Skin Care for Hands, Face and Body

Old skin needs more nourishment than young skin, as I’m now finding out. Unfortunately I’m one of those who develop a resistance to long-established and expensive creams, hand creams in particular. My skin just won’t absorb them and I end up feeling tacky.

My good friend Ron is really knowledgeable about skin care so when he recommended Nivea Soft I decided to try it. The recommendation was good; the product did wonders for my hands where other hand creams made no impression. I was so thrilled I bought another tube. I had noticed that there were tubs of it but I keep hand cream in a special place and a tub would have been too big for that small area. However, after one of my bathroom clear-outs I made room and decided to get a tub next time I went shopping.

Remember what I said recently about shops not supplying things I want? Well, here we go again. No Nivea Soft, in either tubes or tubs, could be found. There were other Nivea products, except the one I wanted. Nivea Soft is a moisturising cream containing Jojoba Oil and Vitamin E and was suitable for face, body and hands. Not so the new range. There are different creams for hands, body, and face, and a check revealed that Jojoba Oil wasn’t in any of the new products so it was useless one sales person telling me the hand cream was the same. How can different ingredients be the same? Perhaps she thought I was born yesterday!

I asked assistants in different stores and chemists shops, where I had seen the product on sale, but none knew if Nivea Soft had been discontinued or was in the process of being repackaged. One did offer the suggestion that I look on the internet. It was infuriating after so recently discovering/been told about it. Was I now obliged to start hunting for a suitable cream as good as Nivea Soft or was it another case of forcing us to shop on line?

And then I saw the advert on lunchtime television! Nivea Soft, it said, the perfect all-purpose skin cream. I can tell you, my ears were pinned back so hard it’s a surprise I didn’t get earache. The advert went on: Visit your local Boots store (our major English chemist) and give your skin a treat.

I was out of the door like a lightening flash, got in the car and drove like a madwoman to the nearest store. And there it was, an enormous display of NIVEA SOFT, which certainly wasn’t there the day before.

Wouldn’t you think the store’s buyer would keep the assistants informed as to why the product had been missing for weeks or do I expect too much? I mean, a hint or explanation that there had been a delay in delivery would have been so useful. Sometimes I dream of training shop assistants and teaching them words like No, madam, we don't have any right now but if you come in on Friday you can buy any amount you want.