Gone by Extinction

I don't feel like a valued customer for the beauty company Lancome. Once again, it has happened; a product has been discontinued without fair warning.

I confess, I have oily skin. Unattractive I know. So I use the Pure Focus line of products for oily skin- to control my shine- by Lancome. I completely ran out of my face lotion, which is the Pure Focus Matifying Moisturizing Lotion. I go to the store to buy another one, and the sales lady tells me that there were no more behind the Lancome counter. So I go to another store, and same thing. Well, like a desperate, mad woman I call every single Lancome counter across the Chicagoland area and suburbs and find out that no one had my lotion in stock.

When I called Orland Park mall in Ill., a wonderful sales woman tells me she's going to investigate what happened. I guess she could hear the desperation in my voice. She calls me back and tells me that my lotion has in fact been discontinued in the Midwest area. It is only available in the East Coast. What makes them so lucky?

I believe that I can speak for every skin-sensitive woman out there when I say that I cannot just put on any lotion or cream on my face because I could get irritation. I need time to research a product and make sure that it is oil-free and non-comedogenic, before testing it on myself.

The people of Lancome should know better than to just cancel sales for a particular product. They should be aware of the suffrage skin-senstive women go through. And this is not the first time the company has done this.

I am such a Lancome devotee because I grew up in a household where only those products are used. My grandmother and mother have been using its products for as long as I can remember. That's why I trust this beauty company so much, and have been a customer since I was a pre-teen. I am now in my early 20s.

I am truly dissapointed in Lancome that it would take away a product- a necessity for some women- without posting a sign at least at its counters to warn customers. This has been a true devastation.

Photo and story by Olivia N. Castaneda