Filter free, it's still me

For me, filter free means you can see my acne.

No big deal, right?

From my sight, in our world, acne is taboo.

But don't believe me, l'll give the credit where it's due: Try find a magazine cover, television anchor, movie actress or actor, with acne.

You'll find some overweight, bald, tall, short. But acne? 

For the boys, you have it rough. For the girls, you'd think it'd be less tough.

We can take up make-up as a tool, to mold us and shape us. A clear face is not hard to fool.

You see, I never thought of myself as a girl who wears a lot of make-up.

I would see people caked up in make-up and I'd break-up myself from them, that is immediately distinguish myself from them.

I am in a temperate separate category: I wear make-up, sure, but I'm not orange-faced like her. 

Until I realized, not only do I wear Mary K, but I wear it every day.

It's routine.

Jeeze, it's gotten to the point where I don't feel confident without it.

I don't feel myself without my dark circles concealed, eyelashes painted, blemishes veiled.

Ironic, huh? I don't feel myself without my self covered.

So maybe I'm not just a casual make-up user. 

Maybe, I am a make-up abuser.

Maybe, I've focused too much on improving things that others find value in.

But how can this be, when my family and friends tell me I'm "beautiful", filter-free?

Why isn't that enough?

Well, I want boys to like me.

Boys have penises, and we hear penises cheer for sexy woman. Sexy women don't have acne, from what we know, cause' it doesn't show; it's covered with make-up. 

But wait, if I find a boy to date, who finds me attractive in my make-up free state, then isn't that the kind of guy I'd been searching for all along?

So, I've had a break-up with make-up. And an extra 15 minutes of sleep every morning.

Join me in my quest to win back my skin.

A quest to lift the burden of Maybelline off my chest, to put make-up to rest.

I am thankful, I accept myself, filter-free, it's still me, even if you can't see.

If you wear make-up, you need to wake-up and listen: You can be bare-faced and beautiful, because you have a real face and it's beautiful.

"You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you." - Song of Solomon 4:7