So, the other week, my car decided to make this awful grinding noise. Took it to the mechanic, thinking, “Oh great, this is gonna cost me.” Turns out, it was just a loose bit of something, easy fix, barely cost anything for labor. But the stress leading up to that? Man, my face showed it. Looked like a roadmap of bad decisions and not enough sleep. I’m usually a soap and water kind of guy, maybe some random moisturizer if I remember. But this time, it was bad. Red, splotchy, just generally angry-looking skin.
I was complaining to my sister, and she’s always going on about her fancy creams. I usually tune her out, but she mentioned this La Roche-Posay stuff. Said it was no-nonsense, good for sensitive skin, which mine apparently decided to become overnight. I was at the drugstore later, picking up some boring stuff like toothpaste, and saw a little starter set. Figured, why not? Couldn’t make things worse. Or so I hoped.
What I Actually Did
Okay, so I got this set. It wasn’t a huge box with a million tiny bottles, which was a relief. Less for me to forget to use. From what I recall, it had:
- A cleanser thingy
- A moisturizer
- And some kind of sunblock, which felt a bit much for me, but it was in the box.
My grand plan was to actually try and use this stuff like a normal person. So, morning and night, that was the goal. Ambitious, I know.
First off, the cleanser. Squeezed a bit out, foamed it up. Didn’t smell like perfume, which was a big plus. My old soap probably smelled like a pine forest, and my skin clearly wasn’t a fan of forests anymore. This stuff just cleaned. My face felt, well, clean. Not tight and squeaky like after some harsh soaps, just… normal. That was a good start.
Then the moisturizer. Little dab, spread it around. Again, no real smell. It soaked in pretty quick. I hate that greasy feeling some lotions leave, like you could fry an egg on your forehead. This wasn’t like that. My skin just felt a bit softer, less like sandpaper.
The sunblock. Okay, this was the one I was skeptical about. I only really use sunblock if I’m at the beach, and even then, I’m lazy. But, it was part of the set, so I gave it a whirl on the first morning. It was… fine. A bit thicker than the moisturizer, obviously. Didn’t leave me looking like a ghost, which I’ve experienced with other sunblocks. Still felt a bit weird putting it on just to sit in my office, but whatever.
So, What Happened?
I stuck with it. Almost. I used the cleanser and moisturizer pretty consistently, morning and night. The sunblock? Yeah, that became more of a “if I remember and I’m going outside for more than five minutes” kind of deal. Old habits die hard, you know?
After about a week, I gotta say, my skin wasn’t looking so angry anymore. The redness had chilled out a lot. It wasn’t perfect, I mean, I wasn’t suddenly airbrushed. But it was way, way better. Less blotchy. It felt calmer, if that makes sense for skin.
The biggest thing I noticed was that it just felt more comfortable. Not dry, not oily, just… balanced. It’s like my face stopped protesting whatever I was doing to it before. Maybe my sister was onto something for once, though I’m not sure I’ll admit that to her face. She’d never let me hear the end of it.
I’ve kept using the cleanser and moisturizer. They’re simple. They don’t make a fuss, and my skin seems to appreciate that. It’s not a miracle cure, I don’t think those exist outside of fancy magazine ads. But it did what I hoped it would: it calmed my skin down when it was having a meltdown, and it didn’t involve a complicated, ten-step ritual that I’d give up on by day two. So, yeah, that was my little experiment with actually trying to take care of my face for a change.
