>>15421In my teens I was extremely self-conscious about my skin texture especially when I did my makeup. I thought that surely I was doing something wrong because those beauty youtubers had the smoothest skin whereas I could see lines and pores everywhere. I often spent an entire hour in front of a magnifying mirror, picking at my skin and extracting blackheads (which obviously made my skin worse).
Turns out it was just lies : filters, lighting, extreme amounts of makeup to hide what normal skin actually looks like. What we often describe as texture are pores or hair follicles : for every hair on your body, you have a tiny hole that it peaks through. Even though your face isn't hairy there are still pores there - actually humans have on average 5 million of them on their body. They are there to protect your skin from bacterias, clean up deadcells and most importantly produce sebum so that you're skin stays hydrated. This moisture is very important for your skin's health : when you get older, your skin produces less sebum and this dryness is the cause of skin aging, wrinkles etc. So pores are pretty neat and helpful !
Picrel is my skin fresh out of bed, before doing any skincare or even splashing my face with water. As you can see it's a bit greasy so the pores are very visible from up close, aswell as blackheads and little bumps, or milia under the eyes. I have pretty good and clear skin but it will never be perfectly smooth, and it's normal !
99% of people won't see your skin up close, but rather from at least a 1 meter distance where pores or blackheads aren't noticeable at all. I try to not look at my face that close anymore because it will only highlight texture and what's 'wrong' with it. Keep in mind that bathroom lighting can also emphasize texture.
You should also check out the instagram @celebface which shows close up of celebrities. Even people that spend up to tens of thousands of dollars a month on skincare, treatments, procedures and have access to the best dermatologists have texture, large pores, blackheads, pimples, fine lines… They don't want you to see it, that's why everything is filtered these days. But it's here and even if they try everything to make it disappear, they can't because it's just how skin is.