You can have ambition, kindness, and confidence, but a raised scar on your shoulder, chest, or cheek? That still gets stares. And if you’re like me, living with keloids, you know exactly what I mean. The world doesn’t quite know what to do with our skin stories—so instead, it pretends they don’t exist.
The Silent Stigma Around “Unpretty” Scars
We don’t talk about keloids in beauty magazines. They don’t appear in skincare commercials. There’s no foundation line that markets itself as “keloid-friendly.” Somehow, keloids have become a scar-shaped taboo—too medical for the beauty world and too aesthetic for the medical world.
But here’s the wild truth: millions of people have keloids. They’re more common among people of color, especially with deeper skin tones, and they can form from something as small as a pimple or ear piercing. And yet, no one talks about the emotional whiplash that comes from seeing your skin permanently change—and not knowing if it will ever stop.
The Beauty Ideal Wasn’t Built for Us
Beauty standards are razor-thin, airbrushed, and poreless. They’re built on the myth of “perfect” skin—no scars, no texture, no visible history.
But a keloid is history.
It’s the body’s overzealous healing process, turning a wound into a permanent signature. And it makes people uncomfortable because it challenges the sanitized, filtered version of beauty we’re constantly sold.
So we hide. We cover up. We choose clothes that won’t draw attention. We pretend the scar doesn’t itch, hurt, or trigger anxiety. But deep down, we wonder: “If I didn’t have this, would I be seen differently? Desired differently? Treated better?”
Where Confidence Meets Skin Reality
What helped me start healing (emotionally, not just physically) wasn’t some miracle cream or silicone sheet. It was realizing that I wasn’t broken. I wasn’t “failing” at skincare. I was just living in a body that remembers too loudly.
Keloids aren’t a flaw in our healing process. They are the healing process—just turned up too high. They remind us that healing doesn’t always look clean, but it’s still healing.
And that’s the part beauty culture forgets to mention.
Reclaiming Scar Visibility
What if we made room for skin that looks like it’s survived something?
What if beauty campaigns didn’t just spotlight freckles or stretch marks, but keloids and hypertrophic scars too?
What if you stopped waiting until your scar “faded” to take that photo, wear that outfit, or feel proud of your reflection?
We don’t owe the world invisibility. And our scars don’t have to shrink for us to feel worthy.
If you have a keloid, or any scar that’s made you second-guess your worth—this is your permission slip to stop apologizing for it.
Scars are not shameful. They're not distractions. They're proof that you’ve been through something your body didn’t forget. And instead of hiding them to fit a beauty standard, maybe it’s time the standard made space for us.
Because the unspoken rule is this: if your skin tells a story, it deserves to be heard.
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