As a teenager with acne, I couldn't wear make up until I was 16 according to my mom's rules. So, as I mentioned in my last blog, as a teenager, I coped with having acne by picking at my pimples, which made it worse.
So I think I next resorted to scrubbing my skin. As a teenager, I didn't know what was causing the acne. I thought perhaps my skin was dirty. My skin was oily in parts and dry in others. I didn't realize at the time that I had combination skin. I couldn't convince my mom to buy makeup for me. I wasn't successful either at convincing my mom to buy me special cleansers either for my face. She wouldn't buy cleansers for combination skin or cleansers designed for acne. She thought that the acne would eventually just go away, and thought there was really nothing that could be done for the acne. So she would just tell me to use regular old soap.
The only thing that I was able to convince her to buy me was fragrance free soap. So I remember as teenager with acne, that my first method of "treating" my skin was using fragrance free soap. Particularly, I used Dove that was fragrance free. I don't know what it was about using Dove, but I loved using it. Maybe in my mind, as a teenager, I thought Dove was my "cure" but I used that soap religiously. I really wanted it to work.
So I scrubbed my skin with it. Big mistake! Scrubbing my skin was again one of the worse things I could do for my acne. Dove did make my skin clean and fresh but scrubbing with it was not the right thing for my acne prone skin. So this too prove to be the wrong coping method for dealing with acne.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Coping with acne - Picking
I tried different methods as a teenager to cope with having acne. Because my mom wouldn't let me wear makeup until I was 16 and because I wanted to hide my acne, I resorted to picking at the acne bumps in an attempt to make them go away. Ewww! Yes, that's gross but I didn't know what else to do; I was a teenager! I was trying to make the acne less bigger and to make it disappear. Who wants the cutest guy in the classroom to see a big pimple on your forehead?
Of course, picking at my skin was not only gross but it was one of the worst things I could have done to relieve my acne symptoms. Picking caused scarring. So then instead of having new acne, I had new acne pimples and acne scars. Because my skin is light brown, the scars were dark brown and visible. The scarring added to my skin problem. I wanted to wear make up, particularly, foundation, and now concealer even more! But like I said in my last blog, my mom wouldn't let me. So I tried other coping methods. Keep reading as I will tell you some non-conventional methods I used to cope with acne.
Of course, picking at my skin was not only gross but it was one of the worst things I could have done to relieve my acne symptoms. Picking caused scarring. So then instead of having new acne, I had new acne pimples and acne scars. Because my skin is light brown, the scars were dark brown and visible. The scarring added to my skin problem. I wanted to wear make up, particularly, foundation, and now concealer even more! But like I said in my last blog, my mom wouldn't let me. So I tried other coping methods. Keep reading as I will tell you some non-conventional methods I used to cope with acne.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Coping with acne - Make up
I hated having acne. I needed some coping skills, tips and/or methods on how to deal with my acne and with kids' reactions to my having acne.
My first coping method wasn't an option: that is, wearing makeup to hide the acne. I remember wanting to wear make up at an early age. I don't know if that was because I just wanted to look older, because I wanted to look like my mom or the women on the TV, or because I wanted to hide my acne. All of those reasons to me were good enough reasons to wear make up but my mom thought otherwise. (:-)
My mom was trying to protect me from looking older than my age. She didn't want me dependent on makeup. She wanted people to recognize me when my make up was off. Now quite frankly I didn't think any of those reasons were good enough but my mom thought otherwise. (:-)
So my mom limited me as a young teenager to just wearing lip gloss. I was not allowed to wear other makeup products until I turned 16. Boy, was I glad when I turned 16!
When I did start wearing foundation, it was still difficult for me to find a foundation that matched my skin complexion. Plus, the makeup only covered up the scarring. It did not, and could not, hide the bumps. While makeup helped some, it was not the best coping method I could use to relieve the anxieties of having acne. My mom was right: I did become dependent on makeup. But if you keep reading: you will see why that dependency actually fueled more problems.
Thedy B
My first coping method wasn't an option: that is, wearing makeup to hide the acne. I remember wanting to wear make up at an early age. I don't know if that was because I just wanted to look older, because I wanted to look like my mom or the women on the TV, or because I wanted to hide my acne. All of those reasons to me were good enough reasons to wear make up but my mom thought otherwise. (:-)
My mom was trying to protect me from looking older than my age. She didn't want me dependent on makeup. She wanted people to recognize me when my make up was off. Now quite frankly I didn't think any of those reasons were good enough but my mom thought otherwise. (:-)
So my mom limited me as a young teenager to just wearing lip gloss. I was not allowed to wear other makeup products until I turned 16. Boy, was I glad when I turned 16!
When I did start wearing foundation, it was still difficult for me to find a foundation that matched my skin complexion. Plus, the makeup only covered up the scarring. It did not, and could not, hide the bumps. While makeup helped some, it was not the best coping method I could use to relieve the anxieties of having acne. My mom was right: I did become dependent on makeup. But if you keep reading: you will see why that dependency actually fueled more problems.
