How Nostalgia Is Ruining My Skin, Turns Out I’m Not 16 Anymore

Nostalgia will be the end of me. A reel I keep seeing on my explore feed on a regular basis. Living through old photo albums, a myriad of thoughts, and now, thanks to Snapchat and Google Photos' Flashback feature, nostalgia’s a bigger bitch than I thought, and I didn’t realise how unhinged it was until it literally started showing up on my skin.

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Spending hours thinking of the good old days, scrolling through your gallery, and worst of all, cleaning your room, you’re literally signing up for an emotional rollercoaster. I land in that spiral more often than I’d like to admit. No matter how disciplined I try to be, I somehow end up going down that damn memory lane, baggage and all.

I Miss Being 16

I miss being 16, nobody wants their ‘I’m just a teenage dirtbag, baby’ phase to ever go away. Sweet Sixteen was sold to us like the golden age of chaos—peak pop culture propaganda, where troubled, emotionally unavailable men were positioned as the ultimate love interest. And we ate it up like it was gospel.

Everyone’s obsessed with nostalgia; I’m literally the president of that fan club, but no one talks about how expensive it is emotionally or what it does to your skin barrier. One minute you’re scrolling through old pictures, the next you’re reliving people and moments that used to be your whole world… and now don’t even make the cut. The “Crying helps you glow” phase only lasts when you’re a teen, not when you have deadlines to meet. The vicious nostalgic cycle breaks you mentally, and your skin falls prey to it.

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What may start as a simple “Let’s dig out the photo album” eventually turns into an “I wish I looked like that now.”  Your emotions are so over the place because you want to go back to the time when wearing sunscreen wasn't a ritual but an accessory that you barely used and made fun of people who had extensive skincare routines on the internet.

Ramen Won’t Fix Your Breakouts

We’ve all been there. Wanting to have Buldak every day? Think about it now and see what it does to your skin and gut the next morning. You’re reminiscing about a version of yourself that existed when Instagram Reels was not even a thing. And girl, do you want to go back to that self? Please. Picture her in 2025, breathing an AQI higher than the price of a lip liner and still refusing to moisturise because your former young adult self didn’t have a care in the world about it, and yet her skin was at its peak. 

It’s time you realised that nostalgia only looks good on the outer surface. Reminiscing often brings up a past that makes one feel insecure about their current selves, leading to anxiety and the age-old ‘I’m turning a certain age and I don’t have my life together’ question coming into being. This not only messes with your brain but also shows up on your skin with sleepless nights you spend overthinking, eating that damn buldak ramen and binge-watching an old show that takes you back in time.

Your Skin Needs Hydration, Not Memories

I’m not denying when I say ‘comforting’ is literally the right word for this act, but deep down, that comforting space slowly makes you want to go back in time so desperately that the next few nights and even the days feel lousy and ludicrous. Behaving like your past self sure sounds interesting, and who wouldn’t want that, but it’s 2025, and bed rotting while still thinking you’re 17 mentally is not self-care; it’s minus aura. Staying up late and showing up to work in the morning in the name of "I did it for the plot" will only make you lousy for the entire week. Keep the plot twist for the weekend; you're growing now! Holding on to your wild spirit era is fun, but living it is surely not. Embrace your health and do the "girl gone wild", but make it a grown-up edition. 

Don’t let nostalgia get to you and disrupt what you already have going on with your skin and gut. Going back to old habits won’t make you younger or take you back to your ‘puff hairstyle’ era. Sure, the times were simpler and the air quality didn’t reek, but your habits did. Your wellness knowledge doesn't revolve around ‘this person can fix me’ anymore, and in no way should you go back to that means and endure a cycle of breakdowns. 

Embrace yourself and keep your gut and skin hydrated because nobody likes staying dehydrated, especially not your skin. So give ‘living in nostalgia’ a break and see how your skin heals without feeling like you need to be 16 and careless. 

Also Read:

The Invisible Architecture Of Feeling: On Scent, Connection And Memory

My Snapchat Avatar Looked Cool In Curtain Bangs — So I Got Them IRL