*All deodorants are tested on husbands

    Middle school is the worst, especially when you have giant zits all over your face.  That’s when it all went downhill for me: hormones, peer pressure, and an embarrassing case of acne.  Through the years, I visited all kinds of doctors and tried all kinds of medicines. There were refrigerated creams that made my face a flaky mess, and pills that turned my body into a chemically infested battleground.  I had side effects for days, but clear skin trumped all, and without even realizing it, I was sacrificing my body for it.  Without a thought, I also sacrificed my wallet.  I bought and trashed countless bottles that promised beauty, but never fully delivered.

     It’s funny.  My whole life I thought, "I’m so glad I was born in the 20th century because what did women with acne do before all these medicated products?”  What a fool.  I had no idea that the remedy for beautiful skin was right in front of me; it was in my kitchen and growing in my garden; it was what women had been using for ages.  Didn’t the people of France guillotine Marie Antoinette for lavishly bathing in milk and honey?  All I knew of famously beautiful Cleopatra was that she soaked herself in olive oil.  It took me 20 years after middle school, but I’ve joined these women of history in their knowledge of natural beauty, and I want to share it with everyone!

Kara Jo's story