Photo by DESIGNCOLOGIST
Black neck. Dark neck. Dirt neck. I heard it ALL growing up.
Anyone who knows me knows that the darkest part of my body is my neck. This caused by a condition in those with a high chance of developing diabetes called “acanthosis nigricans.” All I can blame is genetics and former eating habits. My neck has lighted over the past few years due to some weight loss, but that does not change the fact that it sucked for me when I was growing up.
The ridicule started in my family with my cousins. Then when middle school hit, it got worse. I vividly remember eighth grade when some boy called me a panda bear. The moment I really felt insecure was way before that, though. Although my mom never made fun of it, she still made me feel like something was wrong with me because of it.
There was that time on the day of my elementary school graduation when she scrubbed my neck nearly raw to get rid of what she knew was not dirt, or the few times in high school when she would bust into the bathroom to “clean my neck”.
It took me until my freshman year of college to realize that the hyperpigmentation on my neck was not even among the smallest of problems in my life, and that I am just as pretty with it as I could be without it.
I realized that the only person’s opinion of my looks that should matter to me are mine, that is when I decided I would much rather worry about my stress acne than something that was due to what my mother fed me as a child, along with genetics.
Me writing this is my way of saying forget everyone else’s opinion of you and only focus on the positive about yourself. In my opinion that is the best form of #SelfLove.