Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff Mom never told you from house toports
Speaker 1: dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Kristen
Speaker 1: and I'm Caroline, and today we're talking about our zips. Yeah, ours,
Speaker 1: just ours, only the zits on the faces of Kristen
Speaker 1: and Caroline. Yeah. So I know you've all been waiting
Speaker 1: for this, So strap on your seatbelts and get ready
Speaker 1: for a wild ride as we just complain about how
Speaker 1: we are women in our thirties who break out. Here's
Speaker 1: the thing too, about this whole being women in our
Speaker 1: thirties breaking out if it No one warned us about
Speaker 1: adult acne. No, they did not know. I was. I
Speaker 1: still at thirty two. I am still fully under the impression,
Speaker 1: even though I am a woman in my thirties with acne,
Speaker 1: I'm still fully under the impression that acne is nothing
Speaker 1: but a thing that adol since suffer from, and then
Speaker 1: you get to overcome it, and then you come out
Speaker 1: the other side with beautiful clear skin and you live
Speaker 1: happily ever after. And maybe you do live happily ever after,
Speaker 1: but you might also have acne at the same time.
Speaker 1: It's all been such a lie. It's yes, my whole
Speaker 1: life is a lie Disney movies and acne, So I
Speaker 1: wanna make a Pixar film out of that. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: that's so sad, because I want anthropomorphized my hormonal acne.
Speaker 1: Please hangs out on my jawline. Yeah, these two on
Speaker 1: my cheeks. I never so it's really weird. And we'll
Speaker 1: get into it more in the episode, which is not
Speaker 1: going to just be as complaining, I promise, But I
Speaker 1: have two giant ones on my cheek right now, which
Speaker 1: is crazy because when I was younger, even when I
Speaker 1: was going through puberty, I never ever ever broke out
Speaker 1: on my cheeks ever, only ever broke out in the
Speaker 1: tea zone. And so now that I am in my
Speaker 1: thirties and I have an I U D. I am
Speaker 1: breaking out in like the strangest, most awful places and
Speaker 1: I hate it well. And and the whole thing about
Speaker 1: adult acne is how it is so different, like you mentioned,
Speaker 1: from the acne that we experienced in adolescents in our
Speaker 1: teen years, and doctors are still puzzled by the whole thing.
Speaker 1: But you know what would be really nice as if
Speaker 1: people could start warning us at an earlier age. This
Speaker 1: is part of growing up. Acne is a fact not
Speaker 1: just of middle school and high school. But you're what
Speaker 1: what are we in school now? Uh? Work school and
Speaker 1: career school run up school the worst. Uh. So let's
Speaker 1: talk about adult acne, and obviously we're going to focus
Speaker 1: on adult acne and women, because ladies, if you suspected it,
Speaker 1: it's true, it is more likely to happen to us.
Speaker 1: And if you are also suspecting that has to do
Speaker 1: with hormones, you are probably correct, as we will talk about.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing, and let this be a comfort
Speaker 1: to all of you out there, like Caroline and me
Speaker 1: who are juggling all sorts of retine creams and moisturizers
Speaker 1: and clendomias and lotions in the morning and potions at night,
Speaker 1: that acne is a fact of life for grown ass ladies.
Speaker 1: That's right. And maybe it's stress, maybe it's pollution, maybe
Speaker 1: it's a food sensitivity or something. Maybe you're touching your
Speaker 1: face too much, but like Kristen said, like people just
Speaker 1: aren't really sure why. And of course hormones too. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about hormones. We've got to talk about hormones. But
Speaker 1: you're in good companies. So there was a twelve study
Speaker 1: in the General of Women's Health that looked at nearly
Speaker 1: three thousand women between the ages of ten and seventy. Pause,
Speaker 1: news flash, my mother who is sixty seven? How old
Speaker 1: am I out? Yeah, she's sixty seven. She gets the
Speaker 1: occasional ZiT too. Just prepare yourself. Anyway, they looked at
Speaker 1: all these women between ten and seventy and found that
Speaker 1: more than a quarter had clinical acne, while an additional
Speaker 1: had wild acne. Yeah, and if we break down those ages,
Speaker 1: this gave me more comfort as well. Within that group
Speaker 1: of three thousand women, forty percent of those between twenty
Speaker 1: one and thirty had clinical acne, twenty six percent of
Speaker 1: women thirty one to forty had clinical acne. And yeah,
Speaker 1: twelve percent of women forty one to fifty also had
Speaker 1: clinical acne. So it doesn't necessarily disappear as we get older. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the luck keeps on coming. Women are far more
Speaker 1: likely than men to have adult acne. The study found
Speaker 1: that a disproportionate number of women develop adult acne compared
Speaker 1: to men. So that's comforting or not, I don't know,
Speaker 1: but you're in good company. Yeah, and there are two
Speaker 1: primary types of acne. You'll either have continuing acne, which
Speaker 1: is the stuff that started in puberty and just won't
Speaker 1: leave you alone, or late on set, which is adult
Speaker 1: acne that just arrives after you've you know, finally gotten
Speaker 1: old enough to like drink, you can rent a car,
Speaker 1: you can do everything, and then acne comes in and
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, hey, hey, since you're all grown up now,
Speaker 1: I'm also going to move in here, just gonna plant
Speaker 1: myself right on either side of your chin for like
Speaker 1: a week every month and just don't mind me, no
Speaker 1: big deal. Well yeah, and then it just once it's
Speaker 1: moved in, it gets comfortable and won't you know, try
Speaker 1: to be adventurous and find something else to do with
Speaker 1: its time. And so adult onset acne, this, this late
Speaker 1: onset stuff is actually most common among menopausal women. So
Speaker 1: just so many things to look forward to. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: there are all sorts of hormone related issues that are
Speaker 1: really common in women that can be related to acne
Speaker 1: or promote acne as well, such as it being a
Speaker 1: common side effect a polycystic ovarian syndrome, which will come
Speaker 1: back to because Pico's was actually how helpful for doctors
Speaker 1: determining more effective treatments for adult acne because it is
Speaker 1: such a prominent symptom of that, and we looked into
Speaker 1: whether acne shifts depending on ethnicity and really across the board,
Speaker 1: it just happens. Now there there are questions as to
Speaker 1: whether it is as proportional a problem for say, are
Speaker 1: our pasty white Caucasian skin as it is for people
Speaker 1: of color, because there does seem to be a little
Speaker 1: bit of a variation. But if you're looking at dermatological issues,
Speaker 1: it's the number one thing, regardless of where you are
Speaker 1: in the world that people have treated. Yeah, and of
Speaker 1: course once you have dealt with acne, that's not like
Speaker 1: the end, that's not the end of the equation. No,
Speaker 1: you have to deal with something called post inflammatory pigmentation,
Speaker 1: which is those red spots that can linger for months
Speaker 1: or even years after your pimples go away. And the
Speaker 1: degree to which you suffer from this is genetic. You
Speaker 1: can make it worse by squeezing or picking at those pimples.
