Acne is something I have struggled with for most of my life.
When I first started secondary school, I wasn’t self-conscious. Until, one day, a girl came up to me in an English class and told me that “I would look prettier if I wore makeup”. I was 13 at the time and it knocked the confidence straight out of me.
When I got home, I begged my mother to buy me makeup so that I could cover my skin. From then on, I would wear makeup every single day.
I would get up exceptionally early to thickly apply foundation in the hopes that it would hide my skin.
Every lunch break I would re-apply my makeup and I even started wearing makeup at home around my family. I felt so self-conscious of my skin that I wouldn’t let any member of my family see my natural face.
As my acne developed I felt desperately alone and isolated. It seemed that I was the only girl in my year that had severe acne. There were no online communities at the time where I could go and ask for help. It’s why I’m so passionate about campaigning and raising awareness today.
Maia uses social media to raise awareness of the issues behind editing images and using filters online.
The horrible comments I would receive in school and online would make me hyper-focus on my acne. I would cancel plans and if I could, I would stay indoors all day.
As the years went on, I was bullied so much that I considered moving schools. My attendance began to drop as I was constantly being picked on. To this day, I remember most of the words that were said about me in person and online.
A moment I remember quite clearly was when I went into the girls bathroom and saw “Maia is ugly” written on the cubicle wall.
The bullying and hate I received because of my skin condition soon made me dislike everything about myself. My self-esteem was at an all-time low – I never felt good enough.
However, when I left those negative secondary school memories behind, I slowly decided to work on myself. It took time, but with the support from my family, I was able to regain the confidence I had lost – and more.
That’s why I decided to create my acne positivity page on social media.
It was a way to not only push myself out of my comfort zone, but a way to be able to help so many others going through the same acne journey.
There’s a lot of negative stigma that surrounds acne. Acne can be portrayed as “dirty,” which particularly gets to me. I’ve found that members of the acne and skin conditions community have some of the most dedicated skincare routines out there!
The issues surrounding acne are more than skin-deep too. It can have a profound effect on mental-health, as I discovered in my teen years. Sometimes, I’d think the whole world was staring at my skin. I’ve learnt that acne positivity is not about being positive all the time. It’s not about loving yourself 24/7, it is about accepting your skin and knowing you are worthy.
Most importantly, it is about showing the world that it’s okay to have acne. It is about changing society and ending the negative stigma surrounding this.
In a world full of filters and edited images, it is important to know your worth.
My next challenge is to raise awareness of the dangers of airbrushing photos in advertising. In the beauty world, digitally enhanced and photoshopped skin is often used, so when a model with acne is shown on a campaign, it can have mixed opinions from the audience.
For so long, we’ve been told by the beauty industry that our skin needs “fixing.” But to me, there’s no such thing as “good” skin, blemishes are natural and we need to work harder to have acne consistently represented in film, TV and media without judgement.
I am happy that I am paving the way for change and believe working alongside Changes Faces, we can make this happen.
Beauty campaigns must change. I’ve worked hard to have my voice heard and I’ve managed to share my journey and raise awareness of acne across the media: including ITV2 and BBC Radio. This is something my younger self would be ever so proud of, and I now know that acne will never hold me back from achieving my dreams.
Please do not let acne define yours either.
My lasting advice is: In a world full of filters and edited images, it is important to know your worth. Filters do not define you. Acne does not define you either.
