My Personal Failing With The Skin Positivity Movement
What ever happened to skin positivity?
Beauty standards die hard. If there is one standard that has endured is the standard of what it means to have “good” skin. In the beauty sphere, good skin is synonymous with skin that is free of blemishes, evenly toned, and exceptionally smooth – think of it as Barbie-like skin. Much like many other beauty standards, this is no less outrageously unrealistic.
I fell hard for the good skin philosophy. Growing up, I had what was deemed as good skin, with no rowdy teenage pimples in sight, in fact, I had skin, I am envious of, today. I had many teenage problems but skin wasn’t one of them, you could say my skin was skinning. It was effortless, that was until I reached the ripe age of 21.
My skin was unrecognisable to me. I couldn't believe how it was possible to go to sleep one night and wake up with a battalion of active cystic acne. It was beyond my comprehension. Wasn't "spotty" skin supposed to be a teenage thing? Surely, I should have outgrown it?
I spent hours and hours staring at myself in the mirror, thinking of where I went wrong, and what I could do to fix the problem. Because acne was presented as a problem the beauty industry positioned itself as our saviour. My skin was most definitely not skinning any longer.
Today, we could argue beauty standards are somewhat more relaxed, and especially with the growth of social media, online beauty communities have opened up a more inclusive and accepting beauty space. Yes, there is still the obvious pressure but it feels like there is somewhat of a fight against the old beauty standards, or perhaps they’ve just been repackaged to us?
Take the skin positivity campaign, in its heyday day it changed the ‘good’ skin discourse. Good skin was no longer one-dimensional and the label was opened up. We were seeing, for what felt like the first time, skin that actually reflected the skin we saw in the mirror. Brands were employing models with blemishes, scarring and pores and retouching was minimised so that skin still looked “real”.
When I was dealing with my acne, there was no skin positivity and it seems outlandish to say this but I would’ve done almost anything to clear up skin. I caked my skin with layers upon layers of foundation, literally covering as much skin as possible and luckily for me, I wore a headscarf, so I was working with extra material. I couldn’t say yes to accutane any faster. It’s scary and if I am being totally honest, I would do the same today, which is so frightening. I am well and truly indoctrinated, old habits die hard - I have three tiny pimples and best believe they’re smothered under pimple patches, damage control.
As someone with a long history of acne, the skin positivity movement couldn’t align with me anymore, I am personally invested. Posting unfiltered and imperfect images of skin, and championing the campaign was a symbol of rejecting beauty standards, losing the inclusivity of beauty ideals and going against beauty conformity and ultimately a new way to organise the skin care industry, maybe even the beauty industry as a whole.
I know the struggle, and I still can’t get over the hurdle of being obsessed with the way my skin looks. I find it difficult to leave even the smallest spot alone, I am always ready for combat. I can’t fathom how much time I've spent tending to my skin over the years, It’s a full-time job but I am still operating at entry level.
Logically, I know good skin is not what the industry is selling to us and that all skin is good skin and one spot will not be the death of me, but that doesn’t take away from years of skin anxiety and feeling shameful and bouts of low self-esteem, all because of the way my skin looked. And of course the idea of what “good” skin was supposed to look like.
I am probably not the only person to have this conundrum, my values align with skin positivity but my behaviour speaks a different language. While a couple of years ago, skin positivity was on the trajectory to dismantle the fixed idea of good skin, today it seems like we’re back to where we started. From Rhode (Hailey Beiber’s skincare brand) to the clean girl makeup, clear, smooth, supple and dewy skin as good skin is making a huge comeback - did it ever really go away? - and the beauty industry is lapping it up. Perhaps the most important lesson I've learnt is that I am just another piece in this puzzle and the battle is constant. Perfect skin regardless of how unachievable it is, is today's standard, it’s the year of Barbie in more ways than female empowerment.