Speaker 1: And the highest rates though you know, we taked Kristen
Speaker 1: mentioned a cross ethnic rates of of acne and adult
Speaker 1: acne um. The higher rates of this post inflammatory pigmentation
Speaker 1: are found among people of color and generally speaking. When
Speaker 1: it comes to adult acne as opposed to the acne
Speaker 1: we develop around puberty, it does tend to land in
Speaker 1: different places. So you'll find adult acne on places like
Speaker 1: the jawline, the chin, and the neck. Just just look
Speaker 1: at my face. Yeah, that's where it is. Kristen. By
Speaker 1: the way, listeners, Caroline is not riddled with it that
Speaker 1: she is making herself out to be. She always has
Speaker 1: a lovely complexion with Yes, my this broadcast is brought
Speaker 1: to you by Makeup Forever. Thanks, that'll be if if
Speaker 1: you guys just want to send me a check to
Speaker 1: make up for all the concealer I buy, that would
Speaker 1: be great. And so that jawline, chin and neck place
Speaker 1: meant that you find with adult acne is compared with
Speaker 1: teenage acne, which tends to pop up on the forehead,
Speaker 1: the cheeks, and the nose. I really, I am so
Speaker 1: grateful that I don't get like nose stuff like I
Speaker 1: did as a teenager. Yeah, so there's a plus side.
Speaker 1: It's if you've got to have it yet, it's migrated.
Speaker 1: It's gone south to my chin. Well. What I've learned
Speaker 1: though about treating adult acne and in our migrating black
Speaker 1: heads and pimples. Is that the go to accutane treatment,
Speaker 1: which is accutane is the brand name for is Retino,
Speaker 1: and it only is effective on that teenage acne. And
Speaker 1: this is coming from a fantastic article on adult acne
Speaker 1: over at Racked magazine. UM and doctors aren't entirely sure
Speaker 1: why accutane is only temporarily relieves adult acne, but surprised it.
Speaker 1: I mean that only goes to show how it is
Speaker 1: such a different beast. And that's another thing that scientists
Speaker 1: are still figuring out, like how, wait, why why is
Speaker 1: this changing? They know that it probably has something to
Speaker 1: do with hormones, because hormones are the culprit for all
Speaker 1: of our acne. I mean, calling it hormonal acne is
Speaker 1: a little bit of a misnomer because I mean, it's
Speaker 1: the fuel of all of our pimples. Really yeah, but
Speaker 1: because it gets that tag because some of our adult
Speaker 1: acne responds better to birth control and other like specifically
Speaker 1: hormonal medications better, hence the name. But there definitely is
Speaker 1: a lot more to it than just hormones, although of course,
Speaker 1: as Kristen said, hormones are at the root of all
Speaker 1: this stuff. Uh, so she mentioned Kristen mentioned the Racked
Speaker 1: article that we read. It was very super informative and
Speaker 1: we recommend that you read it should be over in
Speaker 1: our source post on stuff mom never told you dot com.
Speaker 1: But there's it's gross. I mean there's a lot of
Speaker 1: gross stuff when it comes to getting pimples, and it's unavoidable.
Speaker 1: It's your skin, it's turning on you. So should we
Speaker 1: talk then about just how a pimple forms regardless of
Speaker 1: how old you are. This is what happens when a
Speaker 1: zip moves in where it's a little suitcase. Yes it's
Speaker 1: a little white suitcase, little jaunty hat, and we're like
Speaker 1: cut again. Oh that's just me all the time. Uh So, anyway,
Speaker 1: you've got your hormones that are blowing up during puberty,
Speaker 1: and that stimulates the glands and your skin to pump
Speaker 1: out more oil or sea bum, which I don't know.
Speaker 1: To me, that's a gross word. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it is because of the connection in my brain with pimples,
Speaker 1: but I just automatically think sea bomb and gross. Anyway,
Speaker 1: So you've got your skin pumping up more oil. But
Speaker 1: then when dirt, skin flakes or makeup cloggs those pores,
Speaker 1: that extra sea bum gets locked in the hair follicle.
Speaker 1: So if that pessioles sea bum clogging up your poor
Speaker 1: does not have any contact with air, then it's gonna
Speaker 1: stay white and you have a white head. Okay, cool,
Speaker 1: But then and if the top of the poor remains
Speaker 1: open and air does come in contact with it, and
Speaker 1: the sea bum turns dark, which is kind of a
Speaker 1: horrifying chemical process to think, for sure, all of us
Speaker 1: is horrified. Yes, and of course the result is a blackhead.
Speaker 1: But we haven't even gotten to zits yet. Because in
Speaker 1: order for a ZiT or pimple, whatever your preferred label is,
Speaker 1: and wonder for one of those to happen, you need
Speaker 1: a bacteria called the propione bacterium, which sounds like a
Speaker 1: friendly Italian bacteria. So now I'm imagining the pimple that
Speaker 1: previously had this little jaunty hat in the suitcase. Now
Speaker 1: now it's on a vespa is it very little striped shirt? Yes,
Speaker 1: and it's riding up saying chow. Yes, I did just
Speaker 1: steal an eddie as ord joke for our pimple episode.
Speaker 1: You're welcome, well, our vesper writing Propio Bacterium acnes lives
Speaker 1: on the skin surface and it like rides a little
Speaker 1: vespa up to that clogged poor and it's like, oh, hey,
Speaker 1: you know what I really like to eat for lunch.
Speaker 1: Not a pizza or a pasta, but the sea bum
Speaker 1: sitting around in that clogged poor. So instead of eating
Speaker 1: the pizza's just sucking up the grease on the pizza.
