People with acne have to deal with a lot: Benzoic acid, Niacinamide, Vitamin C serums, Apricot scrubs, arduous routines, visits to dermatologists and monthly shelling out for skincare products. Why add unsavory remarks about people’s skin to this unending list of tasking efforts?
It’s 2020, sympathy isn’t just a word you throw on your social media bio to come off as a woke millennial with a bleeding heart. It’s something people should practice, constantly. So as you go about your dailies, try to take out the following phrases from your active vocabulary.
1. Insufferable Sales Reps and “I have just the right cream for you”
Everybody has that one (or more) fear that lurks in their mind when visiting a shopping mall. For parents, it’s having to keep their toddlers on a leash while they shop. For introverts with social anxiety, it probably is running into that boundary-crossing acquaintance while trying to dash in and out of the mall.
For me, and a myriad of other people with acne, it’s those insufferable sales reps at the health and beauty aisle sidling towards me when they notice my million and one acne scars to say “Madam, I have the perfect cream for your scars.”
It’s a bird, it’s a plane — no, it’s your opinion flying over my head because I didn’t ask. It’s also the umpteenth gratuitous advice given to me by “do-gooders”, on solutions to my age-old problem.
2. “Drink water and mind your business”
The worn mantra must be one of the worst trends to exist on Al-Gore’s internet since the tide pod era (yes people swallowed soap for engagement) took a backseat.
Daily water intake does a world of good to our skin. In fact, constant hydration does ruin one’s chance of having dry skin which triggers excessive oil production, but you see acne is a demon that cannot be purged by natural elements like water so no, you prophet of seeming glad tidings, you haven’t solved any problem with your hail marys. “Drink water” is not a saving tip for people with acne. Rest sis.
3 “You should try this”
The water posse shares the same dreams with the You Should Try-ers, especially those blessed with genes strong enough to support their glistening skin journeys in life. I have just one question for this sect, “did YOU try your recommendation and pray tell, did it solve YOUR acne problems?”
Battling acne is a volatile war won by those whose bodies have agreed to what they have researched and decided is perfect for their skin. You see our bodies vary; our skin varies. What works for my oily t-zone combo skin type does not work for the next person with fully dry skin. People who give recommendations are surely not the grinch that stole Christmas as some of these suggestions turn out great, but approach and delivery are key factors that influence just how easily your takes are digested.
4. “Stop eating Groundnuts/Fried Foods”
This article wouldn’t exist without the groundnut farmers of course. What’s wilder than this very much stale and well rinsed out offering is a simple fact that these people aren’t nutritionists neither are they dieticians, but they seem to know just what about groundnuts makes you breakout faster than Justin Bieber did when he released Baby way back in 2009.
For years the fear of an unwanted zit made me stay away from groundnuts but what did that get me? You guessed right, more zits. The groundnut farmers are right up there with the ‘fried food is bad for your skin’ army and before you think about your defense, here are some facts for you; bacteria buildup underneath your skin, clogged pores, and hormones are the major causes of Acne and not groundnut.
5. “Wash your face (You dirty Pig)”
Now, when you’ve got acne, especially as a young adult, unlike the parts of your body rife with this confidence killer, you tend to develop a tougher and less sensitive skin for jarring takes about your body but there are some, so daring they tend to cross lines and just jump right in your face. One of them is the dreadful “you need to wash your face more”.
It’s a double entendre that goes for the jugular. With this one statement, your hygiene and looks are put on a spike, severed and just destroyed completely. This leads to another fact for the cold-hearted with no boundaries; hygiene plays a very minor role in the formation of acne. In fact, if you’ve got oily skin, too much washing, especially with products that contain oil eliminating ingredients, can dry out your skin and worsen your condition. So, what gives brigadier general of personal hygiene? What exactly?
This is not a Westlife song so we haven’t come to the end of the road because there’s a lot more that’s said and done to people with acne (like “can I please pop your pimple” cue eyelash batting to come off as cute. The answer is no, it’s weird, it’s unhealthy and it’s not a bubble gum bubble) that’s unnecessary and unwarranted but, this is not a war against the “concerned” because I believe it’s what inspires some of these jarring takes so we’ll leave it here. Hopefully, these paragraphs are enough for the wise.
