For me, the problem was acne-prone skin. It started in puberty when hormones went wild and “baby skin” on the cheeks no longer looked so flawless. I had a lot of pimples especially on my cheeks and forehead and I wanted to get rid of them. They were small, red and painful. Blackheads appeared on the nose, not very noticeable, but together with the pimples created an impure appearance of the skin. I quickly gave up popping as it hurt and I knew it could only worsen the appearance of my skin.
I turned to friends for advice as they had similar problems in those years, but we didn’t know how to help each other. I spent my teenage years ashamed of my skin and covered my face with make-up. I had low self-esteem due to stress and anxiety. I waited for the end of puberty when skin problems were supposed to end. At the end of my teenage years, I realized that these would not go away so easily and decided to delve deeper into understanding skin imperfections.