Body-shaming was one thing, but now people are onto shaming you and making fun of you when your face might have a small zit or if you are going through acne. Recently Kendal Jenner posted a picture of her acne face along with the beautiful dress she wore for the Golden Globes 2018 with the caption, "Never let that shi*t stop you". And many other celebs also tweeted and spoke out about their acne experiences as well.
Asking youngsters in the city, do comments from people bother them and how they deal with it?
20-year-old architect student, Shwetha Perumal tells us about her previous experience with acne, "It is all the more such a problem when you have acne but people coming and touching your skin asking you to drink more water and using this or that to treat it is just frustrating. I went through a rough patch with my skin last year, and it does really kill your self esteem, you become more conscious on how you look or whether people are staring at your face or not." Getting your acne at an early age may seem fine until it actually follows you through your adulthood which can make your life miserable.
Something similar happened to Sinta Sunny, an entrepreneur who began getting her breakouts when she was in her 10th grade. “I started getting uninvited pimples on several areas on my face. It definitely made me uncomfortable but what made me feel worse was the people around me who made it too obvious. Some people tried to help me out with it but some, which were my relatives, made me feel like this is the end of my youth. They would just directly say it on my face –‘what happened to your face!’ This acne looks so ugly! Or why aren't the medicines affecting? On hearing that, I would just want to shove my face in the ground and never look up again.”
But she says what helped her was when, “I started accepting myself as I am, ignored all the voices in the background and just believed in myself. Did all the required treatments and focused on my well-being, and I have a better skin today!”
Another 23-year-old, Onga Oduyou who had gone through the same experience tells us she had Cystic acne, but it took a long time for her to figure that out. “I was so done and tired of all the questions and suggestions I get all around, and without knowing the cause people try to act like they are the doctors. To hide my scars and to avoid more of the ridiculous questions and suggestions I resorted to make-up; but it didn't stop there, people had to say, it's because I wear a lot of makeup I get so much breakouts. I then realised no matter what, it's useless and time consuming to get bothered by what people say and think,” she says.
We speak to a counsellor on how an outward appearance and what people comment on it affect us psychologically. Anitha SJ says, “It definitely plays a very important role and does mess with one's self esteems. But, you can train your mind to not get affected by it because words can harm you only if you let it.”
