If my face itches am I going to die?

This is the part of my blog where I am going to talk about shit that gives me low self-esteem and how I try to combat it.

In high school I was fat, awkward, and had braces. My saving grace was clear skin. I might have a slight, tiny zit every now and then, but nothing compared to the painful blemishes a lot of my friends were dealing with. That, apparently, was not to last. The past few years have been complete hell on my skin. I've tried every different over the counter product I can get my hands on, with little or no results.

Once I got comfortable enough here to open up and lament my fate to my co-workers/roommates/friends, Micah mentioned that I should try this stuff his mom got for him when he was hiking the AT (Appalachian Trail). In the spirit of nothing left to lose, I gave it the ole college try. It's a four hour spot treatment for zits you already have. I used it and had pretty positive results, but it wasn't PREVENTING the outbreaks which is ultimately what I was working toward. I decided to try to find a face wash that had the same active ingredient the spot treatment had in it, and Marisa suggested I try the face wash she uses, which contained benzoyl peroxide, the ingredient in question.

I purchased a bottle, brought it home, and immediately began to use it that night, on the same schedule I used my previous face wash: twice a day, once in the morning, once before bed. The following afternoon, after two washes, my face was rough and itchy. Like....clawing my face off itchy. Like message everyone I know to ask if I my itchy face might result in my death itchy. By the second night, the third time I was washing my face with it, my skin burned when I applied it. I consulted Dr. Wikipedia and learned that a few of the less common side effects of it are itching, burning, swelling, and sensitivity. I read on to see if there was any risk of my face peeling off. I could not discover any concrete evidence pointing toward total facial destruction, but I decided to cut down to using it once a day until my skin develops a tolerance for the benzoyl peroxide. You know, just in case.

My face itches less now, but it's still red and rough right under my eyes. I feel like that will fade. The best news, however, is that my skin has cleared up CONSIDERABLY. Like, I don't have massive exploding zits on my face, and this is the time of the month for them IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

So, this is a picture of me and my much clearer skin (and my incredibly silly hair).

Yeah. That's what's up.