Meet Em Ford (aka, @mypaleskinblog).
She’s many things: a London-based YouTube and Instagram influencer who dislikes early mornings and is borderline obsessed with avocados. But first and foremost, she’s a woman on a mission to put an end to acne-shaming.
Unlike the majority of us who go to extreme lengths to cover up our breakouts (helloooo, 50 layers of concealer and multiple photo filters), the 26-year-old refuses to hide her spotty skin from the world. Naturally, trolls have a lot of opinions on the matter:
Taking to social media a few months back, she revealed some of the criticism she received after sharing a make-up free selfie: “’What happened to her skin?’ ‘what’s wrong with her face,’” a few of the comments read.
But Em was determined not to let the haters bring her down.
“Well, I just cleansed, exfoliated, used a bucket load of serum and drenched my face in moisturiser. My skin is happy AF right now,” she responded.
“And since you asked, I have one eyelid which is 3mm more hooded than the other. A 1.2cm scar on my forehead. My left brow has a slight bald patch, the sides of my nose make it difficult to find sunglasses sometimes and my lips have a sharp Cupid’s bow. – what’s wrong with yours…?”
Here’s the thing: having acne doesn’t make you a failure. It can affect anyone at any time in life.
So, let’s take a leaf out of Em’s book and celebrate our imperfections. Coz, it’s time to silence the stigma, once and for all.
This article originally appeared on Women’s Health.
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