What is
skin positivty? There’s a growing social movement that’s championing skin in all its blemished nakedness. It’s encouraging people to rethink and cut out the shame that can come from having less-than-perfect skin Writing | Becky Wright
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n a social media-driven world that prioritises perfection on screen, many of us can feel pressured to hold ourselves to conventional beauty standards. Thanks to the powers that be – makeup, lighting and photo-editing tools – it’s possible to erase any visible sign of ‘imperfection’. However, for people struggling with skin conditions, this culture leaves little room for their sense of selfworth. It can, understandably, affect the way you feel about how you look. THE LINK BETWEEN APPEARANCE AND MENTAL HEALTH Each year, 13 million people in the UK visit their GP with a skin complaint. Yet, despite the huge number of people affected, there’s a culture of shame around skin conditions, particularly acne. Although teenagers can (and do) face stigma of their own, there are different social factors at play when you have skin problems later in life. The impact on our wellbeing is vastly underestimated. In a recent survey by the British Skin Foundation, nine out of 10 dermatologists agreed that not enough importance is placed on the psychological effects of skin conditions.
14 • happiful.com • May 2020
However, thanks to a growing social media movement, there’s an alternative outlet that can help you to feel comfortable and confident in your own skin. Step forward skin positivity. The movement took off in 2015 when vlogger Em Ford posted a video called You Look Disgusting online. It revealed all the daily trolling comments she received about her acne. Five years later, the video has had more than 32 million views. The movement has gained so much traction that it’s now going beyond acne. It’s sticking two fingers up to the stigma, abuse, and embarrassment that can stem from a myriad of skin conditions – rosacea, eczema and dermatitis, to name a few. To find out more, I spoke to Sarah Perkins, a skin positivity vlogger and creator of Skinstory – a journal that helps you to track patterns between your skin, and potential triggers. “It’s almost impossible to go through life without experiencing some form of skin condition,” says Sarah. “And, thanks to the shame that comes with a visible skin condition, it’s more than just a physical condition. It affects
your emotional wellbeing and confidence, too. “Social media plays a huge part in this movement, and the more people that post their bare-faced selfies, the wider this message is spread.” And it really is a growing movement – at the time of writing, there are more than 50,000 posts tagged with #skinpositivity on Instagram. MORE THAN A HASHTAG Scrolling through these posts, I’m blown away by the amount of support that’s present. It’s more than just a hashtag, it’s a community. “Social media allows you to connect with others going through a similar time with their skin,” says Sarah. “It’s taught me that my old insecurities about my skin are shared by so many.” One frequent topic in the captions and comments is acne medication. It seems that this is also a place for people to learn from one another. When I ask Sarah about this, she tells me that, for a while, there seemed to be two camps: those who only believed in the natural approach, and those that went for medication. There was something of a divide in the community.
