Of course! I remember one time in middle school, when a friend commented that my skin looked like I scraped my face on the concrete or something. It was just so red and “holey” looking. Naturally, to seem “cool” because I apparently cared about that aspect of my persona back then, I just laughed it off and complimented her, saying that her skin looked perfect. But inside, I did feel awful. I thought, “What did I do to deserve this?” And I silently screamed for help.
I dealt with it by shutting out criticism and just focusing on my academic and extracurricular activities; probably why I’m excelled in those areas. Anyways, like all of stress caused my everything in my life, I suppressed my emotions, which certainly isn’t the most healthy practice. But who was I going to talk to? I guess, I can’t really answer my own question that I asked in this discussion; I didn’t deal with my problems back then, I simply locked them away.
Now, I’m definitely miles away from that, and it was definitely a learning experience. Looking back, I thank those that criticized me because now I’ve learned to stand alone, strong and resolute. Haha, I’m SO lame! xD
What about you guys?
The Triple Helixian 
Once when I was a teenager a beautician told me the skin on my face felt like sandpaper and that I should wash my face more often, I explained to her that I washed my face twice a day like everyone else and used acne treatment products to which she replied that my pores were so clogged I shouldn’t use any products but just let my skin breath… -_-‘’’
What an asshole, obviously I never went back to her salon, and found pretty stupid of a beautician to assume a teenager has acne because she doesn’t wash her face…
Posted by Ana | April 21, 2012, 2:54 pmHear, hear! It’s quite insane how ridiculous people can be. Glad to hear that you won’t be going back to that place. How you gotten facials after that? What’s your favorite part of it? 🙂
Posted by John | April 21, 2012, 4:31 pmThe most ridiculous part is that I was being waxed (does one use this expression in English? I must be having a brain fart and it just looks weird) so the comment came out of nowhere. Back then my mom always tried to make me have facials, but I just hate the thought of having someone extracting gunk off my face, and all the redness that probably will come after. I do try to have them regularly at home (without the painful extraction part :P) but I’m a little lazy sometimes.
I wonder if it would make a big difference to have it done by a professional though, once most of my friends say that at first it’s great but after a few weeks it’s like you’ve done nothing at all.
Thanks for the fast reply. I found your blog today and really liked it, keep up the good work 😉
Posted by Ana | April 21, 2012, 6:44 pmI’m thrilled to hear I’ve got a new reader! 🙂
I think the phrase “begin waxed” is fine lol! Maybe “getting waxed” might be better? Doesn’t matter, I get what you’re trying to say. Anyways! There’s no huge difference if you take care of your skin. A spa typically has more refined tools to extract your skin, but what they’re doing can be duplicated at home, if you have the right tools. So I agree with your friend in that, the first time you’ll notice a huge difference (because your skin has never been cleaned/extracted before), but after that, if you take care of your skin regularly, the facials after that won’t really mean that much!
Posted by John | April 22, 2012, 1:30 amlol I don’t get to practice my English very often these days so sometimes I just lack the appropriate vocabulary.
Maybe I should have listen to my mom then… I just would wish there was a less painfull way of doing it.
Posted by Ana Tomás | April 22, 2012, 10:46 amYour English is very good! What do you mean by less painful way? What’s going on? I’d like to help you if I can.
Posted by John | April 22, 2012, 6:09 pmI can totally understand that stifled feeling. There seems to be a stigma that those with acne are unclean and I hate that. I think it makes cruel people empowered to comment on others’ skin troubles as if it’s a personal failing of ours. i remember when I was in middle school, before I knew anything about how to care for my skin, I had a lot of painful, inflamed lesions all the time and no one believed that I washed my face. Once I volunteered in my art class at the time to have my portrait used for a photo manipulation project and everyone was blowing up my face on the computer and “retouching” my pimples. Luckily I had a really awesome friend who tried to cheer me up by using the photo editing program to give me a five o’clock shadow and that actually made me laugh so hard. I’m glad that my skin is less problematic now but in the end it’s always my friends I can count on to help me keep from feeling too badly about things.
Posted by Melody | February 23, 2012, 9:54 pmThat sounds so fantastic! What great friends, and it’s nice to see that you combat criticism with laughter. Back then, it worked for me… sometimes haha!
I hope I can make you feel better about your skin too! Perhaps that’ll make us friends. Lol! Thanks for commenting again! 🙂
Posted by John | February 24, 2012, 5:16 amThanks! I like the attention to detail in your posts and I’m sure it will help me with my skin care decisions. 🙂
Posted by Melody | February 25, 2012, 6:57 pmOoh thank you! I hope it does, Melody. 🙂
Posted by John | February 25, 2012, 11:31 pmI feel that a lot of people can be really insensitive when they comment on skin. If they weren’t going to call someone out for being fat or wearing ugly clothes, what makes it okay to insult someone’s skin?
I have pityriasis alba, so when I tan (which I do often and very easily much to my dismay; darn my southeast Asian blood) my complexion becomes uneven and splotchy. A friend commented once saying my face looked dirty. And I was like, “Gee thanks……..”
The same friend also called me a unicorn when I had a pimple on my forehead.
For the most part, I get pissed (like doesn’t she have anything better to say?). A while later I would feel crappy for having problematic skin. It makes me take care of my skin better; I try to get rid of my flaws so that people won’t have much to comment on.
Posted by Michelle | February 20, 2012, 1:36 amSorry to hear that Michelle. Some people are just… yeah. But what can you do? While it’s great to fix these problems, you’ll inevitably encounter problems that aren’t easily remedied. So learning to not take other peoples’ comments and criticisms too seriously, is very important! But this isn’t going to happen overnight. Clearly. 😦 Keep working it! Never let anyone make you feel bad.
Posted by John | February 20, 2012, 12:26 pm