Forest Essential and La Roche hand creams

Welcome comrades….that was almost funny, except Trump and Putin may in fact be comrades, making this introduction a humourless one.

Going back to the mission at hand, I’m road-testing two hand creams at the moment. The plan is to use a different product on each hand for 14 days.

Obligatory before photos

You’re thinking: first, I have “man” hands. Secondly, why the shoddy state of my hands? Truth be told, I’ve never used hand creams and coupled with general neglect as well as hands ageing at a quicker rate than the rest of our body, my wrinkly Sarah Jessica Parker hands were/are the only probable outcome.

What am I testing?

On my left hand I’m using La Roche-Posay’s barrier repair cream with 4% Niacinamide +30% Glycerin. My right hand is being subjected to Forest Essential’s blood orange hand serum and scrub. I was assured by the Forest Essential salesperson that the results of using the scrub and serum/cream would be better than just the serum alone. (P.S. Its not a serum, its just hand lotion).

Verdict

I have only been using the products for seven days and I’ve had to stop: my left hand has visibly lighter skin than my right! As Niacinamide is a melanin inhibitor, I was expecting this BUT not within a week!?! I’m concerned that if I continue, the difference in skin colour will become massively noticeable…

After photos

Which would I buy again?

La Roche

I like the skin barrier cream. It is heavier in texture, but it has done the job of deeply hydrating my skin in a short time. The smell is non-existent. It’s not sticky and rubs in well.

Forest Essentials

I was surprised that I like the scrub: the close textured granules have done the job of removing dead skin. Frankly, I didn’t even think that there was an accumulation of dead skin cells on my hands, but my skin is definitley softer because of the scrub. This scrub may become a regular fixture of my routine.

I am ambivalent about the hand serum. The initial smell is light orangey (not citrus) and it quickly disappears. Its a very light serum and actually better for India’s climate post-Holi. My major gripe is I’ve had to use 2-3 pumps or more to feel as if I achieved similar levels of hydration as the La Roche product. Of course, that’s not per se a reason to reject the product, but it makes this option cost-ineffective.

The winner…

In the absence of the hand scrub, the clear winner is La Roche. But the hand scrub is important and my verdict is:

I would buy La Roche for 6-9 months of the year. For the summer, FE – the serum AND the scrub – are my preferred option.

I am going to be using the scrub on both hands now with La Roche. I will keep you posted on how I get along.

If there are any hand creams or hand scrubs that you would like reviewed, please drop me a line at email@happyskindays.com