This man in his early thirties says his girlfriend’s skincare routine has gone from a simple hobby to a lifestyle that dominates their relationship.

From wearing sunscreen indoors to nightly layers of creams and prescription-strength tretinoin, intimacy has dwindled and even sunlight in their home has become a battle.

What once felt like self-care now feels like a wall between them.

AITAH for wanting to break up with my girlfriend over her skincare/anti aging addiction?

My girlfriend and I have been together for about 3 years and have been living together since the past 2. We are both in our early 30’s

She’s gotten deep into skincare which did not start out this way. I liked it and was happy about her finding something she cares about and makes her feel good.

I am not exaggerating but this has absolutely affected our relationship and intimacy.

Oh boy.

For example she wears sunscreen every single day even when she’s indoors.

She works from home and so do I so it’s almost impossible to kiss her or touch her face with all this skincare and sunscreen on but even if I get over that she gets mad at me if I do it not to carefully.

She’s also on this prescription strength cream known for anti aging since the past 8 months which I feel is completely unnecessary given she looks great and doesn’t have any major acne problems and it has absolutely ruined things for us ever since she started.

This feels excessive.

I tried to educate myself on it apparently it’s called tretinoin and it makes you shed skin.

Which looked gross on her and her skin would be so sensitive like all the time she would develop a rash all over her mouth when I kissed her or we had sex and my stub grazed against her face in any way.

Since experiencing this a couple of times she’s told me that we are only limited to soft kisses and no passion.

At night she would wear thick creams and even Vaseline which would make it really hard not to feel grossed out when any time we made physical contact.

Eeesh.

This isn’t just about intimacy. She’s like pathologically scared of the sun.

Usually I would draw out blinds and it would be nice and sunny outside but she makes a beeline to rush it close.

We don’t even go to the beach together although any indoor place she’s ok with but honestly I just miss LIVING without having her worry about her skin all the time.

At first this skincare passion sounded cute and I encouraged her too but now I’m just sick of it.

Honestly? Fair.

I requested her to stop this tretinoin cream as that’s the only reason why her skin is so sensitive.

I even educated myself on it and though I know it helps with anti aging the topmost layer of the skin will always remain thin as long as a person is using it.

I’ve talked to her so many times about this. I’ve told her I miss who she used to be before skincare took over her life.

She stubbornly insists that what she is doing is “normal” in skincare communities.

Normal, huh?

Nothing I say is working. Our lease is up coming November and I’m honestly tempted to not renew it and plan my exit.

I don’t honestly want to spend the rest of my life like this.

I was planning on proposing to her 6 months ago and we had talks about it and now she’s been hinting more frequently and I’m honestly reconsidering asking her to be my wife.

AITA?

Reddit leaned toward NTA—relationships can’t survive without balance, and if her habits are interfering with intimacy, daily life, and mutual happiness, he’s right to reconsider the future.

This person thinks the girlfriend might have some problems.

This person says his feelings are totally valid.

And this person agrees…girlfriend might need therapy.

When love takes a backseat to lotion, it might be time to clean up more than just your skin.

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