I had dry skin for most of my thirties and did nothing about it. Not because I did not notice, I noticed every winter when my hands cracked and my shins itched and my skin generally felt like it was slightly too small for me, but because every moisturiser I had tried had been either too greasy, too strongly scented, or too much of a production to apply in the morning when I was trying to get out of the door. I had concluded that moisturiser was not for me and moved on.
My name is Marcus Webb. I am a forty-one-year-old project manager from Birmingham, and I am not someone who spends a lot of time on skincare. I wash my face, I use SPF in summer, and until recently that was the extent of it. The dry skin situation had been getting worse each winter and I had been managing it by wearing long sleeves and not thinking about it too much.
The Winter That Changed My Mind
Last November was particularly bad. My hands were cracking at the knuckles, which was uncomfortable and occasionally painful. My shins were dry enough that I was scratching them in my sleep. A colleague, who is considerably more organised about these things than I am, looked at my hands one morning and said: you need to moisturise. I told her I had tried moisturisers and they were all greasy and smelled of things. She said I had been using the wrong ones.
She recommended fragrance-free, water-based formulas specifically. I found the Lubriderm Daily Moisture Body Lotion – 473ml, Fragrance-Free at ALTOE. The spec addressed every objection I had previously had. Fragrance-free, which meant no scent to clash with my aftershave or linger on my clothes. Water-based composition with rapid absorption, which meant I could apply it and get dressed immediately without the greasy residue that had put me off every previous attempt. Dermatologist-recommended, which is the kind of endorsement that matters for something going on your skin daily. 473ml, which is a generous size that would last long enough to actually establish a habit rather than running out before I had decided whether it worked.
At £27.66 it was a reasonable investment. I ordered it on a Tuesday. It arrived Thursday.
The First Two Weeks
I applied it after my shower on the Thursday morning. The absorption was immediate in a way that previous moisturisers had not been: within about thirty seconds there was no residue on my hands and I could get dressed without anything transferring to my clothes. There was no scent. There was nothing to notice except that my skin felt less tight than it had before.
I used it every morning for two weeks. By the end of the first week, the cracking at my knuckles had stopped. By the end of the second week, the itching on my shins had reduced significantly. By the end of the month, my skin felt normal in a way that it had not felt in several winters.
The colleague who had recommended it asked how it was going. I told her it had worked. She said she was not surprised. I told her I wished she had mentioned it two winters ago. She said she had assumed I was managing. I told her I had been managing by wearing long sleeves and not thinking about it, which she said was a very male approach to a problem with a straightforward solution.
Eight Months On
The Lubriderm lotion has been part of my morning routine for eight months. The 473ml bottle lasted about four months of daily use, which is good value for a product I use every day. I am on my second bottle. The dry skin has not returned. The cracking has not returned. The itching has not returned.
The fragrance-free formula has not caused any issues with my aftershave, which was my main concern. The water-based absorption means the whole process takes about thirty seconds and adds nothing meaningful to my morning routine. That was the barrier that had stopped me moisturising for years: the perception that it would be a production. It is not a production. It is thirty seconds.
Two friends who had similar dry skin complaints have started using it on my recommendation. Both have reported the same experience: absorbed immediately, no scent, skin sorted within a couple of weeks. One of them said he could not believe he had been ignoring the problem for so long. I told him I understood exactly how that happened.
The Verdict
If you have dry skin and you have been avoiding moisturiser because previous ones were greasy or strongly scented, try a fragrance-free water-based formula. The Lubriderm Daily Moisture is the right choice: it absorbs immediately, has no scent, is dermatologist-recommended, and comes in a size that lasts long enough to establish a habit. It is thirty seconds in the morning and it works. That is the whole story.
Find Lubriderm Daily Moisture Body Lotion – 473ml Fragrance-Free at ALTOE. Listed in Latest Products, Personal Care, Cosmetics, Skin Care, and Health & Beauty.
Thirty seconds. Every morning. Sorted.
— Marcus Webb, Birmingham
0 Kommentare