Can You Have Acne at 10 Years Old?

Let me start by saying that I first got acne when I was 10 years old.. 10! Imagine being 10 years old when everyone is in the age of getting dirty and not caring about their appearance, being stuck with tons of little pustules and blackheads all over their face. When I first got acne I almost didn’t even really realize it until I came home one day and my mom had bought me oxy clean facial medicated wipes.

That’s when I really looked in the mirror and realized that other people could see what I tried to push away. I started using these wipes for the next few years until I entered high school. Surprise, my acne was still there, although not as bad. When I started high school I still didn’t care so much what my skin looked like or what I was doing to treat my skin. That was until people started to stare and make jokes calling me a lizard or a mutant, things took a turn for the worse.

Starting in grade 11, when I got my first real serious boyfriend is when I began to finally try and heal my skin. I tried everything the next few years, and when I say everything I mean everything including; salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, face washes, zit creams, honey, apple cider vinegar, face peels, birth control and that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. When you try this many products and spend so much money it really takes a toll on you on why they aren’t working and what you’re doing wrong.

For about a year, I got a prescription for my doctor for a cream that was clindamycin and benzoyl peroxide cream, this did wonders to clear up my skin on my face as well as the excessive acne I had covering my entire back. I was in a high, I hadn’t seen this clear of skin since I was 9 years old, and guess what I did? I became lazy, I stopped washing my face so much, taking off my makeup.

And Surprise surprise, the prescription that I had been using had a recall, and i was unable to get it again. I quickly went about finding another cream mixture from my doctor but none worked the same as that one. My acne came back full force and scars were appearing all over my face and I began to think that it was just me, I was going to have to live with this for the rest of my life. That is until approximately a year ago, when I was 19 I came across acne.org. I’m sure you have all heard of it. It consists of an acne regimen including a wash, treatment and a moisturizer. Seems simple enough? Wrong.

This is a very extensive process that you must follow pretty closely if you wish for this process to work. My experience started out well, about 2 months of my acne still appearing but slowly and consistently getting better. Once I hit about month 5 my acne was gone, just gone. I remember i moved away for college and i counted exactly 3 and a half weeks without getting one single pimple. I was ecstatic. My face was the best that i had ever seen it and then after about 4 months of clear skin from the regimen my face began to slowly but surely break out again. I felt like i had been cheated, I tasted what it felt like to have clear skin and now it was being pulled away from me. Not only that, but I had been paying close yo $50 every two months for these products.

I knew that I had to act fast or I was going to have to start all over again in my journey. I began to slowly introduce natural products to my regimen, instead of washing my face twice a day with that harsh cleanser I would substitute to using it once a day in the evening, and washing my face in the morning with honey.

Then about once a week I would use a fresh face mask of cinnamon and honey and using rose petal water as a toner. I still get a pimple here and there every couple of weeks if I slip up with eating some sugar or too much dairy, but my skin has come a long far way.

It’s all about trial and error and realizing in yourself that acne is not the end of the world, you are beautiful on the inside and the outside and the more you smile and become confident with who you are the more that shows.