The rituals we trust most often betray us the quietest. That long, burning shower you equate with “reset” slowly wears down the very systems designed to protect you. Skin that once bounced back now stings, flushes, or cracks; hair that used to cooperate turns stubborn and brittle. It isn’t weakness or sudden sensitivity. It’s the cost of asking your body to live without its own defenses.

Change doesn’t require perfection, only a truce. Turning the heat down, washing where it counts, spacing out shampoo days, and choosing gentler products are small acts that add up to repair. With time, the urgency to scrub yourself into feeling “new” eases. In its place is a quieter kind of relief: skin that doesn’t demand constant fixing, hair that doesn’t break at a glance, and a body that finally feels on your side again.