As a teenager I had the normal amount of acne that a girl gets, of course, it was annoying but it wasn’t something I couldn’t deal with. But I was never someone who struggled with acne badly, it always cleared up quickly. That changed quickly as I started finals this past December, I got the worst break outs of my life, they were painful and to be honest, they hurt my confidence a lot. I tried to tough it out by saying that it was from finals and that the break outs would soon clear, but about two months in there was very little sign of any improvement and at this point I was so unconfident in myself that I refused to go anywhere without makeup on because I didn’t want anyone to see what my face looked like.
After two months and quite a bit of internet research (don’t research any medical stuff online, guys), I finally decided to go to the dermatologist. One, because I knew it couldn’t be healthy for my skin to look the way that it did, I knew it had to be more than just stress. Two, because I couldn’t deal with not wanting to go anywhere without makeup, and I couldn’t deal with the way it made me feel. I was at the point of not wanting to talk to people because I felt like all they were looking at was my acne. The dermatologist was great, he said I had cystic acne which is really painful and almost impossible to get rid of on your own. I was prescribed a good amount of medicine and a few topical creams. I was pleased to be finally have answers and to also know that it would finally start clearing up. But I was over the confidence that I had in myself, that I felt like I had to wear makeup to be pretty or to be liked by people, so I decided that for a month I wasn’t going to wear any face makeup (I wore mascara occasionally, mostly to church just to feel fancy). If you don’t wear makeup this doesn’t sound like a huge deal and at one point it wouldn’t have to me either, but at this point it was necessary. I needed to be reminded that my beauty didn’t come from the outside, but from the inside instead and that I was already perfectly made.
Like I said, I went a month without makeup and that yielded a lot of time for growth in my life and in my confidence. I learned in that month that I depended a lot on makeup for confidence that without it I felt as if I wasn’t pretty or good enough for anyone. But after about two weeks that changed, I learned to love my bare face. I loved the imperfections that my faced carried because they were mine and they made me well.. me. I also learned that without makeup you get a little more sleep in your daily schedule which I think we’re all after in this crazy world.
All in all, am I glad I did this even if it was only for a month? Absolutely. My month ended, and the day that it did I wore makeup and got dressed up, but I still knew that even if I took it off I would still feel confident in myself. I‘m not concerned with how I look on the outside but of what I look like on the inside. I hope that other girls give this a try and that they realize that they don’t need makeup to feel pretty and anything that you see as an imperfection is still a beautiful thing.