My Skincare journey

TL;DR : skincare horror stories courtesy random people suggesting random remedies for acne and hyperpigmentation and the lessons I learned, read conclusion.

I’m 20F and I started taking care of my skin recently and stumbled across this sub. I’ve read some of your stories about our very accepting and supportive society and wanted to share mine. I didn’t know anything about skin care until very recently and neither do my parents or anyone else I know. We are extremely uneducated about skin care. And it has led to some horrific incidents and childhood trauma. I had hyperpigmentation around my mouth from a very young age along with dark circle and Pigmentation in my underarms, elbows, neck and in my public region. Still do but I’m much more secure and accepting of it while I try to work on it. Age 9-10 I remember incidents when I was told me it's because I don't clean up them properly and if I did, the hyperpigmentation would just come right off. And I remember scrubbing my face and elbows and knees until they were all red. There’s so much ignorance about the importance of sunscreen too. I’ve seen a doctor( homeopathic doctor lol) say that sunscreens are nothing more than a marketing gimmick and that Indians don’t need it. During school I spent 3-4 hours everyday in the afternoon sun while is probably the reason for my hyperpigmentation. I wasn’t even aware of the existence of sunscreen then. The only skincare we had then was that thick Nivea cold cream exclusively in winters. My hyperpigmentation bothered my mother most. She had me seeing who would say that I'm very you rn and it'll get better with age or they’ll treat it once I'm old enough. She couldn't agrue with the dermatologist further but then she started asking random people about what should be done about it and this lady at a local saloon suggested using bleach and some other chemicals to lighten my skin and my mother sent me to her for that treatment everyday in the evening until I eventually refused to go because it irritated my skin so much and that parlour lady would say it’s just a harmless part of the process. Age 11-12 A colleague of my mother's was recommended a skin brightening (read fairness) cream by a dermatologist and she thought for some reason that a 40 year old and 11 year old can use the same prescription drug. No problem. It really made my skin fair but I still didn't use sunscreen because I wasn't aware that it's something we're supposed to do and my face would be red in sun during that time. Sometime later we found out it has steroids and is not good after that I discontinued it and my skin went back to being uneven and hyperpigmented. Age 12-13 My mother took me to another dermatologist who prescribed some treatments. They were three creams that were to be mixed together and applied and I'm pretty sure one of them was tret. I don't remember if he told us the importance of Sunscreen or not but I didn't end up using Sunscreen with tret. And not surprisingly it didn't do much. At this point my mother was very scared and/or sceptical of skincare learned to let me live with it Age 18-19 When I started going to College I had SEVERE acne and my mother refused to take me to a dermatologist because she believed they’d just prescribe a ton of medicines which are unnecessary. So I continued to live with it for about a year. During this time a lot of people I met would all just suggest their own solution. Someone suggested rubbing coconut oil which now I’m aware is a very infamous comedogenic. Some suggested Multani mitti and said it’d first make it worse and then cure the acne. It sure made it very worse but not better at all after that. Someone suggested I drink a lot of water and that'd clear up my skin. Then there was rubbing potato and lemon and a bunch of other stuff on my face.I did it all. I rubbed a potato on my face as I reconsidered my life choices. I drank so much water that my blood pressure got seriously low and I had to see a doctor for that. And Multani mitti is not skincare I’m sorry but it’s not. Stop using it if you do.It does more harm that we realise. I finally got medical advice (sort of) from a friend who is a medical student and it cured all my pimples with two weeks. I could see results within a day.

Conclusion Through all this I’ve learned quite a lot. Confidence and smile are what makes you beautiful and not your skin. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Medicines and “ chemicals” work way better than these natural remedies. People used these when they didn’t have access to any of the fancy skincare. We don’t need them anymore. Certainly not in 2021. That’d be evolving backwards. Never listen to anyone other than a specialist regarding any health issues. And even after taking advice from specialists do your own research read research papers, know your options and always take a second opinion. Indian medical practitioners are not the most trustable. Even if you’re working on your skin, it takes time and it doesn’t alway work. We need to learn to be comfortable in our own skin. Literally.