Speaker 1: And I'm making myself sick, but I'm kind of enjoying
Speaker 1: the fact that we're now illustrating all this with pizza
Speaker 1: and Italian Sorry, our apologies are our Italian listeners are
Speaker 1: very frustrated right now. Um, but that bacteria, the propione
Speaker 1: Bacterium acnes, is what leads to infection, causing the skin
Speaker 1: to get red and painful and leads to the full
Speaker 1: blown pimple. So basically, zit's happened because our pores get
Speaker 1: clogged and then our skin bacteria has a feast. God,
Speaker 1: I kindly, I didn't know you were so grossed out
Speaker 1: by sea bumb Come on, you know what it is.
Speaker 1: You know what I bet it is. Remember what is it?
Speaker 1: Remember a long time ago when we did that episode
Speaker 1: on Vagina dentata, Yes, and in it we explained because
Speaker 1: you know, we explained all of the mythology behind, like
Speaker 1: why people are so afraid of vaginas and teeth and
Speaker 1: like getting their penises chopped off in the vagina, and
Speaker 1: then we talked about the actual medically proven times that
Speaker 1: people find teeth in other parts of the body, and
Speaker 1: it's always accompanied by like when you when you do
Speaker 1: hear these stories of like teeth or hair or whatever
Speaker 1: being found in like a cyst, it's always accompanied by um,
Speaker 1: subacious glands, sebaceous oil, sea bum. Yeah. I'm glad I
Speaker 1: haven't eaten yet. Honestly, I just think a little butter pats.
Speaker 1: Is that not helping? No? And now I know I
Speaker 1: don't know if I can eat butter again, which is
Speaker 1: probably good. I am lactose sensitive. It's so just a
Speaker 1: little butter buckets, Caroline. Oh god, that's actually like a
Speaker 1: really cute term of endearment. Hey, my little butter bucket
Speaker 1: not anymore. Yeah, I know, we just ruined that for
Speaker 1: me calling your boyfriend nackney face. So that, though, is
Speaker 1: how zs happen. But let zero in on this hormonal
Speaker 1: factor because this really does seem to be the key
Speaker 1: when it comes to this acne that tends to follow
Speaker 1: ladies faces around for essentially the rest of our lives.
Speaker 1: Because what's happening to feed that sebum production that can
Speaker 1: clog your pores and cause your little butter buckets come
Speaker 1: on develop is not estrogen, No, no, no, friends, Estrogen
Speaker 1: actually kind of a rad hormone in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: What's going on is a surge of androgens, which is
Speaker 1: the class of neurochemicals that includes two star stirone. Well.
Speaker 1: The thing about androgen's too, though, is that they can
Speaker 1: alter the development of skin cells around the hair follicles
Speaker 1: in the skin, and it seems like androgen's really just
Speaker 1: sort of amp up that holds it forming process that
Speaker 1: we just walked you through. Um, Because the skin cells
Speaker 1: on your face that would normally shed and just blow
Speaker 1: away like dust in the wind. Is that song and
Speaker 1: everybody's head now, okay, cool, Um, they end up becoming
Speaker 1: abnormally sticky, and they end up clogging up the hair follicle.
Speaker 1: So everybody like I just heard the hum of a
Speaker 1: thousand Clara Sonic brushes going um. You also, thanks to
Speaker 1: androgen's get an increased amount of that propioni bacteria macnees
Speaker 1: sorry Italians, uh, and of course more skin inflammation. And
Speaker 1: it's worth noting that androgen's are present in men and
Speaker 1: women alike, and a majority women with acne have normal
Speaker 1: androgen levels. But with pretty much every dermatological source we
Speaker 1: read for this podcast, it recommended that if you're experiencing
Speaker 1: adult acne and you're a woman, then hormone testing is recommended,
Speaker 1: especially if you have acne accompanied by things like excessive
Speaker 1: facial or body hair deepening, voice, irregular periods, and all
Speaker 1: that jazz. And it made me wonder why my dermatologist
Speaker 1: has never recommended any hormone testing. Yeah, I wondered that too,
Speaker 1: But like Kristen said, it doesn't mean that you necessarily
Speaker 1: have so many androgen's. You really just could be that
Speaker 1: sensitive to normal levels of androgen's. I'm actually pretty speaking
Speaker 1: of hormone testing, I'm actually pretty interested. I'm going to
Speaker 1: a new Indo chronologist at the end of December to
Speaker 1: talk to her about my Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which essentially causes
Speaker 1: all sorts of hormone wackiness because it slows your thigh
Speaker 1: right down, which is part of the endocrine system, and
Speaker 1: so I will be interested to see if she thinks
Speaker 1: testing along those lines will be helpful, and if she
Speaker 1: thinks that my endocrine system could having some sort of
Speaker 1: negative effects on my skin, or if I should just
Speaker 1: stop rubbing bacon on it. That could be a thing too. Oh,
Speaker 1: the bacon treatments not working so well. You know a
Speaker 1: lot of people on the internet recommend coconut oil, and
Speaker 1: I was just like, I just you know, I like
Speaker 1: bacon so because then you can eat it afterwards, right
Speaker 1: then you can make a snack. That's very effect. I
Speaker 1: don't actually like coconuts, so I went right for the bacon. Well.
Speaker 1: In speaking of androgen's we should also mention that this
Speaker 1: helps explain why some trans men undergoing testosterone therapy may
Speaker 1: develop mild to severe acne. There was an article about
Speaker 1: this in Life Science not too long ago, because there
Speaker 1: are now more studies being conducted um and the doctors
Speaker 1: found that a lot of times testosterone therapy related acne
Speaker 1: will lesson after six months. But within this study they
Speaker 1: were looking at trans men who had had a really,
Speaker 1: really hard time with major acne flare ups that weren't
Speaker 1: going away. But the good news is is that as
Speaker 1: a Life Science article underscored, a majority of the transman
Speaker 1: in this study didn't have any trouble with acne at all.
Speaker 1: But if you are having issues with acne, then it's
Speaker 1: those those androgens, and they're sebum scala wagging. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: that's a thing. I hate that scala wagging. Yea. And
Speaker 1: of course when it comes to hormonal acne, we probably
Speaker 1: think about our periods. It's very common for women to
Speaker 1: develop acne as a side effect of say p MS
Speaker 1: in the time leading up to menstruation. And yes, indeed,
Speaker 1: pimples do happen when your period is a common oh yeah,
Speaker 1: but that's not the only like hormonal fluctuation that many
Speaker 1: women experience that can lead to acne. Because it's like, basically,
Speaker 1: when it comes to hormones and acne, we are not
Speaker 1: going to get a break really ever, because during our
Speaker 1: reproductive years, periods will lead to regular flare ups for
Speaker 1: a lot of women. But then even when you're not
Speaker 1: having a period, because say you're pregnant, that doesn't guarantee
Speaker 1: that your acne will go away either. It's a total crapshoot.
