I am a product junkie...a little bit anyway. If I see a commercial or an infomercial for something that looks like it might make little parts of my life easier and run a little bit smoother, I might be inclined to purchase it and give it a shot. Not always. I am not a nut about it. I can, and have, ignored those infomercials that can sometimes be very hard to resist. But, on occasions, I find myself unable to ignore them. Since the new year, I have tried three products which I want to discuss with you now.
One of them is 30 years old and has always been intriguing to me. It is Proactiv Acne Treatment. I don't have the worst acne ever but, my chin is a bit of a battle ground for me. The problem is that I have very sensitive skin. It tends to dry and flake and be blotchy and red. And, it is the worst of combination skin. It is oily and dry, and sometimes, it is both in the same spot. I know. How is that even possible? If my skin could talk you could ask it but, since it can't, all I can say is that it is what it is and there is nothing that I have ever found that has been successful at treating it without causing me pain, discomfort and embarrassment. But, for more than a decade, I have considered giving Proactiv a shot. Well, I broke down and did just that. Thus far, I am not entirely thrilled with the outcome. My skin is redder, flakier and more irritated than it usually is. As far as the acne on my chin, I can't tell if it is helping that problem any just yet. I seem to be getting a new zit every day but, almost as soon as it is starting, it seems to be going so, maybe it is helping. But, what good is that if the rest of my skin looks and feels like heck? About the only part of my face with any bit of good results is my nose and even that isn't great. It just seems like I have smaller pores and less blackheads on my nose now but, it is redder than usual and a bit flaky at the tip of it. So, I will continue to use it for a little bit longer but, if I had to guess, I would say that I will be returning it soon enough and getting my nearly $50 back.
That being said, it doesn't mean it won't work for others. It just means that I have really overly sensitive skin and Proactiv is proving not to be as effective and right for me as it is for the plethora of celebrities and average Janes that have used it over the years.
Product #2 was the Smooth Away Hair Removal. They are these fine grain pads that you stick to a pink rubber tool and you are supposed to be able to quickly and painlessly rub and buff your hair away by rubbing in a circle wherever you want to remove hair. It is supposed to remove the hair and exfoliate in the process. And, it is supposed to do it pretty quickly. In the time that it took me to remove the hair from a 2 inch diameter section of my leg, I could have shaved all of the hair off both of my legs, bikini area and under arms and, probably gone on to shaving someone else's body parts too. Not to mention...but I will, when I used Smooth Away on my bikini area...OUCH! I ended up with red, inflamed skin and something worse than razor bumps. I returned it promptly and got my money back. I don't know if there is a specific hair type or color that it is more effective on. Perhaps the more course your hair is, or the darker your hair is, the better results you will have. And, maybe it will work wonders for others. It just wasn't right for me. The only real good thing about it was that, while it is marketed on TV in infomercials, you can buy it at Walgreens and, you can get it cheaper there too so you won't waste money on shipping should you have to return it.
Finally, product #3 was a winner. I hate to clean. Anything I can use to make cleaning easier and quicker is a blessing to me. And, if I can make it easier, quicker and less expensive, even better. So, I bought the Shark Steam Mop. And, again, I didn't have to order it online or over the phone because they also sell them at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I love it. Granted, I can't use it on my hardwoods because it is really a beast to push on them for some reason, I love it for my tile in my bathrooms and laundry room. All it takes is tap water and it comes with 2 washable pads. It has done wonders for the Hellacious floor in my laundry room. We keep the dog bowl and the kitty litter box in there so there is quite a bit of dirty traffic in there and that floor has always been a pain for me to keep clean. Now, every time I walk past it I have to stare at it and smile with pride that I finally have a clean floor that seems to stay clean longer. The only thing I am not crazy about with the Shark Steam Mop is that I have to plug it in which means working around a cord. But, I can tolerate it if it saves some money on cleaning fluids. For my hardwoods I use the Swiffer Wet Jet. I love that thing too but, with 3 less rooms in the house to use it on, that means the cleaning liquid and the pads that are necessary for the Swiffer Wet Jet will last 3 times longer costing me 3 times less money.
So, there you have it. My 3 big product tests of 2009. At least for now. Who knows what I might see later down the line and what may become my favorite product ever...or least favorite!
I hope you got some useful information here. Just make sure to take my opinions for what they are worth...just my opinions.
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