Thedy B
Acne as a teen
As a young girl, I was so looking forward to "growing up." I couldn't wait until I fully developed and looked like the other girls. Well I did grow up. But I didn't like what started happening to my body as I did grow. For one, I was typically one of the tallest girls in the classroom. So I was constantly teased for being tall. And because I was tall, I couldn't hide in the background so that people couldn't see me. Secondly, I didn't develop proportionately. And three: When the kids saw and noticed me, they, like everyone else, saw my skin.
I don't remember when I saw my first pimple. The color of my skin is light brown so pimples show up fairly prominently. In the winter when I don't tan as much, my skin is even lighter. So the acne was even more visible. As the acne grew from one bump to multiple bumps, from just one spot on my face to covering my face, I began to have self-esteem, self-image, and self-loathing issues. As you'll see in my upcoming blogs, I tried all kinds of things as a teenager to help me cope with having acne. A few non-conventional methods of coping with acne actually helped. Some typical ways did not help me cope with having acne. Keep reading for more details.
Thedy B
I don't remember when I saw my first pimple. The color of my skin is light brown so pimples show up fairly prominently. In the winter when I don't tan as much, my skin is even lighter. So the acne was even more visible. As the acne grew from one bump to multiple bumps, from just one spot on my face to covering my face, I began to have self-esteem, self-image, and self-loathing issues. As you'll see in my upcoming blogs, I tried all kinds of things as a teenager to help me cope with having acne. A few non-conventional methods of coping with acne actually helped. Some typical ways did not help me cope with having acne. Keep reading for more details.
Thedy B
Friday, March 28, 2008
Coping with Acne - Retreating
My last resort of coping with acne was to retreat. I just simply decided that I didn't want to be around people. Kids made fun of me. I was convinced that until my skin cleared up, no boy was going to like me. And I really wanted to be liked. I wanted the attention that the other girls without acne seemed to get. I wanted to feel and look pretty. I wanted to fit in and be accepted.
Instead, I felt like a misfit. I felt like I didn't belong. So I retreated. Every now and then, I'd meet a friend along the way who would accept me just as I was. Most of those kids were labelled misfits too. So like essentially every high school in the world, you had your cool crowd, your nerd crowd, your athletic crowd, your rebellious crowd, and your loners.
At first, I was a loner. I retreated. I became an introvert. I stayed in my room a lot. I did things like write which helped me retreat and stay introverted. But like I said earlier, I was simply too tall to "hide." So retreating as a way to cope with acne didn't work either.
But retreating ain't so bad. I decided to write. I wrote in my journal a lot. I wrote poetry and songs to would-be boy friends. I read a lot! Guess retreating and reading paid off, I'm a songwriter and an attorney now. So retreating ain't so bad after all.
Instead, I felt like a misfit. I felt like I didn't belong. So I retreated. Every now and then, I'd meet a friend along the way who would accept me just as I was. Most of those kids were labelled misfits too. So like essentially every high school in the world, you had your cool crowd, your nerd crowd, your athletic crowd, your rebellious crowd, and your loners.
At first, I was a loner. I retreated. I became an introvert. I stayed in my room a lot. I did things like write which helped me retreat and stay introverted. But like I said earlier, I was simply too tall to "hide." So retreating as a way to cope with acne didn't work either.
But retreating ain't so bad. I decided to write. I wrote in my journal a lot. I wrote poetry and songs to would-be boy friends. I read a lot! Guess retreating and reading paid off, I'm a songwriter and an attorney now. So retreating ain't so bad after all.
Advice for parents of teenagers with acne
If you have a teenager that is suffering from acne, I'd suggest helping them cope with this problem by:
1. First, if your teenager starts worrying about a pimple, acknowledge that having a pimple is a problem. Don't make the situation larger than it is but also don't minimize it and make them feel as if it's nothing. As a teenager, their looks are major on the priority list. You want to help them? Help them find self-esteem by finding additional sources of where they can place their self-esteem besides their looks. Yet acknowledge that their looks are important.
2. Help them find better ways to cope with having acne than the ways that I've been mentioning in previous posts.
1. First, if your teenager starts worrying about a pimple, acknowledge that having a pimple is a problem. Don't make the situation larger than it is but also don't minimize it and make them feel as if it's nothing. As a teenager, their looks are major on the priority list. You want to help them? Help them find self-esteem by finding additional sources of where they can place their self-esteem besides their looks. Yet acknowledge that their looks are important.
2. Help them find better ways to cope with having acne than the ways that I've been mentioning in previous posts.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Introduction to Victory over Acne
I have been an acne-sufferer since I was a teen. I know the embarrassment of getting large and small pimples. I know what it's like to wear makeup in an attempt to hide the acne, and the scars it leaves. I tried a lot of different over-the-counter and prescription acne treatment products but most seemed not to work. When I was finally able to afford it, I went to dermatologists to help me overcome my acne problem. The dermatologists had me try multiple acne medications. Some acne medications didn't work at all. Some medications worked but only for a little while. Some medications caused allergic reactions. One was effective after three months and continued being effective after that time but its side effects affected my entire body! Still, I went through that process and was glad I did. I'll tell you more about my experience with having acne and my long journey with overcoming it. I'll talk about the different skin care products, acne medications, acne treatments, dermatologists, make up, and foods, etc. that I used in an attempt to overcome acne in future blogs so stay tuned!
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