Of all the insanity that constitutes the real estate market, there is perhaps no property battle which has been as passive aggressively contested as the one over a shared bathroom counter space. Having been engaged in sneaky turf wars with my partner over the last few months, we (read: I) have come to the this conclusion.
I, skin and peace lover, have sought a fair resolution. I, the Oprah Winfrey of skin care, have offered these terms: We shall prioritise products that can be used by both man and woman, products that don’t leave one smelling like a florist or a forest. We shall seek products with packaging that is pleasurable to all. These products must give to our collective skin delightful results, capture moisture, undo the years, take away the stress of a life lived in close quarters.
Or so I like to think.
Here’s the trick ladies: for someone like my fiancé, whose skin care routine once consisted a single face wash, you’ve got to start them off slow. Make it easy, and effective, and don’t be afraid to shift syntax and speak this language! I’m not necessarily saying that you should hand him a bottle of toner and call it aftershave (though this isn’t really a terrible idea) but make the entire process solutions-driven.
Treat skin care more as a health concern than a ‘beauty’ concern, they might be more inclined to go along with it. Give him reasons and explain the science behind the products you are recommending. A personal testament to this strategy is when I started applying the Clinical Hydra Cool Serum and the Eclipse SPF on his face every day and explaining why it would help the dry patches and potential skin cancer. All of this seemed moribund and annoyed him at first, of course, but after seeing the improvements, he started asking me what else he could do to help his skin. Success! The serum is also one of my, or rather, our, favourites incredibly nourishing and quite soothing to use post a shave too, I hear.
Another broad observation about this gender is that they like to feel like they’re in control of things. Sample-sized products are a sly, yet effective tactic to get him into skin care. Even better if they are single use sachets. All you have to do is just drop a few samples next to his stuff and tell him that he can try them out “if he wants to”. Long story short, these are likely to disappear in no time, and voila! A new habit will be formed. The best part? He’ll think he discovered them all by himself! Oh the sweet innocence.
saumya R chawla
@pixie.secrets
Beauty behaviour with a side of dessert