"Everyday, I Have Skin"

So it's day three of 6am starts and I pretty much think, dear friends, followers and readers, that this is going to be the death of me. I am silently hoping with all my will power that I'll gradually ease into the routine and stop feeling so utterly miserable in the morning. I mean, habits of 21 years, and a person's nature can be rectified… no? Urgh, I know the answer to that one but hush. I need all the psyching up that I can get right now. I mope around the shop floor, eyes burning when I actually make the effort to prise them open, relishing the moments I can sit down on the floor under the pretence of changing a price label or restocking a product; even better though is pretending to familiarise myself with the product ranges - that buys me a few extra moments to close my eyes and nod off. Though I am sort of wondering how long it will be before management see through that one seeing as I know nothing, I repeat, NOTHING, about haircare, skincare, healthcare, nailcare and the rest of it. I'm one of those customer assistants with zilch product knowledge - useless basically. Don't get me wrong, I'll be really nice about it and all, dead helpful… just won't have anything useful to say. So perhaps one day soon I'm going to have to wake up and actually pay attention. Because trust you me, there's a helluva lotta work to be done.

Who'd have thought, really, that it's humanly possible to have so many products available for the maintenance and beautification of the relatively small female body. Shelf upon shelf, brand upon brand of lotions, potions and concoctions that come in all colours, every consistency and at every cost (St. Tropez "instant glow face" at £10.21 for 50 ml… really?!). There are creams and balms, liquids and serums, sprays and gels that claim to make old skin look young, young skin look older (read, 8 year olds tempted to buy s*** loads of make-up because of clever branding and too much exposure). Light skin can be made dark, dark skin can be made light, grease can be removed or moisture restored. A head of straight hair can be transformed into a pouf of bouncy curls. Night creams and day creams, nail varnishes in every colour and shower gels in every flavour under the sun. And that's not all. You can get each and every product, in a million different brands. Anyone want to enlighten me on the difference between Olay's Aqua-Physics Anti-Ageing Serum and L'Óreal's Age Perfect Intensive Reinforcing and Hydrating Serum? Aaaanyone? As somebody who generally shops with blinkers on, I guess I never really took notice of the choice, in terms of quantity, we're inundated with. I know what I want and I want only what I know (works) - how will you EVER know if these creams even effective?! I think these clips just about sum up my feelings.

And though I have seen a few products and thought "ooh, there's something I never knew existed. Maybe I should try it?", I'm a little weary that this could be start of something...More tomorrow.

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