A Clear Face

Some people are blessed with flawless skin. They can wake up daily and do absolutely nothing and look still perfect. Well to those people… we hate you.

Just kidding I love everyone.

But recently my face has been acting up. Sure, we all have our moments. The dermatologist usually says, wear sunscreen, stay away from greasy foods, drink more water, get more sleep, don’t rest your hand on your cheek and so on. Well at times all of these tips are unavoidable, so I decided to try something else…

I stopped wearing make-up.

GASP!

But you may think… “there is no way I can go without make-up.” “I look sickly or 10 years younger.” “My face is too ugly.” Well put your opinions aside because chances are none of the things you think are true. My dad even used to say, “don’t believe everything you think.”

While you can Google thousands of articles on the effects of wearing make-up, I am not here to tell you to stop. I just want to voice why my face cleared up when I ceased using it daily.

Since I am a very small woman, I already look way younger than my actual age. Most of the time people guess that I am 15 years old because of my height and lack of a C cup bra. But if I put on make-up, normally I can at least order a drink without having to show my ID and the waiter second guess if it is a fake or not.

But I did realize that during the week, the only people that see me is my boss at the office I work at, and my students when I teach at night. Because I work in a small office, no one really comes in, so I can get away without having to wear make-up to look more professional. My students have seen me both done up and at my worst times so I really don’t need to wear makeup for them either. This actually gives me a chance to get away with not wearing anything at all unless it’s a Friday and I want to dress up a little or go out.

Honestly, I stopped wearing make-up because since I moved, I live closer to work. I always do my make-up in the car on the way to something. But with less distance to travel, I have no time to do my make-up in the car anymore. So my laziness actually helped me out for once. By the way, I barely wear anything to begin with; just a little primer, powder, eyeliner, mascara and Chapstick. But just this little bit can clog up your pores, according to experts online and beauty people that I am not familiar with.

In my opinion, women only wear make-up for four reasons. 1) to have confidence in themselves, 2) impress others, 3) forced to for work or performances and 4) to cover up. I would wear my little bit of makeup to cover up. I have had eczema and rosacea since my teens and it comes and goes. It mainly shows up when I haven’t been out in the sun in a while and I’m pale as a ghost. Being in the studio every weekend has turned me white as a sheet so my rosacea has come back. Sweating while dancing or working out in makeup hasn’t been beneficial either. But just in the past two weeks I have barely worn makeup at all and my face has cleared!

The first few days were a little hard because looking in the mirror with nothing on showed all my imperfections and I had to look away. I saw all the redness, rosacea and little bumps that I normally covered up and got to disappear with a little powder. But without it, it was as if my face was learning to be normal and naked again.

After about a week, my redness calmed down and I got used to being a little naked. Now that my face has the chance to shed its dead skin cells without the hinderance of makeup blocking it, I can wear nothing at all and a lot of my imperfections have disappeared on their own. I have also gained more confidence without wearing it and now only wear it to dress up a little more.

Once you get past the first few days and your face has the chance to adapt, you will see the progress and the positive results.