I hate acne, always have. I know, you’re probably saying, dah, who likes acne, right?

I’m sure no one really likes it, but I bet there are folks who don’t mind it. I know there are folks who think it is just part of the natural order of things; something teenagers get when their hormones are raging.

But I don’t buy that. I see a lot of teens with beautifully smooth acne-free complexions. My sister was like that. She always had this peachy perfect skin. At least that’s the way I remember it.

But not me. I remember fighting acne my entire high school and college years.

When my boys were young, people were always mentioning how beautiful their skin was. I thought maybe their faces had their dad’s genes. And I was praying they would have his smooth blemish-free complexion. He said he never had acne when he was a kid.

No such luck. Right about sophomore year those first little pest pimple popped up on my eldest’s beautiful chocolate skin. I ran out and started buy up all the acne-killing products I could. And I made him use them. We were going to beat the acne thing. Even if he got a pimple or two we were going to make sure they didn’t scar his face.

The good thing is that Trey was always diligent about scrubbing his face and taking care of his skin.

I made sure they would eat right, limited the greasy stuff, fast foods and fried foods. I served a lot of salads, grilled and baked meats.

I’m serious. I hate acne. I struggled with it until I hit 30. Then it just went away and hasn’t (knock on wood) come back.

So yeah Trey had a few pimples, they would last a few days and then go away. Every once in a while his face would break out pretty badly but then he would battle back. He’s in college now, and for the most part the problem has subsided.

But it’s like they left his face and popped up on my youngest. He has a pretty rough case and to make matter’s worse, he’s not the best at scrubbing his face and I’m tired of fighting.

I mean, really, the boy is 16 should I have to tell him every night and every morning, wash your face. Use the astringent and the other acne products I bought you.

I feel like he should know the drill by now. But he’s one of those folks who is not so bothered by acne. He’s one of those folks who thinks acne is just part of growing up, something every teen has to go through.

But I hate acne, and so I’m constantly bugging him about it. It takes all the strength I have to keep from trying to squeeze black heads from the pores in his face when I see them. I know this is a gross post. And well it should be. Acne is gross I hate it. When I see a blackhead I just want to squeeze the life out of it.

So it really made me happy tonight when for the first time Jordan let me give him a facial. OK, so he didn’t really let me, I had to beg him to sit still while I gave him a facial. I promised him his skin would feel amazing when I was done. He insisted it would make a difference and there would be no change. So I convinced him to let me do the facial and if it didn’t feel better, if it didn’t make a difference I would never bother him about letting me do it again.

I cleaned his face with a cleansing pad, that was literally dark gray with dirt when I was done. This boy obviously is not cleaning his face properly. Then I covered his face with a cucumber and oatmeal mask and let it harden. He complained. Then using a really hot wash cloth I removed the mask.

Wow! His skin looked immediately better. He even had to admit it did. And not only that, he said it felt better. And I had fun doing it. Most importantly, he agreed to let me do his face at least once a month and said he would do a better job cleaning it twice a day.

See, sometimes if you don’t push too hard and bid your time you kids stop resisting your instruction.

So acne, the fight is on and this round goes to mom.