[Personal] - "What happened to your face?" Light years of difficult and humbling progress after my face went rogue on me earlier this year, that's what.

Beauty Tips For Body Care
I broke out all over my cheeks and temples in April or so, and only just visited my derm a few weeks ago. She put me on salicylic acid cleanser, Clindagel, and benzoyl peroxide spot treatment in the morning, and SA cleanser, Epiduo, and CeraVe moisturizer at night. It dries the living Hades out of my skin if I do it all every single day, so I've learned to space out the BP products - I've learned that while BP kills my acne more than anything else, it's like a forest fire - burns on contact but takes everything with it.The progress has been slow but I have very, very few of the excruciating, stubborn, pus-filled zits I had before. However, my cheeks are still really red and dry from the BP (camped out with CeraVe moisturizer and Vaseline rn), a few of the dried zits are flaky, and PIH is going to be a bear for the next couple of months.Getting to the point, a family acquaintance walked into our house tonight and promptly asked me..."What happened to your face?"She has seen me every week all summer, so I other than the possibility that it was the first time that she saw my profile, I have no idea how she missed the Mars-like surface of my cheeks for all those times. A few months ago, I would have falsely smiled and laughed and said "oh, just some blemishes," but tonight, I made eye contact and said, "It's acne." Then let the awkward pause settle until she said "Oh, I thought it was a bruise on your face or something."After months of switching products, trying not to pick, being reduced to tears by Epiduo stinging my skin, and finally accepting my face for how it is while knowing that this won't last forever, this is the first time anyone has said something to my face without me prompting. (Except for two colleagues who asked if I'd been sunburned after my first week on Epiduo.) Unless it is motivated by deep concern for someone one knows well, why do people think it's okay to simultaneously comment on a person's health and appearance? If people read etiquette books as religiously as we read SCA, the world would be a better place. (I might just be really subjective on this, but to me, health is a profoundly private matter.)I've never had more than a hormonal acne spot or zits around my hairline from dairy, and this has been thoroughly ass-kicking on several levels. But, it's forced me to take ownership of my skin and understand and love it, eat properly (back on Paleo, on which I thrive), and make my appearance weigh a little less in averaging my qualities out to decide my self-worth.TL;DR Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, loose cannon greets me there and does what loose cannons do, I'm at a point where I know it's not me, it's her, why aren't finishing schools/etiquette classes mandatory, the end.
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by alewu17