#85 TRENDING IN Mental Health & Self Love 🔥

Acne-Positive Influencers Revolutionising Skin Care and Self Love Online

Mental Health & Self Love

August 03, 2021

As someone who struggled with acne for years, scrolling through social media can be discouraging as acne and skin problems are usually filtered out online. You also feel envious of people with perfect, flawless, airbrushed, and glowing skin. Years later, while I don't break out often and now that my skin is pretty clear of pimples, dealing with acne left me with lots of deep scars. I love that my acne is practically gone after multiple visits to multiple dermatologists, nevertheless, when the sun hits my skin, it makes my heart drop a little since the scars become more visible.

If like me, you too are struggling, then these top 5 acne positivity influencers will undoubtedly guide you to feel more and more confident in your natural skin, as they share their skincare journeys online through unfiltered photos, honest reviews on skincare products, and challenges faced as they learn how to love the skin they’re in, zits, scars and all.

1. Liz Claire (@prettyprogress23)

Elizabeth, widely known as Liz, is a Sydney-based influencer empowering her followers on acne, gut health, and an overall wellness journey. Liz struggled with severe cystic acne in her twenties. Despite her agonizing six-year-long battle, Liz managed to clear her skin in just a matter of months without using Roaccutane. However, her acne came back, and it took Liz to make some major lifestyle changes for her skin to clear up for good.

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A post shared by Liz Claire 😜 (@prettyprogress23)

“In a world that is so focused on external beauty, I wanted to shatter society's perception of beauty because too often it's associated with unrealistic unattainable standards”

By sharing her story, Liz said she wants people battling severe acne to draw hope from her experience, so they can find a solution to their problematic skin. She aims to get the world to see acne in a different light.

2. Shiny (@its.shiny)

Shiny is a digital creator based in NYC. She is well known for skin positivity, self-care, and self-love. She inspires her followers to feel confident in their skin.

What I love most about Shiny is that she often posts re-touched pictures of herself next to the original unedited version, showing us that skin texture is normal. She is also among the most genuine influencers when it comes to her life; she reminds us that someone’s perfectly curated social media feed doesn’t mean that their life is perfect.

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A post shared by Shiny | Skin Positivity (@its.shiny)

I started following Shiny because she is so relatable. She taught me to be confident in my skin despite having acne scars all over my cheeks. And, she is also very responsive to fans both in the comment section and DMs.

Follow her if you are struggling with skin positivity, or if you want to gain a little expertise on her flawless makeup techniques. Else, you can join her on the gram on her journey to find happiness and peace.

3. Monique Schreiber (@moniqueschreiber)

As her bio states, “just a 6ft girl sharing bits & pieces of her life, all while trying to normalize acne”, Monique is an influencer based on skin positivity. Unlike many of us, Monique never struggled with acne when growing up, it was in her twenties that her acne flared up. In an interview, Monique said that having acne taught her to love every part of herself, even the parts that the world tells her are unlovable.

She declared that acne has freed her from believing that she needs to fit into the perfect mold of what society has created and deemed as beautiful, and what that looks like. Acne has also taught her so much patience and kindness, showing what it means to persevere and never give up on oneself.

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A post shared by Mon 🕊 Acne Positivity (@moniqueschreiber)

“The word ‘positive’ can be a little misleading. Although those within the skin-positive movement try to show others that you can still go about your everyday life while dealing with acne, it isn’t always easy. It’s messy, it’s hard, it’s emotional, but it’s nothing to feel ashamed about.”

Although she is still learning to accept and love her scars, she feels liberated to share her story. Follow her for her refreshing aesthetic feed filled with so much positivity. She will undoubtedly inspire you.

Fun fact: I came across Monique's Instagram when looking for haircut inspiration.

4. Sofia Grahn (@isofiagrahn)

Acne treatments such as Accutane (isotretinoin treatment) can be scary. To date, I am so thankful that my skin cleared up without me going on Accutane.

Meet Sofia Grahn, an acne-positive activist at the forefront of the acne-positive movement, sharing her traumatic Accutane experience with her Instagram followers. In an article for Cosmopolitan, Sofia shared that before Accutane, she used to have severe acne that was mostly concentrated on the cheeks and forehead, as well as along her neck, chest, and back. When she first started her treatment, her skin went through a purging period where her acne got significantly worse.

However, few months in, her acne started to calm down. Even though her acne came back post-Accutane, she stated that it's not as severe as before.

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A post shared by Sofia Grahn (@isofiagrahn)

“After spending so many years feeling alone and seeing your skin type represented only through before-and-after photographs in commercials, it’s a pretty amazing thing to see yourself represented in your feed.”

Sofia's digital gallery contains numerous posts of her with and without acne. In one of her posts, she advised her fans to ditch high-coverage foundation products, regardless of how their skin looks. Follow her for a soothing feed filled with acne positivity and body positivity.

5. Constanza Concha (@skinnoshame)

Constanza, known under the name of Cotty is an amazing skinfluencer. She is the type of person who is always spreading positivity as she walks into a room. She is setting the bar by normalizing textured skin, acne, body hairs, facial hairs, and much more; while focusing on her real self.

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A post shared by Cotty (@skinnoshame)

“The fact that we have acne and decide to live our lives without focusing on our skin doesn’t mean we’re ‘promoting’ acne. I want everyone to see us as normal people who’ve just decided not to let acne tear us down.”

Cotty has 2 Instagram handles. Her feed is filled with empowering posts on skin positivity, body positivity, and OCD awareness. You won't regret following her for the authentic pictures of herself and the daily dose of positivity.

It’s time to do a deep clean of who you follow on the gram!

The world tells us that we need flawless, blemish, and wrinkle-free skin to be and feel beautiful. From an early age, we are fed such unrealistic standards of beauty that it becomes engrained in what we think we need to be — flawless. We have become accustomed to them, and have blindly accepted them as the norm.

Following people who share real, authentic content online helps to realize that it’s okay to have bad days, it’s okay to have acne, and it’s okay to have human problems and not look like an airbrushed supermodel. The more you surround yourself with things that makes you feel accepted and loved, the quicker you will learn to love every aspect of who you are.

Hritika Kowlessur
100k+ pageviews

Meet Hritika, a budding writer with a heart full of creativity and a passion for the extraordinary. She cherishes the deep connections she forms with fictional characters and finds solace in the imaginative realms of K-dramas. Hritika yearns for the chance to live within the pages of a novel, where enchantment and wonder come alive.

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