Ageing takes years. Collagen goes slowly, turnover slows gradually, skin thins over decades.

A broken barrier takes a fortnight. And it looks almost identical — dehydration lines that read as wrinkles, dullness that reads as tired skin, sudden stinging from a product you've used for years.

Which is the trap: it looks like ageing, so you exfoliate harder to fix it, and the exfoliating is what caused it. If you moved from a Reedle Shot 100 to a 300, then eyed the 700, you already know exactly what this feels like.