Speaker 1: If you are expecting, uh, it's it's totally random whether
Speaker 1: you will end up with glowing, that pregnancy glow you
Speaker 1: know that everyone talks about, or pimples or absolutely no
Speaker 1: skin changes. And it's seriously between those three, it's it's
Speaker 1: an equal opportunity, like you're gonna get sits or not,
Speaker 1: or have a glow or not. But it's worth mentioning
Speaker 1: that ret retinoids, things like accutane, retina, those are off
Speaker 1: the table if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. They are
Speaker 1: not good for libaby. And as we mentioned, even after
Speaker 1: our reproductive or has passed and we enter into paramenopause,
Speaker 1: acne comes back around again because during that period our
Speaker 1: estrogen drops, but the androgen levels stay the same. So
Speaker 1: estrogen actually helps, I guess, kind of regulate our stephen
Speaker 1: production a little bit more. But estrogens the bouncer, Yeah,
Speaker 1: thanks a lot, estrogen. That's the thing. I feel like
Speaker 1: estrogen gets such a bad rap all the time. Whereas
Speaker 1: you know what, Andrew is not the point any fingers
Speaker 1: at any hormones, but she is literally pointing a finger.
Speaker 1: But I'm pointing a finger to the corner of this
Speaker 1: recording studio through the androgen sang out where I'm assuming
Speaker 1: with their hats and their vespas. Yeah. There, I imagine
Speaker 1: they're all like clumped together, like looking over their shoulders
Speaker 1: at you, like sadly revving their little vespa engines, the
Speaker 1: little packs of cigarettes rolled up in their shirt sleeves.
Speaker 1: Those androgens. Um. So yeah, acne happens for a lot
Speaker 1: of women during menopause as well. So have we depressed
Speaker 1: all of our listeners at this point? I don't know, No,
Speaker 1: you know what. I bet there's like a whole fluid
Speaker 1: y'all out there who were like, what are they talking about?
Speaker 1: Because they are the lucky few who either like they
Speaker 1: went through the hormonal stuff when they were in puberty
Speaker 1: and they are in the clear now, like literally clear
Speaker 1: skin now uh, or maybe they have not had acne.
Speaker 1: Maybe it hasn't struck yet. It's true that could be
Speaker 1: the case. But there's also I feel like a lot
Speaker 1: of misconception about how common this is, because you included
Speaker 1: my friend Caroline's pointing at me now, yes I'm pointing
Speaker 1: at you now I'm no longer pointing at the androwgen
Speaker 1: gang in the corner. But there have been so many
Speaker 1: women I've known who have beautiful complexions and not a
Speaker 1: visible poor insight and yes, I'm still pointing at you, who,
Speaker 1: come to find out, also have issues with with skin.
Speaker 1: And so I feel like this is so much more
Speaker 1: more common than we might assume as we're sitting there
Speaker 1: staring at ourselves in like the giant magnified mirror, looking
Speaker 1: in horror at our black heads and white heads and pimples.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, so many like skin soothing masks. I have
Speaker 1: one of those Tweezer men zip poper things. I'm you know,
Speaker 1: and I bet, I bet there are people out there,
Speaker 1: like aestheticians and women who do facials and all of
Speaker 1: that jazz who were like, oh my god, a lay
Speaker 1: person trying to pop around pimples. I know, I know
Speaker 1: it's horrifying. I know this might be a team I question, Caroline,
Speaker 1: but do you derive a certain sense of satisfaction from
Speaker 1: popping a pimple? Yes? And I don't. I don't go crazy.
Speaker 1: I don't try to, like, I don't want to gross
Speaker 1: anybody out. I don't. I don't try to like go
Speaker 1: crazy on things that look like maybe they're not ready
Speaker 1: for their time to come. But yeah, I do you
Speaker 1: know I can't be walking around with the white head. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm the same way, I really enjoy popping a pimple.
Speaker 1: And let's not even get into the realm of relationship
Speaker 1: intimacy when you find yourself or the person you might
Speaker 1: be marrying soon popping each other's pimples, because I know
Speaker 1: for some people that's completely disgusting, um, but in my relationship,
Speaker 1: it totally happens, and we're not grossed out about it.
Speaker 1: And the look of horror on Caroline's days right now
Speaker 1: is so strong. It's not pure horror. It's horror mixed
Speaker 1: with hysterical disbelief, and I do mean the floating womb
Speaker 1: type of hysteria. It is one of the when when
Speaker 1: it happens. I mean, it doesn't happen all the time.
Speaker 1: We're not sitting talk about face pimples sometimes. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'll be honest. Are there times when my fiancee walks
Speaker 1: up to me with like a gleam in his eye
Speaker 1: and has seen a pimple on my face that he
Speaker 1: really wants to pop? Yes, because he also enjoys bopping pimples.
Speaker 1: And this is just a bonus, I guess of relationships.
Speaker 1: I'm blushing so hard right now, by the way, and
Speaker 1: this is but it's the least sexy thing I could
Speaker 1: be sharing. Um, And I do worry sometimes in these
Speaker 1: moments when we're collectively delighted over each other's pimples, that
Speaker 1: is this intimacy gone too far? Are we sacrificing all
Speaker 1: of the magic only for the temporary joy of a
Speaker 1: pimple popped? I don't. I don't have an answer for you.
Speaker 1: Only that's only something that you can know, Kristen, I
Speaker 1: take it this is not a boyfriend dog girlfriend dog
Speaker 1: situation to know. Well, the thing is, my boyfriend has
Speaker 1: perfect skin, and he always has. I don't know. He's
Speaker 1: got perfect vision and perfect skin, and I'm the one
Speaker 1: who like had it was like wearing glasses in sixth grade,
Speaker 1: couldn't see already and breaking out all over the place.
Speaker 1: So I don't know what his secret is other than
Speaker 1: he's one of those lucky guys who doesn't break out.
