Hello!
My name is Tsemaye Jemide, and I am an 18-year old healthy skin enthusiast. Bareskin with TJ is a skincare and self-care brand and platform which I founded a while ago. The platform was created to serve as a catalyst for holistic wellbeing, with particular emphasis on caring for oneself physically and mentally. What sparked my interest and passion for this field was an unexpected experience with acne. As you can imagine, it was unplanned, and worse, very abrupt. Things progressively got worse. As I embarked on the journey of finding solutions to my problem whilst connecting with other young people going through similar experiences, I noticed that there was no platform for advocating self-care/self-acceptance, for us young females, especially in Nigeria. Thus, Bareskin with TJ.
1. What does beauty mean to you?
To me, beauty is more to do with ones inner self, which I believe radiates on the outside. The most beautiful people I have ever met tend to be the most loving, caring and kind. When you work on yourself – your character - I truly believe it is impersonated physically.
2. What do you think about the phrase ‘flawless skin” and society’s recent obsession towards attaining it?
There are a lot of beauty standards benchmarked against unrealism. Unfortunately, social media tends to be the medium through which these standards are defined and spread. It is even difficult to trace the origin of this so-called standard. Given that many youths engage on these platforms, from minutes to hours each day, it is no wonder it has become an obsession for most.
“Flawless skin” as you rightly said is one of them. In essence, it is a myth. There is no such thing as flawless skin or standard. However, I believe each individual can define what it means to have flawless skin without bowing the global standards of flawless skin defined by unrealistic, often photoshopped, images. Even with imperfections and scars.
If we go by these standards, then it begs the question is anyone’s skin truly naturally perfect? Perhaps. If it is, then you are extremely lucky and one of the rare few. But for me .. and most, I think the answer is quite clear.
I believe everyone should understand and care for their skin to the best of their ability and isolate the idea of “flawless skin”. Lastly, greater emphasis should be placed on healthy skin and not flawless.
3. Describe your skin in a few words
My skin is sensitive and beautiful haha. It is healthy too.
4. When you initially started to break out, how did you feel?
I started having breakouts in February 2019 and I was in denial for longest time that the acne genes in my family would never reach me. The first few months I hated it so much, I’d cry, try many products up to the point I even over-exfoliated. I was clueless. The more I did, the worse it became; the less the more nothing changed.
Although I was initially insecure about it, it irked me even more when people would make comments about my breakouts like “oh it’s getting worse”, “your face wouldn’t get better”, “ your face is bad ”. How was I to feel better with such derogatory comments?
So I had no choice but to come to terms with the reality that I was having a really bad experience with Acne. Then, the research, which led to Bareskin by TJ, began.
5. At what point did you really start to love your skin?
I would be lying if I said I’ve always loved my skin. I think initially I was in love with the idea of taking care of my skin. Growing up, I would be so insecure about the scars on my legs, my dark knees and hormonal breakouts. However, as I started loving myself more, and understanding that I cannot control my hormonal acne, I started loving my skin more. Also, to add, it really boosted my confidence.
6. Do you ever get down about breakouts and if yes, how do you make yourself feel better.
Although I love my skin, there are times I’d have really bad breakouts on all parts of my face. I’d ask myself ‘what can I do” then I realize nothing, its natural and I have no control since they are hormonal. They will come and they will go, sometimes worse than the last sometime. But it is an ongoing cycle that I have learnt to accept. And that is what matters. In the face of this, I believe my skin is still beautiful.
7. What would you say to anyone who feels like breakouts make them less beautiful?
To anyone having acne, I want to plead with you to ignore the discouraging comments, isolate social constructs like “flawless skin” or “skin goals” which pressurize you to feel less beautiful. Know it is only a myth which no proof, and understand that acne is normal to many people, and most of all love yourself.