MY SKIN JOURNEY - PART 1

I know how crippling skin problems can be.

I began dealing with breakouts in fourth grade. My mom gave me Cetaphil face wash, and told me to wash my face at night. Two-ish weeks later, my pimples were gone. So I stopped washing my face, certain I was cured.

But by middle school, I became painfully aware that cured I was not. I had red, angry breakouts all over my face, chest, and back. I went to a dermatologist who prescribed antibiotics and an expensive acne cream that made the situation worse. When I went back for a follow-up appointment, I was made to believe that this treatment didn’t work because of me. Surely, I didn’t follow the doctor’s orders. My skin condition was quite obviously my fault and an indication that I was lazy. 

So...I tried every skincare product I could get my hands on. 

Three-step skincare routines, St. Ives Apricot Face Scrub, mud masks stolen from my mom’s bathroom, hydrogen peroxide, crude DIY concoctions, I tried it all. Nothing worked. And I sunk into a deep depression, supported by unsolicited comments about my skin:

"It's a shame," my best friend's dad said, looking at ninth-grade homecoming dance photos. "Your dress was so pretty, but your face..." 

Eventually, after years of suffering and close to 1000 tons of foundation, my hormones chilled out, and my skin settled. I went to college and enjoyed years of good skin that didn't require much care at all. It was such a relief. I thought I would never have to deal with acne again. 

But at 27, the acne came back. This time around, the cysts were present on my face and on my ovaries and my mood swings were explosive. But this breakout changed my life, for the better. This was when I became obsessed with all things skincare.

I read medical studies about skin and ingredients. I spent hours perusing drugstore shelves and the ladies at Sephora knew me by name. I steamed my face three times a day, I ordered expensive face oils from Canada. I checked text books out the library and made way too many late-night paperback orders on Amazon. And I finally figured out how to manage my acne so that it didn't completely consume me anymore. But the obsession with skincare products? Yeah, that was here to stay.

I've learned a lot in the past 10 years...

I now know that I suffered unnecessarily. If I had just had someone, a coach, to: 

1) Tell me that my skin condition wasn’t my fault.

2) Remind me that my worth was not defined by my skin.

3) Emotionally support me throughout my skincare journey and beyond the many dermatology appointments.

4) Understand my lifestyle and budget and what was/wasn't reasonable regarding treatment.

5) Keep the hope alive and try again when the first, second, or third treatment didn’t work. 

6) Know and recommend additional resources beyond their area of expertise.

I never want anyone to experience the kind of pain and shame that I went through. So I became the person that I needed 10 years ago.