My “Soaponified” Love Story
Like many before me who have suffered with acne, I’ve tried nearly everything on the market to clear my skin (proactiv, neutrogena, clean and clear, juice beauty, vitamins & Supplements, birth control, to name a few). It was a grueling battle that left scars literally, and figuratively on my face and on my self esteem. For years struggling with acne, I was completely consumed, searching for hours a day on the internet, just looking for a miracle. I even tried just accepting it, to some point over the years I had, but it took a lot of mental effort. The less emphasis I put on my face, the less products I was buying, remedies I was trying and the miracles I looked for.
My mom had been soaping for months in reaction to her own personal experience with cosmetic products and for whatever reason, it never dawned on me to try them in a regimen myself. I had been spending hours in stores, looking at and researching products that claimed to do things that never came fruition - and giving money away that I didn’t have.
After vowing to myself not to buy another commercial facial product for the next year unless I really knew it was something that worked for me, I turned to my mom’s products for refuge. She was not looking to profit from it at the time, and was merely just making them for personal household use. I had been using the soaps on my body and they were great, so it’s a wonder why it took me so long to try it out on my face (and more importantly, to stop using commercial products).
It was the best decision I have ever made for my skin. I believe that the combination of using simpler ingredients, absent of chemicals, and the nutrients the soaps provided, allowed for the beginning of my skin’s healing. During this time, my self esteem, my heart and my soul began healing too. My skin became something that consumed my life to something that only occupied a small part of it.
I would regularly take pictures of my skin to document my progress, and while these photos were originally for my eyes only, I am sharing them with you so that you know that my story is true. These pictures are a testimony, not only for what these soaps have done for my skin, but for how truly loving the skin you’re in (regardless of what it looks like) can manifest itself physically in your life.
I didn’t start getting acne until puberty hit- and for me it was later than most girls, close to 16 years old (I am now 23, which means I have dealt with this for a majority of my adult life!) Before that, my skin was clear, and I never thought that this would be a problem for me considering I always took care of myself and ate healthy, but it was. Over the years there have been dips and valleys in the severity of my acne, but it wasn’t until this past year, using my mom’s soaps, that the consistent improvement was really visible for me.
All I could say before is, WOW. I could not believe it. If you had asked me before making this post, and pulling these pictures from my camera roll if I thought my skin improved over the past year, I would say it’s gotten better, but it’s still really awful. HOWEVER, the pictures tell me that it’s not only gotten BETTER, but it is the best it has been for the past 8 years.
There were a lot of things in my life that changed, and all of it has contributed to the improved quality of my life, which can be reflected in my skin. However, I really believe that a part of that change was choosing the best things for myself and that includes for my body.
The Love-soaponified brand was developed from two women’s experiences (my mother’s and myself) with something personal, and by grace, something beautiful came out of it. One of those things was (and still is) wanting to share that beauty with others - the beauty of something natural. My skin is far from perfect. I still get acne here and there, and there are still some areas in which I’d like to improve, but despite it all, I am proud of the progress I’ve made. I am also proud of my mom for being brave enough to go out there, and share her piece of love with the world, because in all honestly, that’s what these soaps are. They are Love-Soaponified.
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