Sonya in 6th Grade, Before Puberty
I started getting zits when puberty hit, around the time I was 11 or 12. By the time I entered 7th grade, I could certifiably be called a “Zit Face.” It wasn’t pretty. In fact, my 7th grade picture was horrifying. And 8th grade wasn’t much better. The scarring remained and the bad image of what I looked like in 7th grade stick with me all of these years. Yesterday I had the opportunity to own being a “Zit Face” and let it go. I let go of the bad feelings the terrible emotions and the image I had of myself in my head. Today’s story is about letting go of that image.
Sonya in 7th Grade, Horrifying
A couple of weeks ago I was deleting email in my spam folder and I ran across an email solicitation seeking customers to be in a photo shot for DHC, a Japanese cosmetic company. I’ve been a DHC customer for a long time and my favorite products are the Olive Virgin Oil (yes, you read that correctly) and the Acne Spot Therapy. I know, it’s counter intuitive to put olive oil on an already oily face, but it really did make a difference for me and my skin. I sent in my contact info, age, and a recent photo (which happened to be the one I currently use on this website). A little while later, I was contacted and invited to pick a time to participate in the photo shoot. I think I let out an audible whoop for joy when I received that email! Something to the effect of “Hooray, I can do an ad for zit medication – how ironic and satisfying!”
Sonya in 8th Grade
Yesterday I made my way to a photo studio on Bryant Street in San Francisco. I got there about 30 minutes early, which was a good thing because between parking in San Francisco on a good day, which it wasn’t because of the construction going on in that area and the time of day (lunchtime), it took me a long time to find parking. I found the studio and knocked on the door; Jeff, the photographer welcomed me in and we walked down a long hallway into a large cavernous, but well lit photo studio where everyone was eating lunch. I met Patricia, the Marketing Coordinator who set up the whole thing and was my original contact, and Leslie who is the Catalogue Editor.
Blouse Choices
While everyone settled back in and finished eating, I chatted with Patricia and showed her the blouses I had brought (at her instruction) and looked at the ones they had on a rack. As most of the ones I brought were prints and they preferred a solid colored shirt, I went with a bright blue, bling-covered top from their selections that would highlight my eye-color.
Joshua, the Make-Up Artist
Once I changed into the selected shirt, I took a seat in the make-up chair and Joshua, the make-up artist, went to work. He said the make-up would be a bit heavier because on camera it would look lighter. He started with a primer mixed with water and a moisturizer so that my face would look more “dewy” on camera. The only tricky part was raising my chin but looking down for the mascara. Tickled almost to the point of tears…
Joshua put a lot of powder, a little blush, and a bunch of concealer-like stuff on my face and all the way down my chest to cover the perpetual redness from too many sunburns. He had some spectacular, and personally meaningful, tattoos which led to a very funny conversation, involving everyone, about unusual tattoos and the placement of them, like the inside of your bottom lip. Ewww. That led to some good laughter all around.
Heather, the Hairstylist with Dorothy, 60, who did this photo-shoot anyway, despite this”not being her thing”
From the make-up chair, I went over to the hairstylist chair and worked with Heather. They all loved my hair, which happened to look great right at the moment — long, layered, recently blown dry at the gym, and sparkling in the light at the studio. She used a flat-iron, a lot of spray, a little back-combing, and a lot of fluffing. Heather had some funny stories about putting together a baby shower for her friend that involved tequila shots, and trying to get someone to take charge of doing the baby shower cake. She shared a few pictures of potential baby shower cakes that I can’t even adequately describe and truly wish I hadn’t seen photos of. Jeff, who had come over to take pictures of us, added that one shower game included sniffing diapers with melted candy bars in them and having the shower attendees guess what kind of candy bar it was. Wow, I had no idea baby showers could be that, uh, interesting. I was just excited to get a Diaper Genie at my baby shower.
Jeff’s Arena
Once done with hair and make-up, Jeff took over. We went into the light, so to speak, and he and his assistant, Dan, adjusted the lights and screens to eliminate shadows for the most flattering pictures. We took photos for what seemed like hours, but I am guessing it was about 15 minutes. I moved my chin here and there, my shoulders back and around, my torso, this way and that. All the while the others were looking at them on a giant monitor and making adjustments. Change the hair, add a little more powder here and there. Relax, smile naturally, and so on. It was fun and I did get to see the pictures on the monitor afterwards.
The Photo Shoot Set-up
Wow – I looked like I had completely clear skin with very little scarring. Patricia and Leslie then had me do video interviews. After an initial wrestling match with the microphone, we recorded a few stories about me and my contact information, my three t’ween and teenaged sons who now use the DHC acne line of products, and my own experience in 7th and 8th grade. I also got to record my reason for wanting to do this photo shoot in the first place.
In 8th grade I liked a guy and my best friend explored with him whether he would be my boyfriend. He said something to the effect of “Well, I like her, and she is nice, but she has a lot of zits, so no.” In 8th grade, already being sensitive to everything, in addition to being overly hormonal and emotional, it was completely traumatizing and damaging to me. That is how I came to see myself permanently as a “Zit Face.”
Dan, making us feel comfortable, and at home.
I know, it’s completely stupid looking back on it, but at the time it was crushing. And, unfortunately, that feeling and outlook stayed with me until recently (read: this last year), when I began to see myself for who I really am, a 46 year old mom of three boys, and not that 14 year old Zit Face I used to be.
I really appreciated the opportunity to do this photo shoot with DHC and to own this trauma and let it go. I am really grateful for the experience I had yesterday. Everyone was really kind and caring and made me look and feel great for the photo shoot. I really want to thank every one that made yesterday a fun and cathartic experience for me: THANK YOU to Patricia, Leslie, Heidi, Jeff, Dan, Josh, and Heather!
Sonya and Jeff, the Photographer
PS – They will send me the official photos in May along with the June catalogue where the acne product line will be featured along with 6 customers who use those particular products.
