The Acne Issue

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Racked loves skin care. This isn’t much of a surprising admission: We’ve written about how it’s not a scam (and when it probably is), the best products, the notable trends, the steals, the brands you want to know more about.

But for all our talk about skin, we don’t talk very much about acne as anything other than an issue to be solved. “Body positivity” is such a popular concept that it’s considered a movement (a movement that has its own Wikipedia page, no less), but skin positivity is, well, not nothing, but certainly less of a thing.

We wanted to explore why that is, look at how we’ve understood pimples through history, break down what the different types of acne really are and how they’re treated, find the people who are bonding through shared acne concerns online, and find out who is profiting off our insecurities about our skin. Plus, we wanted to take some cool, glamorous pictures of people where their zits aren’t covered up.

These pictures can be seen throughout the stories. The models were generous volunteers, and they certainly don’t cover the full breadth of people with acne, so to that end, we’d love to see your own photos and hear your stories. You can share them in our Facebook group, Racked Shopping Lounge, or email acneissue@racked.com. We’d like this to be the beginning of a conversation, not the final word.

—Alanna Okun and Meredith Haggerty, senior editors