Acne, the Blemish on Social Media’s Perfect Skin
At the peak of my stress, my skin has a horrible habit of displaying my anxieties for everyone to gawk at. My hyperpigmented undereye bags appear more purple than usual; my skin gets incredibly dry and will sometimes flake off around the corners of my cracked lips; the most agonizing bit of all this is the array of pimples that pop up at the most awkward parts of my face: my forehead, nose, and chin, sometimes all at once.
As many of us know, covering these imperfections is sometimes futile. Color correcting only goes so far, and blurring products can emphasize dry or oily skin. While I’ve had many days bullying myself over the natural textures of my skin, or the size of my pimples, nothing is worse than having them called out to you by others. “What’s that on your face?” “Why do you look like that?” These questions always boggled my mind because the narrative could always be turned on the individual who rudely asked the insensitive question or made the rude comment. These things are normal. “Imperfections” are normal; more importantly, they are unavoidable. As such, to deem these imperfections makes no sense. Preventative measures for textured skin, acne, hyperpigmentation, and other flaws only help so much compared to the everyday factors that bombard us, causing these flaws. In the ongoing campaign of the body positivity movement, its subsets have strengthened those battling their acne, hyperpigmentation, blackheads, etc. We have seen solid proponents for acne neutrality campaigning for self-acceptance in the past decade, discouraging societal shaming of natural flaws.
The most prominent figure that comes to mind is Em Ford, a social media influencer whose viral 2015 Youtube video, You Look Disgusting, calls out the ridiculous expectations social media puts on people to be perfect. She proudly displays a bare face covered with acne and healed acne scars while surrounding herself with the negative comments that have haunted her all her life. On her blog, “My Pale Skin,” she preaches the main idea of her video, her content, and her initiatives: “One challenge many [face] today is that as a society, we're so used to seeing false images of perfection, and comparing ourselves to unrealistic beauty standards that It can be hard to remember the most important thing - You ARE beautiful.” While one could argue that the acne neutrality movement became popularized by Ford’s video and her preceding content, it encapsulates how people feel about the oppressive aesthetic that the beauty industry continuously maintains. The new generations are tired of being “perfect.” Let us be ourselves. If that means walking around with our acne exposed or our under eyes unconcealed, so be it!
Celebrities are exhausted with maintaining this facade of perfection, just as much as regular people. It can seem ironic to believe that the people who have been the face of societal beauty standards are just as fed up with the oppressive nature of the limelight. We forget that these “perfect” people are still people. Justin Bieber made headlines in 2018 when he posted a short video to his Instagram stories showing off pimples from his breakout, captioning the video “Pimples are in.” Subsequently, TeenVogue released their 2018 Acne Awards article that called for more acne appreciation and reflected on the prominent focus of acne in society. Online influencers have arguably taken the forefront of acne neutrality, showing people scrolling past filters and Facetuned pictures that acne is normal. My favorite influencer is Kali Kushner, who details her experience with Accutane, hyperpigmentation, derma rolling, and makeup on her Instagram feed @myfacestory. These influences and proponents of acne appreciation supplement confidence in society’s weakest members, teenagers.
Adolescence is such an awkward stage in life; having acne all but makes it more difficult to assimilate into a community or prevent bullying. Confidence becomes a difficult mindset to maintain, and lots of money is spent at the drug store looking for solutions. The same can be said for those prone to adult acne, particularly women who struggle with the emotional and physical scars left behind. Having healed from these scars firsthand, Kushner states that she started the Instagram account as a rebellion against the oppressive nature of perfect aesthetics. In an interview with The Guardian, Kushner described her account: “There was no curation taking place, no filters, angles, and certainly no Photoshop. I would take out my phone, take a picture, think of a caption within four or five minutes and post it. It was and always has been about keeping it real. It was a call against stereotypical standards of beauty, saying that you don’t need X/Y/Z to be beautiful. All you need is you.”
As modern generations reflect on the shortcomings of their predecessors, the lack of self-love and its overarching consequences become apparent. It’s an obvious detriment to the betterment of society and the advancement of self. Our flaws make us self-conscious in a society bent on killing individuality and authenticity. We can’t grapple with imperfection because reality is not as beautiful as we would like it to be. However, Kali, Bieber, and Ford have shown us that it is all about perspective. Your worth should not be dictated by appearances or factors affecting us that sit outside our control. As Kushner said, “all you need is you.”
