One of these days, my boyfriend and I had a serious discussion. No, I’m not talking about the let’s talk about our feelings and our relationship. But a more earthly one, which – I must admit – took me by surprise as, frankly, I’d never ever would have expected to chat about hydration and creams with a man. But, then again, I had to do that.
It all started one evening when he came out of the bathroom smelling like something, hmmm, something discreet. It wasn’t perfume, or after-shave. And yet, it was this familiar flavor. He kissed me and then I realized: You are using my face cream, I said to him. OK, I got a little carried away and I actually kind of yelled at him. And then and there I began to investigate, as a true detective, putting the pieces together and finally realizing how it all was connected. I noticed that for some while, my day cream would start to reach the bottom all too fast. Literally evaporating, I mean. The night cream, too. And the eye cream as well. But, funny thing, nothing of the sort was happening with my cleanser, nor with my serum – true enough, the latter had a slightly more hidden place. By the way, I bet that, even if he had found it, he wouldn’t have known what to do with it in the first place.
Well, once I figured out what was going on, I easily started to get through to him. I began my argumentation like a pro: I first highlighted the advantages. You know: It’s great that he takes care of his skin, and that he uses cream twice a day. But, this doesn’t mean that any cream is good for him (especially mine, I mumbled to myself). It is around here that he raised his eyebrow, but I managed to convince him to stay a bit and listen. I told him briefly about the reason-why there are skin care products for women and men and how they are different. I also explained to him how women’s skin is softer, whereas men’s skin contains more collagen, but also more sebum, being more acne-prone. In short, a man’s skin is less sensitive and needs different ingredients. And, therefore, there are plenty of specially skin care lines for men – which, on top, are discreetly scented or even fragrance free.
Again, to my amazement, our discussion ended with an OK, tell me what to do – and guess what?! – we even went shopping together. Now, his “kit” contains an exfoliating cleansing scrub from Shiseido, a moisturizing balm from Clarins, an eye gel from Clinique and a special night cream from Biotherm. Bottom line? He’s very excited about his acquisitions, although his skin care “ritual” takes less than ten minutes. Meanwhile, fortunately, my favorite creams no longer magically vanish away.
