at BYBI (obvs!), but as much as we love formulating high performance products, we can't deny the importance of championing self-love and confidence, to empower our fellow women. We reached out to Amber of @planetwamby to share her journey with acne and how she learnt to be confident even in her struggles with her skin. Read on to discover her story:
When you have acne, the impact of it can feel like so much more than just a superficial hang up. Acne essentially rules your life. There is constant worry about the products you’re using on your face, the pillow cases that you’re using, even every day things that shouldn’t be a struggle such as the food you’re putting into your body and whether that new breakout that has surfaced, is in fact due to the 6 pack of jam doughnuts you ate or whether it was just going to happen anyway. Do I go to the shop or should I put make up on first? Is this make up full coverage enough? How can I style my hair to distract from my face? If I go to that event are there going to be people bring up my skin? Do I drink alcohol or not? There are so many dilemmas and psychological impacts of acne.
I used to always think: "When I am an adult, this is what my face is going to look like" – whilst day dreaming this image of a person who looked a lot like me but had this beautiful, glowing, flat and even toned visage. Then as I approached the end of my teenage years and was about to enter my twenties, it dawned on me that I would probably be an adult with acne. Those teenage thoughts of "oh well, I’ll just grow out of it" were slowly slipping away and the reality of what I had been dealing with for 10 years already was going to be my reality for another 10 years, and perhaps another 10 after that.
So what could I do to change my own perception of myself and how could I get others perceptions to change? And the answer to this question was a funny one for me, something that I never expected. I tried wearing no make up to work for the first time, and when I came in to work, everyone literally acted how they act around me every day as if I was wearing make up. I tried this for two days, and literally no change. 2 days turned into a week and not one person had said ANYTHING to me about my red bumpy face being out in the open. I was still going for lunch with friends, I was still being invited for drinks after work and everything was literally the same. My own judgement of myself and what I thought others were thinking about me began to change within a matter of days. If people can accept me for me then I should be able to accept myself for me. It was very clear to me that my work friends, and my friends from home as well as my family, didn’t care either way about my broken skin being out. What they cared about is what was beneath the surface, which is the true me, not the skin that I live in.
A short while after this, to my surprise my skin actually cleared up. (Not by itself, but with medical help.) Whilst I am still highly prone to breakouts, I would never dream of putting make up over them to go down to the super market or go to work! The best I can do for my skin is let my Detox Dust do its thing. In truth I feel like my acne is part of me and I own it. So what if a few people stare? They don’t know me.
I know that my story is so different to everyone else’s story, and I can’t make you anyone become confident in their own skin overnight, but the best advice I could give anyone is to try to remember that people aren’t friends with you because you’re pretty, or have nice clothes or have a big house. People are friends with you because of YOU. Literally. But if there is someone that judges you for the skin you’re in and can’t accept you for you, then with or without the use of a rude word, you can wave them (and their unwarranted suggestions) goodbye.
– Amber of @planetwamby