My Skin Experiment

I always felt so thankful. I made it through high school, through adolescence, through puberty, being able to count the number of zits I ever had on one hand. People always told me how great my skin was. I didn't wear foundation or concealer; I had no use for it. I barely wore powder.

That all came to a crashing end when I had kids. In fact, that all ended with my first pregnancy, way back in 2003. Women always talk about how great their skin looked while they were pregnant, how they had a "glow". Well, true to my apparent form of having backward medical issues (can we say too LOW cholesterol?), my skin took a crazy turn for the worse when I got pregnant. In addition to acne issues, I also got that lovely "mask of pregnancy". It has never recovered. In fact, it's worse lately than it ever has been and I have no idea why.

So, I took to wearing foundation and concealer to hide it, and I've tried all the products...Proactiv and more. My last step before seeing a dermatologist is to go one week with no makeup on what-so-ever, and going back to the very basic skin care I used as a teenager.

I'm three days into it. The first day was a day I didn't have anywhere to go. The second day, yesterday, I did have places to go. So, I sucked it up, put on some mascara, and left the rest of my face bare. I think this was the first time in my adult life I left the house this way. I felt self-conscious and uncomfortable, but I quickly got over it. And the weirdest thing happened.

I think my least favorite thing about Seattle is the unfriendliness of people. No one says excuse me, no ones makes eye contact and smiles or says hello, no one even waves when you let their car in front of yours. It's very strange. Very very different than when we lived in Oklahoma, and even noticeably different from across the state in Spokane.

However, and maybe it was some random coincidence, but when I took the kids to the grocery store, bare face and all, not one but two people went out of their way to be friendly and chat. Maybe they both happened to be from out of town. Maybe they were both drunk. Who knows, but the only difference I came up with was the fact that I was wearing no makeup. I know, it makes no sense. Whatever.

Anyway, so far my skin for the most part looks and feels good. I still have the one main trouble area and it is not getting any better, though. In fact, it's painful. I'm hoping that in the next 4 days it will clear itself up, but if not, I'm for sure shaking things up and getting a referral to see the dermatologist. Anybody have any other suggestions??!