It’s Because I Had Bad Skin.

I was in middle school. I had Carrie Bradshaw curly hair that people ran to the salon for, yet I was made fun of because it made me look like a lion they said. People paid for perms, I had the real deal, and I was made fun of. I also had acne that wouldn’t give me a break, nor let me not have one giant red pimple.

The only makeup I wore was stage makeup as I was a ballerina, or except the time I was the Wicked Witch of the West. About that magical role, I loved it, but my face was tinted green for two days. Anyway, I didn’t know much about concealing pimples, so I bought what I thought would hide my acne and I made it worse. So there I was, middle schooler with big hair, braces, and acne.

Then in high school it slowly got better as I was thankful because I mean high school can be rough. Then out of no where when I was 22, I was slammed with the worst case of acne that I didn’t even want to be seen. I tried everything and nothing worked. I finally tried Panoyxl which was an OTC that changed my life. I started also understanding good products versus bad one, like the St. Ives scrub that I thought was helpful. Yeah, oops… that was shredding my skin. The lack of sunscreen or products to truly clean and nourish my skin. It wasn’t until I realized the lack of skincare and the majority of what I was using was making it worse, that it made me make the change.

I started really understanding what I was using, the ingredients, how fragrances were literally burning my skin, and caffeine under the eye was an instant allergic reaction for me. I researched and also understood that not every product is for every skin type. See when I was in middle school and high school, there was no clean beauty mention or how each product works differently for everyone. It was a well know model or actress saying how their life was changed because of this lotion or this makeup product. So of course out of sheer necessity, I bought it to cover my insecurities, and then pray for skin that was sheer perfection.

It wasn’t until I turned 25 that I started my skincare journey to clean and truly helpful products. I read about skincare, researched, listened to dermatologists, until I found what worked for me. At 40, I still have breakouts (thanks hormones), but I’ve found what makes my skin glow, feel super soft, and feel clean. However, if I didn’t have bad skin, I probably wouldn’t have the knowledge I have now about what to use and what not too. So it was rough, and I now know baking in the sun won’t dry out my acne making it better, but those years of acne hell pushed me into knowing what I know now. Wash your makeup off no matter what time it is, fragrances won’t help, and don’t believe every picture you see. That bold glamour filter though is stunning!

xx