This post comes from Vanshika Ahmad (@vanshikaahmad) who has sent in one of the sweetest success stories to have appeared here. It ends with a powerful message we can all use – to not give up on ourselves no matter how bad things get.
It often happens that we look to skincare products to completely clear up acne. Skincare is not the cure. Using acne-safe products only ensures that you do not let pore-clogging products spoil your results while you work to resolve underlying health issues.
Many times, a few tweaks in skincare routine are enough to clear the skin. But if that isn’t working for you, look under the hood. Over to Vanshika. * applause *
Jahanpanah tussi great ho!!! Tohfa qubool karo 🙂 🙂
Yes, Jahanpanah aka AM aka Sonal, I really wish I was physically there to give my regards to you. But for now, please do accept all my love and the tightest hug.
My success story isn’t much different from other members. Some of you were blessed with that flawless skin and some you started breaking out in your teens. Some of you have suffered for almost a decade, and some had just started to experience this menace.
Comparing Acne Mantra with many other forums I have seen online, I came to a conclusion, that THIS is that one place where everyone will get an answer. This is that institution which will make sure, that all its students(members) will graduate with a 100% result.
Defeated by Acne, Triumphed by Acne Mantra 🙂
OK, so here goes the story of a damsel in distress saved by the queen fairy (Sonal :)) . I had gone through some of the posts and sorry coz as of now I have lost the names amidst all the success stories. So yeah, a few caught my eye which mentioned that they had never, EVER, suffered from any acne or pimple and suddenly they were all caught up in the web of acne.
Same goes for me and I was so careless or maybe I was so ignorant about skin care that I never bothered about any cream or any make up or any skin related, beauty related stuff to maintain and preserve what I was blessed with.
All I ever did was, wash my face in the morning and if I am not too tired then maybe at night before going to bed. Good genes huh I guess. Anyway, my happy times lasted till my early twenties. And now when I look back I know what to blame for this uncalled and unwelcomed guest who has refused to leave me alone.
Junk in junk out
Around the time of my brother’s engagement and marriage, around 2007-2008 I committed the biggest blunder of my life – becoming a slave to junk food. Not that earlier I didn’t go for a quick bite, but that was not every now and then and definitely not on a daily basis and absolutely not without maintaining the balance by eating fruits and veggies at home.
By the beginning of 2009, I had started getting a pimple or two sometimes on my right cheek or on my left cheek. I thought umm OK, I’ll look around our daadi’s nuskhes and treat, so I didn’t bother much. Blunder no. 2 !!!
Well, I dabbed cotton in lemon extract and put it on the affected area. And phissshh disappeared the pimples. So that saved me for a while, until I decided to take the axe, sharpen it till its last inch and humbly placing my foot on that axe.
For almost 6-7 months, all I did was eat junk, eat junk like the world was gonna end. And for almost 3 years I just stuffed myself with junk food. I had actually forgotten there was anything like “ghar ka khana” “the good food”.
I had started seeing the results of junk binging in the starting 3-4 months itself.
I went to skin specialists / doctors, spent all my salaries on their fees and the medicines they prescribed but nothing was going to work because I wasn’t working on the right factor. And then I just gave up. I stopped going to the doctors and just let them be, still not following any skin care routines.
The silver lining
December 2013, the time I was finally going to give all my hopes of getting my clear skin back. I just made a random google search to look for Fab India’s product review and I landed up on Acne Mantra.
Normally, I just read the gist of a product review and I make my decision good or bad. But here, I read words like comedogenic non-comedogenic and I was like WHAT??!! I wanted to open up the dictionary first to confirm if such words existed.
Well before I could manage to do that, I happened to click on their link “Stuck in Acne Hell“. To be honest, I spent about 2 weeks just going through every post, comment and then going back to the main topic of Acne Hell. Not that I didn’t understand everything at once, but just to make sure that I read everything correctly.
That, there are so many who’ve got out of the acne hell. That, I can finally hope there’s a way out for me. I messaged AM, started up with the basic regimen and then upgrading to starter regimen. But very slight effect as opposed to what all I read. I messaged AM, in case if I am doing something wrong.
I swear to GOD, no doctor, specialist or any beauty queens around me told me to check for any underlying problems. I mean if somebody had told me to look for another aspect of this acne I would’ve been treated long back.
Turns out, there have been many signs my body was giving me that something’s majorly wrong with me – unbearable knee pain while driving or sitting crossed leg or while sitting in a movie hall; shoulder pains; hair-fall my hair had started to thin and I thought because everybody complimented me for my hair “nazar lag gayi” superstition got to me when it came to my hair; dandruff; tiredness; and of course how can I ignore the acne circles. AM shared another member’s post with me and I decided to get to the root of it.
And as it turns out, which anyways had become obvious after it was pointed out by AM, I was deficient in vitamin D and vitamin B. Thankfully I didn’t have thyroid. I still need to get tests done for other vitamin/nutritional deficiencies.
Clear results
By correcting the deficiency of D & B12, my cheeks have cleared from the acne bumps. In about 2 week’s time my knee pain went from unbearable to non-existent, my hair got their shine and volume back. I still have the red spots and I guess once I correct the other deficiencies I’ll be out of the acne hell once and for all.
However, the story doesn’t end until you understand the moral of the story.
The most important thing I learned, is when all that you try to correct something but fail, try to look at it from another aspect even if that means you need to keep digging further and keep asking questions till you get to the right answer. Understand what else might there be that can be the cause of your problem.
Had I not asked AM about the regimen problem, I would’ve stopped following the regimen as I was not getting any results. I am sure, there might be people, who are impatient, want quick results and would just leave things unfinished. I would suggest them, please before quitting on you go deep further to find the right answers.
You cannot quit on yourself, and especially not with these petty acne issues. This acne loses all its significance when YOU decide to fight against it. You’ve won half the battle there, all you have to do is just keep on going for the final win 🙂
AM, members of Acne Mantra, Thank you, Thank you from the bottom of my heart for creating a platform like this, and helping me and all of us.
Love and Luck Always 🙂
Vanshika
About Vanshika
A new kid on the blog! Ur average girl next to door! This is me, Vanshika, sharing my story and hoping that anyone and everyone gets the answers they’re looking for. Infact, I’m hoping this message spreads out even to the strangers who I happen to cross and see them going through what I have been through. With all the help and guidance from Acne Mantra, the credit goes to you all. This success story is just a long Thank You note to Sonal and all the other members 🙂
Check out her blog Life (Adventures+Ideals+Experiences) = Happiness for her musings as well as profound messages of hope and faith.
