Suffering and Coping with Acne

Eighty percent of people have acne outbreaks at least once in their life.

Unfortunately, some of us are not as lucky when it comes to the acne clearing up. I have suffered with acne since I was very young and had people constantly telling me it's because you don't wash your face enough. I wash my face every morning and every night, still people jump to the conclusion that I barely wash my face. In a way, washing your face does help as it balances out your skin and can prevent some spots coming up, I would recommend you find a wash and scrub that suits your skin type don't go along with what beauty YouTubers say they use, yes it might work for them but doesn't mean it will work for you, everyone's skin is different.

For the past two years I have never gone out of the house without skin makeup, if I did I would feel so insecure and feel like everyone was looking at my skin. I tried all different antibiotics and nothing was working. I would constantly pick my spots, desperately buy acne treatments and stick to a daily routine of these treatments, none worked.

I searched online - everything to buy when you have acne. Tried it all. Nothing was working and I was desperate, my acne was bad everywhere but there were always big ones on my chin, cheeks, and especially dotted around my mouth.

Then around two years later, which was about January 2018, I started using some different tablets which definitely made my acne go down and I could see a difference but it was still bad and I wasn't satisfied with the result after I had stopped using it. One day I just came to the realisation that I had to embrace that I have acne and right now there's nothing I can do about it. I don't have to change myself to feel like I fit in with society's expectations. I'm me and I have acne and that's okay, so I took the big leap and wiped off my makeup. It was scary I have to admit, I was so anxious because everyone was so used to seeing me with makeup on and I thought "Would this change how people see me?' But at the end of the day I felt empowered, I had faced the thing that had been manipulating me for years, I wasn't ashamed anymore. Ever since then I haven't been wearing makeup up and I'm not afraid to speak out about my acne.

You don't have to feel like having acne makes you different or it holds you back, Kendall Jenner suffered with acne and she's now one of the most famous supermodels in the world. Love yourself, it's all about self-love.

Be confident in your own skin, how you see yourself in the mirror is actually a lot worse than how people see you because you pick out your flaws and don't see your beauty.

The tips I would give to help cope with your acne:

• Stay hydrated.
• Wash your face daily, use a scrub first to open up your pores, rinse with warm water, and then wash with face wash.
• Keep a separate towel for drying your face, keep it separate from other people.
• Try to stick to a routine.
• Change your pillowcases regularly.
• Don't let it bring you down.
• Go to a dermatologist.