Lauren Oakey learns what to do in a dermergency
My skincare regime has come a long way since I was a child, when a parent or babysitting older brother would scrub my face with a soap-soaked flannel, while sloshing tepid water from a plastic measuring jug over my head to sluice away the suds.
Thankfully, I escaped the water torture and followed in my mum?s footsteps with a proper routine of a good cleanser and a pot of moisturiser – albeit with some ill-advised flirtations along the way, including Clean and Clear Blackhead Solution, Sudocrem for a rare spot and plasticky face masks from Boots for a quid. I?ve always been aware that skin needs to be looked after, and although on occasion I?ve definitely scrubbed too hard at my face with a baby wipe until I?m blotchy and bloodshot, or used a squirt of body lotion as an emergency moisturiser, things are generally all quiet on the dermal front. But a couple of weeks ago my skin had an out-of-character meltdown that I can only now manage to talk about. I had a lovely few days at Babington House in Somerset (where we?d been filming with Pearl Lowe) but as we were leaving at the end of day four I noticed that my skin was really sensitive and sore with big, dry, tight patches all over it. I put it down to my skin not being used to soft water but as I got home to Brighton the dryness on my face had become so irritating that my eyes were watering and the itchiness was driving me mad. Anything and everything I put on it felt lik...