The Chronicles of Pimples - A Witch, A Tree and A Girl

There was a time where my skin was flawless, spot-free and did not become a headache every other month. Guess that is the case with everyone, isn’t it? But then, one fine morning, you wake up with a pimple on your forehead and that is the end of the carefree, ‘I love my skin’ era! I don’t know about guys but a pimple can totally turn a girl into a Godzilla or a hibernating bear. Ok maybe that was exaggeration, but that is what I thought for a very long time.

When I was in school, a lot of girls in my class spent at least one whole day crying over a small pinkish/reddish blotch that was barely visible. It was like a record on loop with the voice changing occasionally.  ‘He is going to may fun of me’, ‘It is so embarrassing’, ‘It is so ugly’, ‘Everyone will see it’, ‘My life is doomed’, and well the list never ended. And they made it a point to not spot cribbing till that tiny red dot was noticed by everyone and had eaten up their day completely. But there I was, zits-free and not bothered by the occasional pimple days/weeks.

Unfortunately the happy hours didn’t last long and things got annoying during junior college. I really never got what had I done to make the pimple witch furious because soon my face had become a canvas for ugly dark red polka dots! I had never abused pimples, but the witch still had no mercy on me. Not that I cared much even then. But apparently it was a big deal for everyone else. And the fact that I popped almost all in desperation and irritation just made my face-art a one to catch people’s eye. They kept talking about my mild acne like it was some end of the world scenario for me. Yes they were ugly, and painful, but the words of my friends made the pimples annoying.

And I was done with the pimple-romance by the time I was in engineering college. I was in a girls’ college and you can imagine, things like pimples were blown way out of proportion but it made me hate the nasty spots anyways. Why yes, I am a girl after all. The hate-pimple winds had to touch me one day. And to be frank, it didn’t just touch me, it swept me away. I could do anything for a clean, never see me again break-up! So I resorted to the old age ‘nani ke nushkhe’ (elderly advice) to fight my pimple problems. No one really knows the actual cause of pimples and acne outbreak. There are theories though – hormones, pollution, skin type and many more – but one of the most effective solutions for eons has been Neem.

Neem aka Azadirachta indica is tried and tested solution to ward off the pimple witch. (Mentioned in Yajurveda too, so I am told) Anyways tired from my regular cries for help, my mom came with a bitter, disgusting, strangle me to death kind of help – Drink Neem Leaves Juice once every 15 days. Yes, I nearly died of the taste. But weighing red painful army of demons against the green bitter fluid made me embrace the fluid with an ‘I will endure you’ smile. It helped, really helped. Now I get one, max two pimples at times and that too only during winters.

Suddenly the old school remedy seems to have caught up with time. Guess I don’t have to put up with the bitter pill anymore. A lot of beauty products these days have Neem extracts of Neem oil in them. Garnier Pure Active Neem face wash is the newest product to join this flotilla.  I might not be able to give you guys a tried and tested approval for this product since I started using it a week back but my fashion and beauty blogger friends certainly convinced me to try it and somehow I feel it might be effective too. You ask why? Well here are the reasons:

• Tea tree leaf oil – Tea Tree Leaf oil is known to balance skin oils and is suitable for all skin types.
• Neem leaf extract– Age old remedy. Need I say more?
• Sodium glycolate –Helps in the fading of dark pimple marks by peeling the skin cells.
• Salicylic Acid – It is a known anti-acne agent, prevents blackheads and whiteheads and fades dark marks.

So I am going to try I cause under no circumstances would I want to face the wicked witch ever again! What about you?

This post has been written for a contest by Indiblogger and 
bit.ly/GPABlogLinkIndiBloggerActivityandbit.ly/GarnierPureActiveNeemWebsite