Respecting boundaries is an unspoken rule in most relationships.
But this guy's girlfriend ignored the cardinal rule when she helped herself to a huge dollop of his face cream to use as a body moisturizer.
The man would use the all-natural and specific brand suitable for his skin sparingly because of its exorbitant $67 price tag.
Redditor "little_uzi_skrrt" caught his girlfriend wasting his precious product more than once and the subsequent confrontation led to trouble in paradise.
The Original Poster (OP) began his AITA (Am I the A**hole) thread with a little skin history.
"The guys in my family all have oily skin and unfortunately I'm no exception."
"I've spent an incredible amount of time and money on trying to find moisturizers that work for me but it's been rough (especially because it's hard to find moisturizers for men that isn't the purified cow dung that is Axe or something similar) but recently I found a great lotion that's literally perfect for my skin."
It's not made of gold, but the stuff is definitely not cheap.
"The only downside is that it costs a whopping 67 United States Dollars for a 125mL bottle (I know it's expensive but it works very well) but you only really need a tiny bit for it to be effective so it's possible to make it last for a while."
So the OP made an observation and was dismissive. At first.
"I noticed that it seems to be rapidly running out but I thought nothing of it because when my GF stays the night she uses it as well."
"I resigned myself to the possibility of having to buy it semi-regularly because of this. I won't bother y'all with the details but basically I walked in on her squeezing out a massive dollop of the cream, far beyond the realm of necessity."
"My eyes bulged out of my head before I stuttered 'what....the hell are you doing?'"
Giphy
"Initially she looked confused but then I pointed to the mountain of cream on her hand and just asked why. She said she needs it for her whole body."
"I said that that's exclusively meant to be for your face and I have a separate body lotion for that purpose. She said nah that's too much effort and there's no difference."
"I said that I'm not going to pay 60 dollars for you to waste it. She shrugged and didn't say anything else & I let it go because I thought she got the message."
Spoiler alert: she didn't get the message.
"Fast forward to today. I nabbed her in the act AGAIN, so I decided to take radical measures and place it on a shelf above the cupboard where she can't reach cause she isn't tall enough."
"She asked why I did it and I said because you don't respect me nor my belongs enough to do as I ask. She said she likes using that one."
"I said well too bad you said the body lotion is the exact same as the face lotion so you can use that one no problem or even bring your own."
"She now says I'm being a control freak and I'm acting childish over some cream. AITA?"
The responses were unanimously NTA (not the a**hole), with many suggesting she either get her own moisturizer or chip in.
"NTA - You shouldn't have to ask her more than once after already explaining."
"Holy sh*t, NTA. I'd be BEYOND pissed in your shoes, both because she obviously doesn't respect your space and things, but also because she refuses to listen to you when you ask her not to do something with your property." – Dracarys_Aspo
"And on top of all that, turn the tables around and accuse you of being a control freak. Idk, I might consider the cumulation of such behavior a deal breaker." – the-grace-of-flight
There are solutions.
"If she likes it so much, she could buy her own bottle and have it next to yours?" – VioletTurner26
"Or she can start paying half of every bottle." – DeathPunkin
"He should just start using all her most expensive makeup and see if that gets the message gets across."
"If it doesn't, at least he'll look fabulous." – FunkMasterStreamFlex
It's all about respect, which she had none.
"NTA she's being rude and disrespectful and can buy her own lotion. Not like you're being stingy with something cheap that doesn't matter." – danger_floofs
"Yeah I'd prob lose it if someone was rubbing my expensive face lotion on their body. That's wildly inconsiderate."
"I recently found my two year old rubbing $25 concealer all over his face. This feels about the same lol" – Emergency-Willow
"Who the hell uses facial moisturizer for their entire body anyway?!?"
"If she likes that moisturizer so much, she should buy her own. This would infuriate me. If it says facial moisturizer, don't use it on your whole body, especially if you're not the person who purchased the product."
"GF is TA not OP. GF is disrespectful, rude and cannot hold herself accountable for her actions. SMH" – SassyPikachuu
"NTA and control freak.. what? Over your OWN possessions? Yeah, no...she's wrong here."
"Unless she pays up for some of the cost then it's not unreasonable to stop her taking most of the product. You bought it for YOU not 'us'. That is not 'controlling', it's budgeting." – Jay-Dee-British
What a waste.
"What's worse is usually the body needs a heavier moisturizer to do any good." – Sekio-Vias
"Yep. I have really dry skin and eczema and I actually use cetaphil dry body moisturizer on my face. A lighter moisturizer like the one this guy is using for his oily skin is probably not doing anything for her body skin." – tomis2003
While Redditors acknowledged her disrespect, they questioned the purpose of a gender-specific moisturizer at an exorbitant cost.
"NTA. She was being incredibly disrespectful of your things and you took appropriate action. I have to ask though: why do you need a moisturizer that's specifically for men? Moisturizers are unisex." – panic_bread
"But how will he know he's a MAN if his FACE doesn't smell like MOTORCYCLES?" – jimmyjrdanceparty
"My masculinity won't allow me to practice basic hygiene unless the products are named ARCTIC THRUST and/or BEAR PUNCH." – BluerIvy12
"Special moisturizer, shampoos, tooth pastes, etc. for men and women are such a ridiculous scam." – Josella-Playton
"Remember those BIC pens... for women?" – garbagepail69
This consumer described the difference between the products tailored for each gender.
"I'm a man and I've used both products for men and women and there's a HUGE difference imo between the two. Men deodorant is heavy duty but doesn't smell like anything you can put your finger on."
"Not bad, but like nothing you can name, which is why I like it. I don't want to smell like coconut and I can have an awful awful smell without deodorant."
"Men razors on the other hand are almost always awful compared to women's. Women's razors are so smooth and glide so well. Guys, if you shave your junk, get a women's razor. It's very important."
"I like men shampoos because it's like 9 in 1 shampoos and im lazy. But women's shampoos are all around nicer on my hair. though I generally need antidandriff shampoo because my scalp is always super dry." – Azurealy
An expert weighed in with their expertise.
"Hi! I work in skincare. moisturizers are technically unisex."
"However there are ones specifically made for men because men tend to have rougher skin texture than women so different, more intense ingredients and formulations are often used for them."
"Also ingredients are often chosen with the consideration of beards and stubble as well." – LeaveTheManagerAlone
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