I think the other reason my skin was so prone to acne breakouts was that I didn’t realize that drying it out would be a problem. I was sometimes washing my face 3 or 4 times a day with hot water and soap. That couldn’t have been a good combination, even for oily skin. It probably made my skin more sensitive and more prone to acne.

When I was younger and started having acne problems, I did blame myself a lot. I thought there had to be something wrong with the way I took care of my skin. But now I realize it’s not that unusual for both sexes to get tons of acne breakouts around adolescence.

I don’t think feeling good about how you look is necessarily vain or shallow either. We all want to look as good as possible and how we feel about our appearance affects the way we feel about ourselves. If we aren’t confident with our appearance, we’re not going to be able to meet new people or have new experiences.

My friend’s situation got me thinking about confidence. When my acne was really bad, I felt bad about how I looked and I didn’t like to talk to people or even look them in the eye. I was ashamed of what I looked like! Now that it’s improving and the oiliness is getting under control, I don’t feel that way as much.