Since when I was about 15 years old, I’ve always had a difficult relationship with the skin I am in. It was acne. I didn’t even wear glasses despite bad sight just because I couldn’t stand looking myself in the mirror. In a society where comments regarding your appearance are rather openly accepted, I often had to deal with jokes (that they thought were funny) like ‘What’s with the gravels on your forehead?’
With time it got better, but the journey was not kind. I tried every method possible and got frustrated every time when I didn’t see the result overnight. I tried covering them up with makeup, not wearing skincare for sebum control and dreamt of just sanding my skin.
And how did it get better for me? It could be better skincare, time, or less stress. The change was very gradual. What I can tell you is though, the most significant change indeed started when I took more care of my skin.
But please don’t feel that you’re dealing with the problems you have with your skin because you’re not taking care of it. It could be a lot of things! Sometimes it’s really pure luck I guess.
Skincare Matters
What I can assure you with my experience, is that skincare matters. Every step of it. Sometimes you cannot afford the money or time to practice the 7-layering method, get a dermatologist appointment or just to get a new bottle of toner. And I feel you. When you happen to be about to get a new skincare product, though, I really recommend the cleansing duo from us.
Please let me explain before you close this window, thinking that this is another strategy to rip you off! I have good reasons, I promise.
Let’s start with our superstar, THE Black Rice Cleansing Oil - it famously has only 9 ingredients which are all natural oil. I know it’s tempting to peel your skin off with chemicals for a fresh start, but what we want to do is to minimize irritation and to help our skin repair, heal and get healthy. Of course, it’s acne-prone skin safe & gentle. I’ve been the one who hates my skin for its bumps, and you have my words.
What you want to do is to massage your face with the oil, then add a splash of water for emulsifying. This is the golden step. See the oil turns milky white(or, milky with the color of your foundation if you’ve worn makeup that day) and let them do wonders pulling sebum off your pores and nourishing your skin. Don’t worry, though - as it’s far from drying, and is non-irritating for the eyes and skin!
Then you can wash it off with either one of our cleansing gels. Black Rice Moisture 5.5 Soft Cleansing Gel or Black Rice Triple AHA Gentle Cleansing Gel. For me, I prefer the 5.5 soft one. As the idea of keeping my skin’s pH balance at healthy 5.5 somehow reassures me.
If you’re new with our cleansing gel, you may think there’s something wrong(as I did when I first tried them). Some of us have been trained to think that when our skin is thoroughly cleansed, it’s supposed to feel stripped and dry as if someone were pulling your skin from behind. Well, that’s hardly the case with these. You’ll feel moisturized and nourished even right after your cleansing step. And that’s what we want. As I mentioned earlier, EVERY step of skincare matters and that does not leave out the cleansing.
I like thinking of my skincare as a form of ritual. You’re feeding the layer that protects you, that you can sometimes make look different for pure enjoyment, and that you can touch the things around you with.
I’m not saying that you should love your skin no matter what stress it is causing you. Well, it would be great if you could, but I’ve been there and it sucks. What I want to tell you is that, please don’t hate it to the point where you give up. No matter how much you love or hate it, you’re already in there and you have to deal with it. We can only try to find ways for us to make it easier to love it.
How to be ok with yourself
I know it’s easier said than done. Even while I’m writing all these words, I still have loads of insecurities and do stuff that I know will cause harm to my skin just to find myself regretting yet again-because sometimes there are more fun things to do than sleeping for good eight hours!
But with practice, it would be easier to brush off the negative thoughts and get back on the track of self-care. The mindset could be anything. Not everyone has to be 100% in love with themselves to shout out the famous ‘I am beautiful in my way.’ For some people, just being ‘ok’ and being ‘it is what it is’ is enough.
Sadly I’ve got no secret to share. I would consciously shrug off thoughts or at least told myself I did. There was no self-love 101 for me. No matter how many people told me to be like this and that to get some self-esteem, it all sounded hollow and pointless. That you don’t have to deeply understand the beauty of being or to fall in love with every little things about yourself to learn how to bear yourself is my theory. Just keep telling yourself that you don’t mind it too much, and the ‘eh, what can you do’ until you actually feel it. At the very least, that’s how I’ve done it.
Like that, I started put no mind and to take it less seriously. And it really became less of an insecurity for me. Sure, I still do get hormonal breakouts and hyperpigmentation from not sleeping enough & not having healthy diet. But now it’s easier for me to brush it off and just wait until it heals itself using our amazing products I got with an employee discount.(jealous?)
You don’t need to be in crazy romance with yourself. But not being able to be okay with yourself would put you in a constant state of existential pain.
Please know that no matter how blessed, beautiful and lucky you are, your skin cannot always be the angelic glass with the perfect tone and texture that everyone are just dying to feel and have. And that doesn’t mean the end of the world. Do what you can before the world ends, and please feel good doing it.