Speaker 1: Who We need to get those two in the podcast
Speaker 1: and share their side of the stories. But in the meantime, listeners,
Speaker 1: we're going to take a quick break and we'll come
Speaker 1: right back with some very entertaining facts about how people
Speaker 1: used to treat their acne, which did not include your
Speaker 1: Beyonce popping around pimples for you. So, Caroline, there is
Speaker 1: a delightful aspect to this conversation. And it's not it's
Speaker 1: not sebum, it's not our litle Italian bacteria running around,
Speaker 1: but old school acne remedies, because the thing about it
Speaker 1: is our concerns over our acne, especially as women, is
Speaker 1: nothing new. I mean, think about going back to Edwardian
Speaker 1: and Victorian eras how important a woman's complexion was, because
Speaker 1: you wouldn't be wearing all the same kind of makeup
Speaker 1: obviously that we have today. That it's magic, but even
Speaker 1: before that, you had thick makeup being more associated with
Speaker 1: prostitutes and actresses who were for a long time considered
Speaker 1: basically a step away from prostitutes. So having a clear
Speaker 1: complexion was of the utmost importance for so many of
Speaker 1: these women. Well, yeah, especially for the Victorian women who
Speaker 1: thought that black heads were flesh worms crawling out of
Speaker 1: their skin. Yeah, we found this historical note over XO
Speaker 1: vein and I love flash hate the imagery of that.
Speaker 1: It's kind of hilarious. Um. But they would remedy in
Speaker 1: similar ways as we might today. They would steam, but
Speaker 1: they would also do sulfur treatments. They would alternate steam
Speaker 1: and sulfur to clear out all those flesh worms. Come on, well,
Speaker 1: now I'm picturing the little cockney worm from the movie Labyrinth.
Speaker 1: Hello did you just say hello? Now? I said hello
Speaker 1: and seen. Um. It's it's worth noting that in nineteen two,
Speaker 1: sears was selling Dr Roses arsenic complexion waivers and the
Speaker 1: ad is hysterical mainly and I mean this in the
Speaker 1: funny way, not the uterous way. Um, mainly because they
Speaker 1: super duper emphasize how safe this arsenic is, ladies, so
Speaker 1: take it for those flesh worms. Unlike that poisonous our
Speaker 1: snic right, these are snake waivers are totally fine. And
Speaker 1: and judging by the number of advertisements that came up
Speaker 1: in my very scientific Google image search, because yes, I
Speaker 1: wanted to see how this was advertised, it was pretty popular,
Speaker 1: this whole arsenic wafer complexion. So all I'm saying is maybe,
Speaker 1: and maybe I'm gonna get my hands on Dr Roses
Speaker 1: going a little eBay hunt. No, look, I get it,
Speaker 1: like when you struggle with adult hormone anal cystic acne,
Speaker 1: like you will try anything. And and I have literally
Speaker 1: read women's testimonials saying such when you start googling and
Speaker 1: land on message boards and things like that for women
Speaker 1: talking about acne. I mean, these people will literally try anything,
Speaker 1: and that includes things that are known to harm your skin.
Speaker 1: So it's not so surprising that arsenic complexion wafers were
Speaker 1: all the jam back in the day. Well yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: like and speaking to that, it's not just vanity of like,
Speaker 1: oh well, my skin doesn't look good. I can't possibly
Speaker 1: go out in public. But also the pain of cystic acne.
Speaker 1: That's something that we didn't even get into, where if
Speaker 1: you have really intensistic acne, even just hair brushing against
Speaker 1: your face. Oh yeah, see this one right here. I'm
Speaker 1: pointing to one on my cheek. It's like it's it's
Speaker 1: shrinking down a little bit now, but when it first
Speaker 1: popped up, it was really painful. I had to sleep
Speaker 1: on the other side of the pillow face. My face
Speaker 1: had to be facing. It doesn't matter anyway, it hurt. Well,
Speaker 1: you know what else hurt? Chastity pimples. How about that
Speaker 1: for a segue, Caroline, I love it. Um. I enjoyed
Speaker 1: this highlight from twentieth century acne history that apparently into
Speaker 1: the nineteen thirties, zits were called chastity pimples, especially if
Speaker 1: they were on girls, because they were associated with both
Speaker 1: abstinence and also masturbation. So there's always been this like
Speaker 1: strange moralizing of acne as well, because for a long
Speaker 1: time we i mean, it's always been considered kind of
Speaker 1: dirty and by extension, a reflection of your moral character.
Speaker 1: If we're going back into progressive Edwardian especially Victorian times,
Speaker 1: if we're getting super waspy, Yeah, that's that is the
Speaker 1: assumption that we tend to make about people with acne
Speaker 1: that they are just not You're just not doing a
Speaker 1: good enough job cleaning your face. And it's like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, as any person who struggles with acne will
Speaker 1: tell you, trust me, I am cleaning my face well.
Speaker 1: And also the misunderstanding that, oh, if I wash my
Speaker 1: face more, it's gonna get worse. Friend, you clearly don't
Speaker 1: know how sebum works. Just pumps out when you strip
Speaker 1: it all away. You've got to have some oil colon,
Speaker 1: because then it just makes your face angry. Your face
Speaker 1: is like, oh, you're gonna take on my oil? Huh huh. Well,
Speaker 1: here's some more I'm gonna do a butter buffet coming
Speaker 1: back dip some truth in that. I really feel like
Speaker 1: I'm ruining butter for you. It's fine, nothing can truly
Speaker 1: ruin better for me, even this conversation. But that whole
Speaker 1: moralizing of acne, I think still affects us today because
Speaker 1: some of the articles we were reading noted how this
Speaker 1: is not a life threatening condition. You can live to
Speaker 1: be as old as you want with it's on your face.
Speaker 1: So why why do we worry so much about it?
