7 Skinfluencers on What the Acne Positivity Movement *Really* Means
Take a quick scroll through your socials right now and I guarantee you’ll see what I’m seeing—ultra-curated poreless selfies and Facetuned jawlines being quietly replaced by something much cooler: honest, unretouched pics that put acne on display in all its unpredictable glory. I'm talking about content that's genuinely relatable; like, just-crawled-out-of-bed, still-wearing-zit-cream, this-is-what-skin-looks-like relatable. And it's powerful.
It’s true that skin positivity has been around for a minute, but in a time when most of us don’t have the energy to care about getting “perfect” filtered-beyond-recognition skin (we’ve sort of had other priorities, you know?), the movement is blowing TF up. Hashtags like #FreethePimple and #AcnePositivity are stacked with hundreds of thousands of people (including celebs—hi, Keke Palmer) who are embracing their skin for what it is, breakouts, scars, textures, and all.
Behind all these unfiltered photos and videos is a massive community that operates the skin positivity movement. Fellow influencers hype each other up in the comments section, swap stories and experiences with followers over DM, and even walk each other through the heavy emotions that come with having skin conditions. It's essentially a virtual support system.
Of course, that doesn’t mean everyone’s out here trying to pretend we all love our breakouts (but if you do, I very much bow down to you)—it's just about recognizing how common and, hello, how normal zits really are. It’s about this: Whether or not you’re trying to clear up your skin (you do you, as always), you should be able to feel confident and unjudged along the way.
As the skin pos world grows and the movement hopefully becomes the new standard in social media, I got to speak with seven of these game-changers at the heart of it all. Each of their faces, in all of their unedited ~magic~ below, are exactly what makes this movement so down-right refreshing. But don't just take my word for it—here's what the real skin movement means to them:
It's worth noting that as a society, we still have a loooong way to go when it comes to being inclusive in our representation of skin (dismantling the patriarchy takes time, people). Sure, there are some beauty brands who cast models with zits, scars, or “imperfect” texture (lookin’ at you, ZitSticka and Augustinus Bader), but seeing real skin in campaigns unfortunately isn’t the norm just yet. That’s why folks within the skin positivity movement find it so important to make space—even if it’s just on your Instagram or TikTok feed for right now.
But IMO, we’re only seeing the beginning of acne positivity. You ready for the real skin revolution?
You Might Also Like
