Mustache Be Gone

You guys, I have a sensitive subject to bring up and a deep dark secret to share. I know they've been all the rage for a couple years now (I keep waiting for the trend to die out, it's gone on long enough in my opinion), but there was no way to make this bad boy seem stylish.

I had a mustache. An in your face, impossible not to notice, freakin' mustache. And I hated it. Before you ask, "Why didn't you just wax it off then weirdo", you need to understand that this was no ordinary mustache. This one was permanent. I couldn't cover it up, strip it off, or shave it away. It was not a mustache made of mere hair, but of skin that was a good three shades darker than the rest of my face. It was starting to become a problem years ago and I noticed especially after a cruise with my husband when we were just dating that a problem was developing. Blame it on the Mexico sun. Huz later admitted that he was noticing the darker patch and would try to sneak up close, studied glances at my upper lip without me noticing he was trying to see if I was growing the real deal. Rude! Haha.

  

(You can see hints of my lovely stash though I tried to cover it. Yes even in my bridal pics unfortunately.)

Fast forward to pregnancy and it got even worse. There was no basking in the sun involved and certainly no laying out, and as I mentioned in a previous post, living in Seattle I wasn't getting a ton of sunshine anyway, but even the slightest exposure triggered a pigmentation panic on my face. I tried every kind of concealer, lots of sunscreen reapplied religiously, home remedies such as lemon juice concoctions or apple cider vinegar and I tried just flat out embracing my stache as my new best friend. Some days it didn't look so bad until I'd catch a glimpse of myself in broad daylight in some reflection and see the darkened upper lip hovering heavy.

Finally I bit the bullet and scheduled an appointment with my dermatologist who diagnosed it as "melasma". Melasma is not a serious issue, it's simply brown patches on the face such as the cheeks, bridge of the nose, forehead or upper lip. It's often associated with women who are pregnant or taking birth control and is associated with the hormone estrogen.

My dermatologist prescribed me this Tri-Luma cream and within days my brown patches were fading. So if you experience similar sun spots or melasma spots, I recommend seeing your dermatologist. he might recommend something different but life is too short to have a mustache in my opinion!