As a teenager, I was sadly the sufferer of bad skin. It actually started in Primary school for me, so it was about the age of 8 that I experienced my first white head. It was of course, the biggest white head you've ever seen. It was actually THAT big, if volcanologists had known about it they would have given it a name and tried to predict when it would erupt. To make matters much worse it sat there on my nose (of all places) right a the tip I got the nickname 'Scarlett the white nose monster'. Kids are so cruel sometimes. Likely, it never stuck.
My wonderful mother told and I quote 'under NO circumstances do you pick it or squeeze it'. Now, something you should all know.. I am a very good girl. I was back then as well. I'd be lying if I said I never went through a 'naughty stage' BUT I grew out of that quickly. I was the girl who liked to hold the teachers hand, walking around the playground. I must say that it was a shock when I went to secondary school. No one warned me there were no teachers hands to hold at 'play time' (I really wasn't prepared for that) ANYWAY, back on track, I was told not to squeeze it, so I didn't. I was laughed at and pointed at all day. As a child, it was awful. I remember telling my friends that it wasn't a spot, it was, in fact a cut that had got infected. Sounded like a plausible excuse as a kid.
Little did I know that things were about it get worse. MUCH worse. It really went downhill from there. Spots popped almost everyday. My face became oily, the skin tone was really uneven. My mum gave me a bar of soap (body soap) and told me washing my face would help.... I believe the bar was called 'imperial leather body soap' (we are talking about 20 years ago) It went on to make my face worse. My mother bless her, was never very 'beauty aware' herself so she had no idea. She believed makeup was age restricted which is why she never thought to buy me any.
When I went to secondary school, luckily, a few other kids started developing spots. Funnily enough it was always the 'geeks' that had what others would call 'pizza faces' the 'popular' kids would only ever get the occasional one. The people that were not geeks or popular were known as 'the others'. These had neither clear skin, nor very bad skin. My face, was mostly covered by them, all shapes and sizes.
I was never introduced to makeup until much later so I had suffer on. What I wasn't aware of was how these spots could and would scar me for life. My cheeks are the places that bare all my scars.
It wasn't until my late teens that I found out the importance of proper facial cleansing. I just wish I found out years earlier. Maybe it would have helped reduced the scarring. Maybe it would have made me fit in, made me more 'socially acceptable'.
So I hit (lets say) 19 years old. For my birthday I get something I find rather baffling and quite frankly distrubing. It was a £30 gift voucher for a beauty salon. I remember thinking beauty salons were for men to get body massages and 'more'.. more being naughty things that really shouldn't happen in these places but who am I to judge. What made the situation worse was that my brother MY BROTHER gave it to me. Luckily, there was a brochure attached that listed all of the treatments available. After a lot of consideration, a lot of hassle from my brother NOT to waste it for it had costed him £30 after all. I decided to go for a facial. Should anything untoward begin to happen, it was at least at the top end and I'm sure I could regain my composure and get the hell out.
So the day came for my facial. That day I wore so many layers, I looked like the marshmallow man. Thank goodness it was cold outside. I could use that as my excuse.
Seeing the salon for the first time really put me at ease. It looked nice, it looked profession, not shabby or dodgy. The staff were all beautiful (a little worrying I must say) all blonde and all women. Hmm I thought, alarm bells started to go off. They all had beautiful skin, beautiful eyes, beautiful nails. I felt uneasy. I was for one, dark haired with spotty, oily skin, crappy nails and female.. I didn't fit in. I wanted to run but it was too late, I was lead in to a really beautiful room, with soft music and beautiful scented candles glowing. \i'm surprised I didn't start hyperventilating The fact that she didn't ask me to take anything other then my coat off, relaxed me slightly. I don't know what I was expecting... all I knew was I didn't 'go that way' and I'd made note of the exits. To my surprise, I went on to have an amazing facial and an amazing insight to how skin works, how to work with you skin and how to help stop stops occurring. I was also told to book in for an eyebrow wax and a make up lesson... She didn't bother to hint at these things. She just outright told me.
I left the salon, happy, not violated in anyway, relaxed and ready to start life with beautiful skin. It is amazing how that one experience changed who I was and made me who I am today.
If only I had known then what I knew now, I could have had a childhood which involved less spots and more confidence.
It is for this reason I'm going to write a section on how to look after your skin. I will not bore you with anymore of personal experiences tho.
So keep a look out for my post tomorrow on how to look after your skin. If I can figure out how, I will put it under the skin tag... can't promise that tho as i'm still learning.
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