The body positivity movement has grown bigger and bigger over the last few years. And that is absolutely amazing; everybody should be able to feel comfortable in their own bodies no matter what shape or size. However, there is one thing that I haven’t really seen discussion about and that is pimples. Growing up, pimples were a huge cause of insecurity for me so I thought it would be good to talk about them in case there is someone else out there (and I’m sure there is) who also feels the same way.
I started getting pimples at around the age of 11 when puberty kicked in. First there weren’t too many of them but they quickly increased to the point that I was not able to count the pimples I had on any given day because there were just too many. I wore make-up pretty much every single day from the age of 12 until about the age of 18. It didn’t matter where I went, I always had to have my pimples covered: at football practice, at the corner store, on the beach…My pimples caused me a huge amount of insecurity to the point where I didn’t for example want to attend summer camp because I knew I would have to take my make-up off at least during the night and then someone might see me without it. I ended up going but waited until everyone else was asleep every night and only then sneaked into the bathroom to remove my make-up.
I was in a highly privileged position, though, because my parents could afford to take me to a specialized doctor who then prescribed me medication for my acne. It didn’t get rid of all my zits but made the situation much more bearable. I’m 23 years old now. I don’t take medication for my acne anymore because I don’t need to. Sure, I still get pimples every now and then but altogether my skin is much, much better.
There are so many things I would like to say to my younger self who struggled with the way she looked because of her pimples. Maybe there are other people out there also who feel the same and who could hopefully benefit from my advice. Firstly: having pimples is completely natural. Most teenagers get them and it is nothing to be ashamed of. Pimples are a natural part of puberty and you are in no way weird or ugly for having them. I wish I would have talked about having pimples with my friends more when I was younger. I’m 100% sure that I was not the only one who was insecure because of them and we could have supported each other then.
Secondly: though it feels like everyone is constantly staring at your pimples, they are not. Pimples are really very common and people see them constantly. They probably don’t even pay attention to your pimples, even if you feel like they do. It would be awesome to see more people with pimples on the tv, in ads and so on. Models have zits, too, but they are always edited out which makes it seem like they are much more uncommon than they actually are. I have actually complained about having a pimple to someone several times and pretty much always the answer has been that they didn’t even notice. So, even though having pimples might seem like a big deal to you (which is totally valid) it is highly unlikely that other people see it the same way.
Lastly, you are beautiful with or without pimples and anyone who tells you otherwise is not worth your time. When I first met my boyfriend I was 17 and still suffering from acne. Every time we spent a night together I was super stressed and made plans about how to sneakily remove my make-up when the lights were already off so that he wouldn’t see me without it. However, I pretty quickly stopped caring about whether he saw me without make-up because he made me feel beautiful regardless. And that’s because I was beautiful, even with all my zits. In my opinion, the most beautiful thing someone can wear is confidence. It can be hard sometimes but you deserve to be confident and feel beautiful, pimples and all.
If you have acne, I hope this text gave you even a little bit of a confidence boost. Staying confident is so hard, I would know, but I also believe that you can do it. And if it makes you feel any better, it almost always gets better with age. However, that is no reason to hide from the world now because you are beautiful, amazing and gorgeous and deserve to feel comfortable in your awesome body!