If you’ve ever struggled with acne, you’re probably familiar with the feelings of insecurity and self-consciousness that nearly always go along with it. We can only imagine what’d be like to feel that while also being under the watchful eyes of more than ten million followers on social media. YouTuber Ethan Dolan, of the uber-popular Dolan Twins channel, is that guy. Dolan’s struggled with acne at different times throughout his very public career, often facing a lot of extremely unkind comments and attacks because of it. Now, the YouTuber has shared a pretty incredible story about him beginning to accept his acne and embrace acne positivity.
Dolan opened up about his struggle with acne in an Instagram post. “I had severe acne, now my face is filled with scars and I can’t seem to be upset about it anymore… At first, my acne completely destroyed my self-confidence. I’ve always been an advocate of embracing your appearance no matter what. I found myself giving advice to friends when they struggled with their self image. I was always so happy to hear that my words helped. If these were my own words, and they had proven to help others… why couldn’t they help me? I couldn’t seem to take my own advice. It’s so crazy how I honestly don’t care what people think, but I care so much at the same time.”
Despite building a pretty impressive career out of it, social media has also been the site of some pretty ugly attacks on Dolan and his appearance. Earlier this year some cruel memes went around showing Google searches that suggested “Ethan Dolan ugly” and users claiming they had to cover his face when it appeared. He addressed them at the time and a counter-tag #EthanIsBeautiful went viral on Twitter.
He continued to explain that it wasn’t just a knock to his self-confidence, but also a really isolating experience because it was one of the first times in his life he was going through something his twin brother, Grayson Dolan, was not. “I’m used to going through everything in my life with having someone to relate to who goes through everything I do; my twin. This time, I didn’t have that. Gray‘s skin decided to just glow while mine did the opposite. This was the first time I was going through something ALONE… at least I thought.”
So what helped him learn to accept himself and feel more confident? Dolan says it was actually learning not to hide and instead, sharing and get vulnerable on social media that made him realise he wasn’t as alone as he felt. “It wasn’t until I stopped hiding and finally expressed my vulnerable side to everyone who keeps up with me on social media, that I finally felt some sort of relief. Brave people who were going through what I was came to share their stories and comfort me. I’ll forever be thankful for you all, you truly got me out of such a shitty place in my mind.”
Even if he says he’s not fully confident 100% of the time, we’re so glad Dolan’s mental health is in a better place. And we can only commend him for his openness, every little bit helps. If you want more acne positivity in your life, check out these excellent acne acceptance tips from an acne Instagrammer and check out the acne positive Instagrammers you should be following rn.
You can read Dolan’s full post below.
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