Introduction
Since starting Aqneeq I’ve seen lots of skin and acne-positive posts and influencers. But is this helpful or harmful?
Am I being more kind by telling you you’re still beautiful or giving solid advice to help you treat your acne?
They aim to remind you that despite having acne that doesn’t mean whatsoever that you aren’t worthy, beautiful, or important. Which is a message I fully stand by!
My Experience
I wish when my skin was at its worst that I had people encouraging the normality of this condition instead of telling me to wash my face more, use apricot scrub and drink more water! Especially considering 85% of individuals experience acne at some point in their lifetime.
How Companies Abuse This
However. How companies can use this is harmful in my opinion. I feel we have from marketing acne as being a huge problem that needs to be fixed to it not being an issue at all and it being important for you to accept it.
But it’s very important to note that this can still be used in a harmful way as it could be used to suggest that even though our products don’t work you should just accept your skin as is.
When my skin was bad it wasn’t just the aesthetic aspect that affected me, it was more how it affected my lifestyle. When I used benzoyl peroxide it would bleach all my clothes and facial hair and I couldn’t be in the sun or the sea, so holidays would be a nightmare. I’d wake up and my face would be so painful from spots, during the day my skin was so oily that it would run into my eyes, and I have permanent scarring that I’ve had to treat.
Final Note
So, yes giving people their confidence is always something I advocate for but for the majority of people, we can’t keep allowing companies to sell cheap low-quality products that don’t work and then using skin positivity to justify it.