How little is enough

Almost everyone uses too much. Not too many different products — too much of each one. It is a quiet mistake, one that costs money and gets in the way of the result.

The right amounts

A facial oil: enough to cover the nail of your little finger. Warmed between the palms, pressed onto damp skin. It seems ridiculously little, and it is enough.

A cleanser: a hazelnut-sized amount, not a spoonful. It works by contact, not by volume.

A clay mask: a layer thin enough that you can still see the skin through it. A thick layer does not work any better; it simply takes longer to dry — and that is precisely what you want to avoid.

What excess produces

In most cases, it does no harm. It does something else: it stops you from seeing clearly.

Too much product sits on the surface, does not absorb, and leaves a film. You conclude that the product is too rich for you — when in fact it was well dosed and you had used three times too much.

That is how products that suited you get set aside.

The exception

The body, where we generally use too little, and sun protection, which must be applied generously to deliver what it promises.

For everything else, the right reflex is: use less than you were about to use, and add more only if it is truly missing. You will rarely need to add more.

Why we use too much

Three reasons, all understandable.

The idea that more equals better. It is false here, as it is almost everywhere.

The desire to feel something. A correct amount disappears in thirty seconds and leaves almost nothing to feel. An excessive amount leaves a sensation, and the sensation is reassuring.

The habit formed at the beginning. You dose by eye the first time, and you keep that dose for ten years.

What it changes in practice

You use three times less. A jar lasts a year instead of four months.

Your products absorb better, so they work better.

And you stop setting aside, wrongly, things that suited you.

What remains to be decided

Quantity is a general question, and its answer is the same for everyone: less.

The choice of material, however, is not. A face that produces a great deal and a face that loses demand opposite materials, and they can look exactly the same in the morning.

What settles the matter cannot be seen in the mirror: it is the logic that governs your face, and it can be read from the very beginning.

But whatever the material, the rule of dosage holds. Less than you were about to use.