For someone who had battled with pimples/zits for the better (read worse) part of my life, any mention of the topic is enough to trigger the floodgates of memories. Right from the early teenage days when one just started to discover the other sex (and it suddenly become important to look good), it was my faithful companion till my mid-twenties. And finally when we parted ways, it left behind a trail of destruction in the form of scars and potholes on my face.
Pimples were the primary reason I adopted a proper skin care routine, gulped down 10-12 glasses of water in a day and controlled my diet to exclude chocolates, pickles, pani-puris, fried food and red meat. I would religiously wash my face 2-3 times in a day and splash it with cold water whenever possible. And I applied everything on my face ranging from Margosa(Neem) paste, Fuller's earth (aka multani mitti), turmeric, sandalwood, gramflour(besan)-curd mixture, tomato, lemon juice and even garlic paste (please do not ever try this..it stings like hell). And yeah, I forgot to add the toothpaste that a friend's sister had suggested. But that is not all. These home remedies were in addition to the countless bottles of Cetaphil, tubes of prescription medicine and strips of antibiotics that I have had to consume. But these remedies/medications would only reduce the severity of the eruptions and that too for a limited period of time.
By now you would have guessed that my life had turned into a living hell. Standing for hours in front of the mirror and wishing those zits to simply disappear, I dreaded to venture outside my home. It was as if everyone I bumped into was bound to peer into my face and ask about it. After hearing about my losing battle with the zits, they would cluck their tongues and impart a few pearls of wisdom about a remedy which magically cured the pimple problems of someone known to them. It was a different story that none of this stuff worked in my case.
After the initial struggle, I kind of resigned myself to fate. Instead of pondering over a problem on which I had no control, I decided to concentrate on extra-curricular activities, reading books and do whatever I could to distract myself. I would give pep talks to myself to deal with the problem of low self-esteem and convince myself that it is just a passing phase. After all, there is more to a person than just looks.
My efforts paid off and by the time I joined Engineering college, my pimple problem had substantially subsided. Yes, there were those scars, and there would be 3-4 of those eruptions on my face at any point of time, but it was manageable. By the time, I was out of college, most of the scars had faded substantially and I heaved a sigh of relief. But my happiness was short lived as I suffered from yet another bad bout of eruptions six months into my new job. The stress of job training and the frequent change of cities had not gone down well with my over-sensitive skin. But this time I came in touch with a good dermatologist. She gave some medications which showed good results within two months and then there were a few sittings of chemical peel and microdermabrasion after the pimples had reduced. Her treatment was remarkably good (the best actually) and I was delighted because my skin had never looked better.
As my doctor had made it clear that I was in for a long term struggle, I was advised to stick to a mild yet effective cleanser twice a day, regularly apply a medicated cream at night and a medicated sunscreen while going out in the sun. My skin continued to behave well though I would still get a few eruptions at times. But the turning point came with my pregnancy when I had to stop applying all those medicated products. I was scared that the pimples would be back with a vengeance. However the hormonal changes worked in my favor and the pimples just went away by themselves.
The status quo has been continuing for three years now. But I still follow a regular skin care routine which includes a cleanser and a weekly face pack featuring a natural ingredient with known anti-bacterial properties/pimple fighting abilities like neem, mint, clay or aloe vera. Yeah, I do get a pimple once in a while due to some hormonal fluctuations but that is quite rare.
This post is written for Garnier (No Pimples No Marks) and Pure Active Neem Face Wash .
Pimples were the primary reason I adopted a proper skin care routine, gulped down 10-12 glasses of water in a day and controlled my diet to exclude chocolates, pickles, pani-puris, fried food and red meat. I would religiously wash my face 2-3 times in a day and splash it with cold water whenever possible. And I applied everything on my face ranging from Margosa(Neem) paste, Fuller's earth (aka multani mitti), turmeric, sandalwood, gramflour(besan)-curd mixture, tomato, lemon juice and even garlic paste (please do not ever try this..it stings like hell). And yeah, I forgot to add the toothpaste that a friend's sister had suggested. But that is not all. These home remedies were in addition to the countless bottles of Cetaphil, tubes of prescription medicine and strips of antibiotics that I have had to consume. But these remedies/medications would only reduce the severity of the eruptions and that too for a limited period of time.
By now you would have guessed that my life had turned into a living hell. Standing for hours in front of the mirror and wishing those zits to simply disappear, I dreaded to venture outside my home. It was as if everyone I bumped into was bound to peer into my face and ask about it. After hearing about my losing battle with the zits, they would cluck their tongues and impart a few pearls of wisdom about a remedy which magically cured the pimple problems of someone known to them. It was a different story that none of this stuff worked in my case.
After the initial struggle, I kind of resigned myself to fate. Instead of pondering over a problem on which I had no control, I decided to concentrate on extra-curricular activities, reading books and do whatever I could to distract myself. I would give pep talks to myself to deal with the problem of low self-esteem and convince myself that it is just a passing phase. After all, there is more to a person than just looks.
My efforts paid off and by the time I joined Engineering college, my pimple problem had substantially subsided. Yes, there were those scars, and there would be 3-4 of those eruptions on my face at any point of time, but it was manageable. By the time, I was out of college, most of the scars had faded substantially and I heaved a sigh of relief. But my happiness was short lived as I suffered from yet another bad bout of eruptions six months into my new job. The stress of job training and the frequent change of cities had not gone down well with my over-sensitive skin. But this time I came in touch with a good dermatologist. She gave some medications which showed good results within two months and then there were a few sittings of chemical peel and microdermabrasion after the pimples had reduced. Her treatment was remarkably good (the best actually) and I was delighted because my skin had never looked better.
As my doctor had made it clear that I was in for a long term struggle, I was advised to stick to a mild yet effective cleanser twice a day, regularly apply a medicated cream at night and a medicated sunscreen while going out in the sun. My skin continued to behave well though I would still get a few eruptions at times. But the turning point came with my pregnancy when I had to stop applying all those medicated products. I was scared that the pimples would be back with a vengeance. However the hormonal changes worked in my favor and the pimples just went away by themselves.
The status quo has been continuing for three years now. But I still follow a regular skin care routine which includes a cleanser and a weekly face pack featuring a natural ingredient with known anti-bacterial properties/pimple fighting abilities like neem, mint, clay or aloe vera. Yeah, I do get a pimple once in a while due to some hormonal fluctuations but that is quite rare.
This post is written for Garnier (No Pimples No Marks) and Pure Active Neem Face Wash .