Speaker 1: Why are we selling out all this money? Why are
Speaker 1: we going to these doctors? What's going on? Well, because
Speaker 1: it has a psychological impact on us as well, not
Speaker 1: to mention, yes, the pain aspect and discomfort, but there's
Speaker 1: also the perception. We know that people look at us
Speaker 1: differently if we have especially visible acne. And still I
Speaker 1: think that lingering association of acne with dirtiness, Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I mean I don't even know if you could call
Speaker 1: it lingering. I still think it's like full fledged, a
Speaker 1: full fledged assumption by a lot of people. Well, and
Speaker 1: if we look at tabloid culture today and how female
Speaker 1: celebrities especially are scrutinized. Reading up for this podcast, maybe
Speaker 1: think a of proactive commercials where suddenly you know you
Speaker 1: have like, oh, Jessica Simpson has acne. Okay, I guess
Speaker 1: I feel better. I guess I'll buy these products. But
Speaker 1: then you have all of the celebrity tabloid editions where
Speaker 1: it starts without makeup, and it's always hyper close ups
Speaker 1: to show that, hey, look, doesn't she look terrible? Look
Speaker 1: at her, you know, discolored face and bags in her
Speaker 1: eyes and her hormonal acne. Yeah, if you zoomed out
Speaker 1: just a little, it should probably look like a normal human. Yeah, yeah, anyone,
Speaker 1: anyone's face blown up looks a little strange. Um. But Caroline,
Speaker 1: do you think that we are combating this culture at
Speaker 1: all by the whole no makeup selfie trend? You do
Speaker 1: see more celebrities, female celebrities choosing to take photos of
Speaker 1: their acne. I know, Lord, for instance, is a big
Speaker 1: fan of the no makeup selfie. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: mean a bunch of beauty bloggers do that too. Show
Speaker 1: more and more. I feel like they're coming out and
Speaker 1: showing there before skin. Um, and I don't know if that,
Speaker 1: I don't know what effect that really has. You can
Speaker 1: be like, oh yeah, Wow, you've also got bad skin,
Speaker 1: just like me. You're just like whomever. Uh, but then
Speaker 1: look at how great you are covering it up. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of like, Okay, well, that's great to know
Speaker 1: how to cover it up effectively. But call me back
Speaker 1: when you've got a solution. Yeah, call me back when
Speaker 1: it's okay if I don't cover it up. Yes, I
Speaker 1: mean I'm not very good about covering up my acne
Speaker 1: every day. I Um, I don't know, Like foundation feels
Speaker 1: so heavy on my face that I just can't do it,
Speaker 1: and especially since I have to paint my face on
Speaker 1: so meticulously for making videos. Yeah, she completely doesn't have
Speaker 1: a face. It's really weird, no face at all. It's
Speaker 1: very strange. Point. Um, I just see I just see
Speaker 1: the buffalo check shirt floating in front of me. Well,
Speaker 1: what can we do with the faces that we do have?
Speaker 1: Unlike me? Well, okay, so luckily birth control oral contraceptives
Speaker 1: do help. They block androgen's which, as you would imagine
Speaker 1: from our preceding conversation, do curb acne. Uh. And oral
Speaker 1: contraceptives like yes and yasmin or two that were named
Speaker 1: I used to be on there of those, I was
Speaker 1: on Yasmin from the time I was eighteen too, I
Speaker 1: think twenty nine, and my skin was pretty, It was fine,
Speaker 1: you know whatever. It was fine, the occasional pimple, the
Speaker 1: occasional period breakout or whatever. But when I switched from
Speaker 1: the pill to the Skyla i u D which is
Speaker 1: like Morena's little sister, my skin exploded. And that essentially
Speaker 1: brings us up to today if you have the Caroline
Speaker 1: trivia history um and so Kristin and I were both
Speaker 1: really curious about that because we both use i u
Speaker 1: D s and it's like, well, if one birth control
Speaker 1: knocks pimpils out of the park, then why isn't this
Speaker 1: other one? And it has a lot to do with
Speaker 1: the hormone progestine. So Skyla, for instance, does not have estrogen.
Speaker 1: It has the progestine leave on adjustal, which is derived
Speaker 1: from testosterone, and acne is one of several possible side effects.
Speaker 1: And of course, so if you have a copper i
Speaker 1: u D which is non hormonal, it will not then
Speaker 1: affect your hormonal acne, so you don't have to worry
Speaker 1: about that. But I remember shortly after I got my
Speaker 1: io D going to my dermatologist and being like, help, maybe,
Speaker 1: what's going on with me? Why am I breaking out
Speaker 1: like a teenager? And she said did it start about
Speaker 1: ninety days after you got your iu D? And I
Speaker 1: said yes, And she said I see it in every
Speaker 1: patient who comes in with an I E D, that
Speaker 1: if they are switching from the pill to the iu D,
Speaker 1: that they end up experiencing hormonal acne. Not that the
Speaker 1: iu D causes it necessarily, more that I think if
Speaker 1: you were already prone to it for whatever hormonal or
Speaker 1: environmental reason, that the iu D then because it doesn't
Speaker 1: have estrogen, because it has a progestine that's made from testosterone,
Speaker 1: that it's just going to sort of be a little
Speaker 1: boost to your natural acne inclinations. Well, and that explains
Speaker 1: why I now have issues with hormonal acne as well,
Speaker 1: because I've had my Marina iu D going on six
Speaker 1: years now, and because of that, partially uh I now
Speaker 1: go to a dermatologist who has described me retine cream
Speaker 1: and retin a cream has been kind of like the
Speaker 1: wonder drug of adult acne um. And the way retin
Speaker 1: a cream works is by causing our skin cells to
Speaker 1: divide more rapidly and making them less likely to clog,
Speaker 1: so in that whole zip production, it's sort of um
Speaker 1: makes it harder for all that gunk to get stuck
Speaker 1: in those clogged pores as well, And the American Academy
Speaker 1: of Dermatology said in acne patients of any age, dermatologists
Speaker 1: considered topical retinoids, which are medications that contained vitamin A derivatives,
Speaker 1: the first line therapy for mint to moderate inflammatory acne
Speaker 1: accompanied by blackheads and white heads. So basically it's the
Speaker 1: go to thing. Yeah, well, I have not tried retina
Speaker 1: as an adult. It was one of the thousands upon
Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of products I tried as a teenager
Speaker 1: when I was breaking out so badly. But back then
Speaker 1: it was super harsh on my skin, and my skin
Speaker 1: was always red and inflamed. I didn't have anyone telling
Speaker 1: me like they do in every women's magazine now that like,
Speaker 1: if you're going to use a retinal product to maybe
Speaker 1: break it up, maybe use it every other day or
Speaker 1: every two days, rather than using it every single day
Speaker 1: right out of the gate um I have started using.
Speaker 1: He has an extremely overprized retinal night cream that I
Speaker 1: got at Sephora, which and we'll see how that goes.
Speaker 1: So I have no idea. Yeah. I mean that's the
Speaker 1: thing about retina. It whether you are gradually doing it
Speaker 1: or not, it will make your skin worse before it
Speaker 1: gets better. So that's a fun thing when you go
Speaker 1: to the dermatologist because you're so fun up with your
Speaker 1: acne and you want to do something about it, and
Speaker 1: she'll be like, oh, this will make it perfect, but
Speaker 1: first you're gonna look even worse for like six weeks.
Speaker 1: Don't worry. But my newest the newest item in my
Speaker 1: acne arsenal is sperano lactone. Yeah. So this is a diuretic.
