I have to make an admission. When I was a pre-teen and junior high student I had AWFUL AWFUL skin. Seriously – it was awful and completely humiliating. I did all I could to get a clean face, but we didn’t have Proactiv Solution back then to help out, and nothing would help. I really didn’t have “clear” skin until college. Even in high school I continued to have breakouts.
Knock on wood here – but I’m thankful I don’t get them today. Oh sure, maybe every few months one will start, but I’d rather have that than a new one everyday, which I had when I was 12, 13, 14, etc. My worst experience EVER – SO humilating that even know I remember it so clearly – was one Sunday in about 6th or 7th grade (I know it was then because we lived in Washington State at the time, and I was there from 4th – 7th grade). I woke up with a horrible pimple right dead center of my chin. It was MASSIVE. I tried to get rid of it – you know what I’m talking about – and in the process I made it worse. Then I had to try and cover up what I did. Well, the result was horrific. But I had to go to church despite my raging desire to stay home.
So I get to church and walk into Sunday school. My friends are thankfully ignoring the volcano on my chin, when suddenly the teacher says, “What’s that on your chin, dear? Did you hurt yourself?” I should have just said yes, but I was so taken aback by the direct question that I whispered, “No, it’s a zit.” “A what?” she asked. More loudly, I repeated “It’s a ZIT.” Everyone in the class laughed, but I was mortified.
I will NOT let my kids go through that kind of damaging scenario. When they get older, if they end up with the same skin problems I had, I have NO PROBLEM getting them a prescription for something like Proactiv. Knowing what such problems do to self-esteem, I don’t want my kids going through that.