It Is What It Is - How not to hate yourself for your skin
Since when I was about 15 years old, I’ve always had a difficult relationship with the skin I am in. It was acne. I didn’t even wear glasses despite bad sight just because I couldn’t stand looking myself in the mirror. In a society where comments regarding your appearance are rather openly accepted, I often had to deal with jokes (that they thought were funny) like ‘What’s with the gravels on your forehead?’
With time it got better, but the journey was not kind. I tried every method possible and got frustrated every time when I didn’t see the result overnight. I tried covering them up with makeup, not wearing skincare for sebum control and dreamt of just sanding my skin.
And how did it get better for me? It could be better skincare, time, or less stress. The change was very gradual. What I can tell you is though, the most significant change indeed started when I took more care of my skin.
But please don’t feel that you’re dealing with the problems you have with your skin because you’re not taking care of it. It could be a lot of things! Sometimes it’s really pure luck I guess.
Skincare Matters
What I can assure you with my experience, is that skincare matters. Every step of it. Sometimes you cannot afford the money or time to practice the 7-layering method, get a dermatologist appointment or just to get a new bottle of toner. And I feel you. When you happen to be about to get a new skincare product, though, I really recommend the cleansing duo from us.
Please let me explain before you close this window, thinking that this is another strategy to rip you off! I have good reasons, I promise.
Let’s start with our superstar, THE Black Rice Cleansing Oil - it famously has only 9 ingredients which are all natural oil. I know it’s tempting to peel your skin off with chemicals for a fresh start, but what we want to do is to minimize irritation and to help our skin repair, heal and get healthy. Of course, it’s acne-prone skin safe & gentle. I’ve been the one who hates my skin for its bumps, and you have my words.
What you want to do is to massage your face with the oil, then add a splash of water for emulsifying. This is the golden step. See the oil turns milky white(or, milky with the color of your foundation if you’ve worn makeup that day) and let them do wonders pulling sebum off your pores and nourishing your skin. Don’t worry, though - as it’s far from drying, and is non-irritating for the eyes and skin!
Then you can wash it off with either one of our cleansing gels. Black Rice Moisture 5.5 Soft Cleansing Gel or Black Rice Triple AHA Gentle Cleansing Gel. For me, I prefer the 5.5 soft one. As the idea of keeping my skin’s pH balance at healthy 5.5 somehow reassures me.
If you’re new with our cleansing gel, you may think there’s something wrong(as I did when I first tried them). Some of us have been trained to think that when our skin is thoroughly cleansed, it’s supposed to feel stripped and dry as if someone were pulling your skin from behind. Well, that’s hardly the case with these. You’ll feel moisturized and nourished even right after your cleansing step. And that’s what we want. As I mentioned earlier, EVERY step of skincare matters and that does not leave out the cleansing.
I like thinking of my skincare as a form of ritual. You’re feeding the layer that protects you, that you can sometimes make look different for pure enjoyment, and that you can touch the things around you with.
I’m not saying that you should love your skin no matter what stress it is causing you. Well, it would be great if you could, but I’ve been there and it sucks. What I want to tell you is that, please don’t hate it to the point where you give up. No matter how much you love or hate it, you’re already in there and you have to deal with it. We can only try to find ways for us to make it easier to love it.
How to be ok with yourself
I know it’s easier said than done. Even while I’m writing all these words, I still have loads of insecurities and do stuff that I know will cause harm to my skin just to find myself regretting yet again-because sometimes there are more fun things to do than sleeping for good eight hours!
But with practice, it would be easier to brush off the negative thoughts and get back on the track of self-care. The mindset could be anything. Not everyone has to be 100% in love with themselves to shout out the famous ‘I am beautiful in my way.’ For some people, just being ‘ok’ and being ‘it is what it is’ is enough.
Sadly I’ve got no secret to share. I would consciously shrug off thoughts or at least told myself I did. There was no self-love 101 for me. No matter how many people told me to be like this and that to get some self-esteem, it all sounded hollow and pointless. That you don’t have to deeply understand the beauty of being or to fall in love with every little things about yourself to learn how to bear yourself is my theory. Just keep telling yourself that you don’t mind it too much, and the ‘eh, what can you do’ until you actually feel it. At the very least, that’s how I’ve done it.
Like that, I started put no mind and to take it less seriously. And it really became less of an insecurity for me. Sure, I still do get hormonal breakouts and hyperpigmentation from not sleeping enough & not having healthy diet. But now it’s easier for me to brush it off and just wait until it heals itself using our amazing products I got with an employee discount.(jealous?)
You don’t need to be in crazy romance with yourself. But not being able to be okay with yourself would put you in a constant state of existential pain.
Please know that no matter how blessed, beautiful and lucky you are, your skin cannot always be the angelic glass with the perfect tone and texture that everyone are just dying to feel and have. And that doesn’t mean the end of the world. Do what you can before the world ends, and please feel good doing it.