Speaker 1: Actually was first developed in the fifties late fifties and
Speaker 1: used to treat hypertension and patients with heart failure. But
Speaker 1: those ever vigilant doctors noticed mainly because women were telling
Speaker 1: them that it was helpful for alleviating polycystic ovarian syndrome
Speaker 1: symptoms but also helping clear up these women's skin. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: the way it works is by affecting the way androgens
Speaker 1: are produced, and essentially it blocks the receptors and androgen
Speaker 1: cells that tell skin glands to produce more sea bum
Speaker 1: and contribute to acne and the way I think it
Speaker 1: was Racked Magazine described it was that it also mops
Speaker 1: up excess testosterone. CA well, no, because I wrote that
Speaker 1: down on my notes too, because I thought it was
Speaker 1: so freaking disgusting. Oh, I just thought it was such
Speaker 1: a delightful image of like this little janitor. I love
Speaker 1: how we have such completely different perceptions. Let's bring in
Speaker 1: more acne characters. All right, let's let's bring back the
Speaker 1: mustachio janitor from Futurama. He can be sweezing spiralactone. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's mopping it up. Or or it could be I
Speaker 1: guess the mops and brooms from Fantasia, the magical magical
Speaker 1: testosterone mop. But you know what I've bed, If one
Speaker 1: of our talented illustrator listeners could could make this cast
Speaker 1: of characters like cute and adorable, then maybe acne wouldn't
Speaker 1: seem so bad. You know, we just we could teach
Speaker 1: how zits are formed with you know, just like fun, cute,
Speaker 1: little little adorable people. Yes, send those to us right away.
Speaker 1: I need them. But okay, well, so the thing with
Speaker 1: this medicine, though, is that it's still has not been
Speaker 1: approved by the FDA for acne prevention use, but my
Speaker 1: dermatologist actually prescribed it to me. I did a little
Speaker 1: bit of research and realized that because it was originally
Speaker 1: a hypertension drug and I have incredibly low blood pressure anyway,
Speaker 1: that it was not such a good idea for me.
Speaker 1: And of course there are other side effects potential side
Speaker 1: effects anyway, like the lower blood pressure I just mentioned.
Speaker 1: Also potassium retention, increased your nation minstrel irregularities, and breast tenderness,
Speaker 1: and some people all the internet also reported weight gain
Speaker 1: and decreased muscle mass, saying that if you're an athlete,
Speaker 1: you might want to just be careful if you're on it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: before I was prescribed, I had to get in e
Speaker 1: k G to make sure that my blood pressure could
Speaker 1: withstand it, and I passed with flying colors. Not to brag,
Speaker 1: hashtag blast. What's your what's your normal blood pressure? I
Speaker 1: don't know, like stressed over trying to relax? Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: mine's mind's typically like a hundred over sixty or something,
Speaker 1: So I felt like I just couldn't really afford to
Speaker 1: have it drop any lower. But I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: if if any of you out there, I really have
Speaker 1: low blow pressure and take this medicine. Just let me
Speaker 1: know question, Well, do you have any interest in blue
Speaker 1: light therapy because this seems like the newest hottest thing
Speaker 1: because the way blue light therapy and apparently there's red
Speaker 1: light therapy as well, the way it works is by
Speaker 1: supposedly killing those propioni bacteria magnes. It wipes out our
Speaker 1: vestpi gang. It doesn't get rid of your androgen's just
Speaker 1: those pesky bacteria with the Italian accents. Um. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: supposed to sit under this blue light one time a
Speaker 1: week for about six to eight weeks. And I did
Speaker 1: a little googling because I definitely treated this research like
Speaker 1: it was my own for my own personal problems. And
Speaker 1: I was like, wait, wait, wait, you can get a
Speaker 1: blue light thing at Sephora. And I started reading about it,
Speaker 1: and a bunch of people, like a bunch of people
Speaker 1: said yes, it worked, wonders. A whole other slew of
Speaker 1: people said it did nothing. And then there was another
Speaker 1: group of people who said it actually made their acne worse.
Speaker 1: And so I tried to google some more stuff about it.
Speaker 1: I'm sure that it works. It's supposed to sort of
Speaker 1: help dry up that bacteria dry up that acne um,
Speaker 1: but I didn't find anything in my very cursory glance
Speaker 1: at Google that was like, yes, definitely, definitely do this,
Speaker 1: and here's why it definitely works. I'm skeptical of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it seems kind of like woo woo science stuff, but hey,
Speaker 1: I as someone who has gone to an acupuncturist to
Speaker 1: fight migrants. If it works for you, it works for you. Well.
Speaker 1: And let's talk about some lifestyle tips as well as
Speaker 1: we wrap up, because these don't cost the thing, just
Speaker 1: like love and are really just healthy overall. And a
Speaker 1: lot of this stuff many of our listeners have probably
Speaker 1: heard before, but we'll talk about why it matters. The
Speaker 1: first thing, regulating stress. The fact that my blood pressure
Speaker 1: is stressed over trying to relax over always anxious um
Speaker 1: promotes acne because the stress hormone cortisol gets broken down
Speaker 1: when I get really stressed. Out into Androwgen's and they're
Speaker 1: the andrew Gens again, and we all know what andrew
Speaker 1: Gen's do. They ramp up those butter buckets. That's right,
Speaker 1: gross um, But don't even think that popping out for
Speaker 1: a smoke break is going to help you to relax
Speaker 1: and reduce those breakouts. According to the Journal of the
Speaker 1: American Academy of Dermatology, smoking itself can spark a breakout.
Speaker 1: They found an association between smoking an adult acne, specifically
Speaker 1: white heads and blackheads in women. But if you do
Speaker 1: want to comfort eat, you can do some of that.
Speaker 1: But the greasy food thing is not the issue. It's
Speaker 1: not the grease. If we go back to our acne pizza,
Speaker 1: that grease on the pepperonis isn't the problem. It's more
Speaker 1: the crust, I know. According to the Mayo Clinic, studies
Speaker 1: have found the dietary factories including dairy products and car
Speaker 1: rich foods like some of my favorite things bread, bagels,
Speaker 1: and chips may trigger acne. And NPR look deeper into
Speaker 1: this issue and scientists seem to think that it's the
Speaker 1: high glycemic foods like white bread, pasta, crackers, that highly
Speaker 1: refined um food that leads to blood sugar spikes, which
Speaker 1: then promotes the acne because blood sugar and tinkers with
Speaker 1: our hormones, that of course will trigger see them over production. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and several different things we looked at in terms
Speaker 1: of the difference between adult acne versus teenage acne. A
Speaker 1: lot of these sources talked about the issue of drier skin.
