6th January feels like a good time to get back into the serious business of Indifferent Ignorance, and do some research into indifferent ignorance. Specifically something that, now I think about it, I should have looked into years ago.

Skin care.

But Francesca, you’re so hardcore and naturally beautiful, I thought you just got out of bed and looked like a goddess.

That’s partially true, darlings. But I live in a busy town and I don’t have the luxury of inactivity, so my face gets kind of gross from being out and about. Plus I’m a teenage girl, so there’s a rule in my DNA that says that I have to get the occasional blemish… usually in the middle of my forehead.

To cut a long story short (it involves my mum bribing me with the promise of an MCR hoodie if I started a face-washing practise), I cleanse tone and moisturise twice a day most days and have since I was about 12. It’s great, because then my face smells like Simple instead of, say, dog spit and sweat. But I’ve always had a bit of an issue with cosmetics… or several issues.

1. Why do women use creams and serums and oils and magic fairy dust on their faces every day to look acceptable, but men usually don’t do anything except (maybe) shave?
2. Why do skin care products – cleaning ones, not make up ones, that’s a rant for another day – usually cost more than minimum wage?
3. Am I putting loads of shit on my skin unnecessarily given that until the last couple of centuries, nobody really even washed?

Granted, those questions don’t keep me up at night, but I think it’s high time I set about answering them… with your help, of course. I have a pretty good answer to number one in my head, but in a bid to be eloquent I’m not going to just type ‘MEN ARE PIGS’. I’ve also got a hunch about the second question, but I don’t want to say ‘because the cosmetics industry is really fucking lucrative’ without at least one piece of evidence. The third question might actually require some proper research, so I’m going to leave this post now and start Googling.

I will let you guys know what I find in the next week or so, but in the mean time please please share your thoughts and anecdotes about forays into skin care. Did you ever put toothpaste on spots? Borrow your dad’s shaving cream for your face aged seven? Ever been press ganged into buying a certain product or pressured into a ‘beauty’ routine?

I have a good story about Nivea, which essentially involves me using their ‘kind to skin’ face cream and having said skin crack and peel like a dodgy case of sunburn.

Now I think about it, that’s the story.