As someone who has been struggling with acne since middle school, it frustrates me that so many people seem to think my bad skin is the outcome of my own faults. Apparently, my bumpy skin is because I eat too much junk food, don’t wash my face everyday and don’t have a solid skincare routine. I’m told my skin is the way it is because of my poor hygiene and poor habits, and I should do something to fix it.
While I wish it were that simple, none of our body parts are easily repairable, especially not in a short amount of time.
Skincare is not something that works miraculously overnight. In fact, a lot of treatable conditions require medical substances that take months to show results. For example, salicylic acids, a popular substance used to treat acne-prone skin, takes four to six weeks from first application for the results to appear. Another popular acne treatment used to clear pores, adapalene, can take at least three months to reduce acne and can even worsen acne’s appearance during the first few weeks of usage.
Additionally, skincare is expensive. Going to the dermatologist is a luxury, as it is not covered under medical insurance in most countries. Trying out different products and figuring out which substances work with individual skin types often costs more money than you can imagine. Especially for people with highly sensitive combination skin like myself, many popular and affordable products just don’t work. Therefore, people with a similar skin type constantly look for better alternatives. Given that many skincare products on the market are not cheap, it is understandable that a person would be hesitant to give up one product to try another that “might” work. Surprisingly, an average American spends about $322 a year and $15,000 for a lifetime of skincare products.
Not everything in life goes our way and some of us are in a more difficult situation than others. This is where we cannot ignore the environmental, hormonal and genetic factors of cosmetics. For instance, my skin fluctuates during my states of peace, stress and anxiety. For a lot of women, one of the main causes of acne is hormonal and could worsen due to excessive sebum during menstruation. In a lot of cases, we have no clue why our skin is not perfect, as there might be multiple seen and unseen factors that damage our skin. That is why acne is difficult to overcome in a short period of time and endure for years despite an extensive skincare routine.
Lastly, sometimes skincare is just not the first thing that comes to mind on the list of problems that must be solved. Maybe there are more pressing tasks to work on than a few pimples on the forehead. Not everything about ourselves can be perfect and, because skincare is not a life threatening concern for most of us, people can choose to prioritize other things like our career, academics, and social and family life.
Looking at my face in the mirror used to be devastating. I felt like a failure despite making efforts to try many products and see the dermatologist every once in a while. Then, it struck me that my skin tends to be in its worst state when I am struggling mentally, like during my senior year in high school and now, in the second worst state, due to being diagnosed with COVID-19 in the beginning of the semester, which compounded the stress I felt from school and work. Even the best skincare influencers on TikTok have breakouts once in a while and that’s perfectly fine.
Besides the nosy relatives and parents who think they are being helpful by mentioning your acne every time they look at your face, most people won’t bother. As long as you are putting effort into managing your physical and mental health and as long as you are using the basics, like a hydrating moisturizer and sunscreen, you are doing fine and there is nothing wrong with you or your skin.