My Acne Journey – Jemma Romp

You would think that my only issue in high school was having a last name like ‘Romp’, well try having that and being prone to the worst kind of acne… the ‘Eiffel Tower’ kind…

Let me explain…

Whenever I had a HUGE pimple, like one of those pimples that makes your skin all red and tight and a headache is inevitable unless you squeeze the life out of that sucker… (I know you know the ones), my mum would say, “Has it got big flashing lights on it?” and then proceed to tell me that those pimples are known as ‘Eiffel Towers’. Now let me tell you, going to the real Eiffel Tower would be a dream come true! But when it’s on your face? Well the last name ‘Romp’ suddenly doesn’t sound so bad!

I was lucky enough to be the one of the first of my friends to go through puberty… Who am I kidding? They were still enjoying being carefree kids while I was stuck dealing with crazy mood swings and of course acne. No, it’s not my definition of lucky either. However, as the optimist that I am, I always reminded myself that very soon they will all be joining my moody rollercoaster, acne struggles and the rest of the lovely additions to your life you receive when you go through the so-called ‘beautiful process of becoming a woman’, the best part being I would have already learnt to deal with the moods AND found a cure for acne.

To my disappointment I watched my main friendship group go pimple free for majority of their high school lives, whilst I tried every possible solution to my pimples I possibly could find.

Now let’s just pause my sob-story for a moment. I would just like to point out that although my dramatic tone suggests my face was a war zone where there was a battle for territory between pimples and black heads, I do realise that it was never THAT bad. However, it was enough to give my confidence and self-esteem a decent punch to the guts.

Because of my acne, I did suffer from negative self-image at times and it was only made worse because of my outgoing nature. It meant that I was often in front of a lot of people, who I always felt were staring at the big Eiffel Tower on my face, (you know, the one with the big flashing lights on it), instead of focusing on my oral presentation or speech.

But thank the Lord! There is a happy ending to this tragic tale! Once I finished high school, I was fortunate enough to be offered a job with SkinB5 where I was encouraged to try the products to prevent and manage my acne. I will admit. I was skeptical at first. I had tried so many different products over the last few years that hadn’t worked; I didn’t expect this to be any different. So I experimented with the moisturiser first, and I was shocked at how even the next day, half of the flashing lights had disappeared. Then I ventured out a little further and tried the Cleansing Mousse and mask – I couldn’t believe it! My face had never felt so clean! I stopped wearing make up even though I still had pimples – however, these bad boys were nothing compared to the Eiffel Towers I used to get! Eventually I tried the tablets and my goodness my face! I got my face back! And oh, how I had missed it!