(sorry for the dreadfully corny image, it just felt apt for today’s post!)
Hello!
Today, I’m addressing something that’s been a constant downer in my life for at least 7 years, if not more. Some of you may scoff at this as being superficial and dish out an ‘It’s what’s on the inside that matters‘ or two, but seriously, out of all the self-esteem depreciators I’ve come across, this has been the absolute worst in my life.
I’m talking about acne. Not a spot or two, not occasional flare-ups, not a single patch of it… I’m talking raging, all-over-your-face acne.
This post might gross you out, be of absolutely zero interest to you, come across as too much information, or just be plain boring. All of that is immaterial to me. Simply click away if you feel that is the case at any point and know that I’m sorry for over-sharing. I’m writing this post because it documents a humongous personal victory for me and could be of potential help to anyone else struggling with the same problem.
I’m not going to feed you a sob story about self-worth, because I really don’t care to get sentimental and self-pitying at the moment. I’m going to hit you with the facts, and then get on with my point. Though, if you do pick up on a hint of emotional talk… I’m sorry I guess?
Let’s rewind…
From the precise moment that I hit puberty, acne has clung to me like a leech and no matter what, I repeat, NO MATTER WHAT I TRIED, it refused to go away. I have gone from medicated soaps, to topical treatment, to over-the-counter creams, to spot treatment, to homemade masks, to the Regimen, to doctors, and even gone as far as linking it to/blaming it on my allergies (a separate problem by themselves) and accepting that it might never go away. Thankfully, I never spent copious amounts of money on treating my skin, but I can assure you that I have tried everything else under the sun. When I turned 18, people told me that since I was approaching the end of my teenage years I would soon ‘outgrow’ my acne. And I believed that. What a load of horse POOP. God bless my friends/classmates, because I’ve only ever been made fun of minimally for having acne, in spite of being one of the very few cursed with shitty, oily, spotty skin.
By now, you’re probably wondering why the heck I’m ranting about this endlessly on a lovely Saturday…
Well, that’s because I have good news.
After years of needing to wear makeup every hour of every day, and waiting to reply to Snapchats before taking my makeup off for the night, and carrying around back up concealer, and strategically brightening and contrasting all my photos, and wearing makeup to the pool/water parks, and SO much more… it is finally getting better. I swear to you, I never imagined myself saying this. I still can’t believe I can say this and that I’ve been able to muster up the courage to talk about it publicly, whether or not anyone I know is reading.
Anyway, here’s what changed everything for me…
Although my going vegetarian was a decision focused solely on getting into better shape, and although I did expect it to improve the condition of my skin to some extent, I never ever thought it would actually help it disappear.
Side note: If anyone I personally know is reading this, they’re going to think I’m bat shit crazy, because my face is far from clear. I still have a handful of odd spots and a shit ton of scars in comparison to all my friends, but, nobody is really going to understand the difference in my skin until and unless all of that is gone too, so whatever.
It’s been exactly a month since I decided to become a vegetarian and it has taken only that short a period of time to clear up my cheeks that were otherwise completely covered in spots, scars and scabs… sorry if this is TMI, it’s just the truth. If you go through any of my pictures in the past years (please don’t), you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
I currently only have two spots left (that I can see/count) on my face and everything else is left over scarring from all those years of rubbish sitting on my face. Still, at least now I can work on lightening my scars, right? A much easier task in comparison to dealing with full-fledged acne.
I spent seven years trying get rid of something that disappeared over the course of one month. Say WHAT?!
I’d just like to say quickly that this may or may not work for anybody else, but it could, and it certainly did for me… so I guess it’s worth a shot.
Thanks for reading.
That’s basically it. Like I said, this has taken an enormous amount of courage to get out of me and put into actual cohesive sentences. Nobody told me to write this, but I felt like it deserved something more than simply being pointed out to my Mum and Dad. If you’ve read this far, you’re amazing, thank you for taking the time to get to the end of this post. I sincerely appreciate it.
If you have something helpful to offer to me/other potential readers, click ‘Leave a comment’ and lay it out there… I’d really appreciate it. :)
See you next time, stay awesome! xo
Fit Kookie 