Speaker 1: So as you get older, your oil production slows your
Speaker 1: your skin kind of even down in that regard. But
Speaker 1: it is that drier skin issue that can contribute to acne.
Speaker 1: I know, I've noticed with my own skin that when
Speaker 1: the weather turns cold, the humidity get zapped out of
Speaker 1: the air. I break out right at the change of
Speaker 1: the seasons because it is that that dryness. But if
Speaker 1: you'll drink in, that's also going to dry your skin out.
Speaker 1: So wine and pizza night has been ruined for me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll replace it with um water and um water and
Speaker 1: broccoli night. We could just juice. Go back to our
Speaker 1: juicing podcast. That's what we'll do there, we go um. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Alcohol of course contains sugar, and so that can tinker
Speaker 1: with our skin and our hormones, and of course it
Speaker 1: dehydrates us. And when it comes to skincare basics, staying
Speaker 1: hydrated is really important, getting enough sleep, making sure that
Speaker 1: all those moisturizers and potions that we're putting on our
Speaker 1: face are non chomotogenic, meaning they won't clog our pores.
Speaker 1: What else, Caroline, a lot of things you'll see online
Speaker 1: recommend switching to those free detergents meaning scent free, die
Speaker 1: free that are supposed to irritate sensitive skin less. You
Speaker 1: should definitely be switching out your pillowcases and your towels
Speaker 1: like every couple of days. I know that sounds ridiculous,
Speaker 1: but when all that bacteria and skin cells and oil
Speaker 1: gets trapped in all those fibers, you're just rubbing it
Speaker 1: back into your skin. So do yourself a favor and
Speaker 1: change them every couple of days. Well, now, listeners, do
Speaker 1: you have tips on adult acne? And is this ringing
Speaker 1: true for you as well? Mom Stuff at how stuff
Speaker 1: works dot com is where you can send all of
Speaker 1: your dermatological thoughts. You can also tweet us at Mom's
Speaker 1: Stuff podcasts or messages on Facebook. And if anything, I
Speaker 1: think that we just really need to take advantage of
Speaker 1: the camaraderie of Lady Acne, because y'all it's a fact
Speaker 1: of life. And now we have some letters to share
Speaker 1: with you from you. I have a letter here from
Speaker 1: Rachel and fonds to our episode on Lube. She says, Hey,
Speaker 1: see and see I love the show and how you
Speaker 1: both inform and entertained listeners At the same time, I
Speaker 1: was really excited to see that you were going to
Speaker 1: talk about lube this episode and was not disappointed at
Speaker 1: your take on the subject. I never understood why lube
Speaker 1: was considered so controversial, since in my experience as assist woman,
Speaker 1: lube only helps and makes things more fun, whether I'm
Speaker 1: with a partner or alone. I'm kind of the mom
Speaker 1: friend in my group, and one of my unofficial hats
Speaker 1: as the mom friend, is talking with my friends, some
Speaker 1: of whom are a few years younger than me, about
Speaker 1: sex positivity. I'm always advocating lube, so much so that
Speaker 1: if anyone has a question about it, I'm the one
Speaker 1: to turn to. Kind of a funny and unexpected role
Speaker 1: to have, but I fully embrace it. I've used a
Speaker 1: bunch of different lubes, but my go to is liquid
Speaker 1: H two oh. It's a little pricey twelve dollars usually,
Speaker 1: but you get so much use out of it and
Speaker 1: it lasts a long time. It's glycerin and pair of
Speaker 1: and free and vegan as well. Really, anything in the
Speaker 1: liquid line of products I trust. The Slickid Sassy gel
Speaker 1: is good for anal lubricant because it's thicker but it's
Speaker 1: still water based. Since I used silicone toys a lot,
Speaker 1: I just stick with water based leabes to be safe.
Speaker 1: You don't want to grab the wrong bottle and the
Speaker 1: heat at the moment. Another thing I wanted to mention
Speaker 1: was flavored lubes. From what I understand, flavored lube is
Speaker 1: only to be used for oral sex or external stimulation
Speaker 1: because the chemicals that make the flavoring aren't or if
Speaker 1: it's friendly. It depends by brand, of course, but it's
Speaker 1: worth looking into a lub's ingredients before you buy it.
Speaker 1: Those are all my thoughts on lube and the episode.
Speaker 1: You were really comprehensive and I heard some things I've
Speaker 1: never learned about before, So thank you for that. Keep
Speaker 1: up the great work on the show, and Rachel, you
Speaker 1: keep up the great work being you. Thank you well.
Speaker 1: I've got a letter here from Lily about our hashtag
Speaker 1: blessed episode or our episode if you're listening to it
Speaker 1: before dinner. She writes, HI, longtime listener here to chime
Speaker 1: in on the Lucky Girl Blessed discussion in the most
Speaker 1: recent episode. I'm in college and still at an age
Speaker 1: where I and most of my friends are heavily financially
Speaker 1: supported by parents. When I see someone I went to
Speaker 1: school with postal holiday or vacation picture or a picture
Speaker 1: in an expensive restaurant with a hashtag lucky girl or blessed,
Speaker 1: I actually find it quite refreshing because they're acknowledging how
Speaker 1: lucky they are to get those travel opportunities. You talked
Speaker 1: about lucky Girl and blessed as annoying because they make
Speaker 1: light of the amount of hard work people put into
Speaker 1: achieving things. I see that, but I also think it's
Speaker 1: greating when people make it sound like they've achieved things
Speaker 1: purely off their own backs rather than through familial help
Speaker 1: and support. To me, the use of lucky serves to
Speaker 1: acknowledge that, almost serving as a privilege check. I love
Speaker 1: the podcast, so thanks Lily, and I think that that
Speaker 1: is a completely valid perspective on that, because yeah, we
Speaker 1: need to acknowledge where where our success comes from, whether
Speaker 1: it's from ourselves or others. And if you have letters
Speaker 1: to share with us, Mom stufft House Stuffworks dot Com
Speaker 1: is our email address and for links all of our
Speaker 1: social media as well as all of our blogs, videos
Speaker 1: and podcasts with our sources, including this one, so you
Speaker 1: can learn more about adult acne head on over to
Speaker 1: stuff mom Never told You dot com for more on
Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics. Isn't how Stuff Works
Speaker 1: dot com