I was in front of that mirror again. I stood at the newly purchased mirror hanging opposite my bed, turning my face this way and that to see if the acne breakouts were truly fading out.
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I wanted the new facial recipe I had discovered to work so badly that after doing it, I ran to check the mirror every minute as if breakouts disappeared within seconds.
“Treasure, leave my mirror alone now. I've not used the mirror as much as you have despite being the one who got it” my roommate, Fay complained every time I ran in front of it.
There was no day I didn't document the progress of my breakouts. On some days they seemed to be clearing out, on other days they just remained the same.
“It's all in your imagination, madam” my roommate would say “Your face will clear up gradually if truly the carrot oil mixture works. Besides, the lady you learned it from said she used hers for 6 weeks. Be patient”
And that patience was my problem.
I wanted to be able to proudly go out with my bare face without people asking politely if I was at that time of the month.
What those people failed to understand was that the breakouts on my face didn't require a reason to be there. They just came and left at will.
It had happened repeatedly since my teenage age and I was fed up. That was the exact reason I looked into natural remedies for acne breakouts, especially after using so many facial products.
“I think this carrot oil is way slower than the tube cream my mom gave me,” I said as I moved away from the mirror for the umpteenth time. “When I used the tube, the acne began to clear out in 3 days. It's been 5 days and my face is still like this”
My roommate eyed me warily.
“The tube you're talking about bleached your face, don't forget. I think this carrot oil will do the job. Already, it's adding a certain glow to your face. Just use it consistently and stop disturbing me. Stay away from my mirror too!”
The last statement made me laugh until my ribs hurt. It was like asking ants to stay away from sugar. I went over to lie on the bed and began my schedule for the gist blog I was now writing for.
“Who would have thought you would take skincare so seriously?” Fay began, “When I started living with you, you didn't want to know anything about any products, now you're all over them”
“That was makeup,” I reminded her. “This is skincare. It's different. Besides, you know it was Jonah who made me gain interest in taking care of my face”. Jonah was the guy who paid for a facial session for me on Women's Day because he had a crush on me.
It was at the facials salon that I picked up an interest in getting products that could help my face.
“Aunty,” the lady scrubbing my face began, “I no too like all this chemical wey we dey use for people face. Na natural products like carrot, sugar, coconut oil, honey, and even turmeric dey good for face well well. ”
I couldn't engage her in the conversation because there were all sorts of products on my face but when I returned home that evening, I began to do research and found out the lady was absolutely correct.
“If they should kidnap someone like you and say you should talk to save your life, those men will learn a lot about skincare within seconds because that's all you've been talking about for the past 4 months,” my roommate said. I chuckled.
“By the time I'm done educating them on why they should exfoliate their skin and use a lip scrub, nobody will ask them to drop me”
Fay and I burst into another round of uncontrollable laughter.
“They can even open a YouTube channel based on the information you will give them” Fay was saying. “And they will not drop you normally o. They will fling you out of the bus!”
We couldn't stop laughing.
I thought about it carefully, Fay was right. If I was kidnapped and allowed to talk about anything it would first be skincare. I could talk about it endlessly for hours, especially since I was making and using the products myself.
I was learning a new thing about my skin every day and as I learned, I documented it.
If I felt up to it in the future, I would venture into natural skin care production but in the meantime, I was content with producing just for myself and looking at that beautiful mirror to see how well my products were working.