“世上没有丑女人，只有懒女人。”

Whoever said that must be a genius (not counting Sis who quoted that person). I have never really taken care of my skin or hair until my hair started going all wiry and wrong. I started using leave-in conditioner. Over the years although my hair is still weird and has a life of its own, the quality has become a lot better. I made it a habit to put leave-in conditioner after my bath. Sadly, I have not done the same for my face.

It used to be fuss-free for me. I hardly got pimples so washing my face with a cleanser was just about all I did. I felt it was a waste of time to use all the different facial stuff. Well, now I pay the price. I don’t remember when my forehead started to get extremely oily. I just equated that to having combination skin — an oily T-zone.

I got a really bad outbreak on my forehead in my second year of college. It could have been due to the change in weather and my body adjusting to it. Anyway, some cream from the dermatologist helped, but somehow the problem never totally went away. I started to get some problem on my cheeks. Still, I would use the occasional face mask and cleanser for oily and problematic skin, but never the full regime.

Yesterday, I went for my first facial. Sis had bought some voucher for a facial session for 2. She decided to pull me along since Mum already had her own appointment booked. At first I was a little against the idea since I felt weird having someone fuss over my face and I did not want to be trapped in some sales pitch, but after Mum said I should be going for regular facials especially with my horrible skin condition and well, I couldn’t really worm my way out of it, I relented.

I must say the first time experience was nice (except for the part when the therapist put some VERY COLD mask on my face). She poked at my face, but it was ok since she was helping me get rid of all the nasty stuff. I was told that I had dry and sensitive skin. Was a bit surprised to hear that since all along I thought I had oily skin. Apparently, my oily forehead was due to my own body trying to combat the dryness by producing more oil to moisten the area. Of course, she was taken aback when I said I only used a cleanser for my facial regime. Yes, I know there’s the whole basic 3-step facial regime — cleanser, moisturizer, toner — but hey, didn’t I say I felt it was a waste of time?

The next part of the facial was the most hated part — the sales pitch. Since I had proclaimed that I only used a cleanser and my skin condition was like crap, she had to sell me their products which of course I knew would be horribly expensive considering I’m not earning an income now. The total set would have cost me $300+ mind you. I felt a little trapped. Maybe it was the whole psychological thing of reciprocity acting on me, I felt it hard to say no. In the end, it was Sis who helped me fend them off by giving (somewhat crap) excuses like I just came home from USA and I have no idea about such things so my mum has made decisions for me to get facial stuff elsewhere. To which, the beauty manager said that I was old enough to make decisions and even she was younger than me and she even made decisions to have facial sessions for her mother. (She knew how old I was because I had to fill in some form before the facial session.) I didn’t care what excuses Sis used and if they made me sound like a total idiot. I just didn’t want to pay $300+ for all that.

We walked off without me getting anything. (Hallelujah! Thanks Sis!) That was when I really made a promise to myself that I will make it a habit to take care of my skin. I got the essential facial stuff from Watsons later which although cost me about $50, but I felt I needed them and I felt happy paying for. Also, I’m thinking of having regular facial sessions too. Gotta start loving my skin more.

Expensive lesson learnt, but oh well, I gotta start from somewhere right? There’s really no easy way out for things like that and having fuss-free skin in your youth does not guarantee you having the same after your teens.