In my case, the current price for not reading labels is my skin.

Like many people, my face gets very dry when it's cold. The combination of the cold temperatures outside and heat inside just sucks every bit if moisture from my skin. To try and counteract this, I, again like many people, use a moisturizer.

I have an added dilemma in that my skin is obnoxiously sensitive. I can't use any cleanser, even the mildest of the mild, for more than a week or so before it becomes irritating. And I practically get a sunburn from the studio lights that illuminate the set in front of my desk. (It's the computer table where Dan Davis does his Internet check-ins on "Good Morning! Arizona.")

So, I have to be very careful about what I use on my face.

My mom found something she thought would be great. Aveeno. It's practically synonymous with mild and soothing.

I slathered it on every night. The problem was, my skin was not getting any less dry. In fact, it was getting worse -- flaking off. It was horrible.

I finally looked at the label. The Aveeno contained salicylic acid, something a sensitive-skinned person should use only in limited quantities if at all. And here I had been smearing it all over my face. No wonder it wasn't any better. The words "clear complexion" and "helps prevent blemishes" on the bottle probably should have been a tip off.

I put away the Aveeno, which is now reserved for spot usage, and switched to an Olay product. It was an old bottle that I found in my medicine cabinet. It was part of the Total Effects line. I thought surely it would help. But it didn't.

You'd think after the first faux pas, I'd have looked at the label before I started using it, right. Nope. You know what they say about the word "assume."

When I did look at the label, it said I should apply the product before going out in the sun. Essentially, the product I had w as a sunscreen. No wonder it wasn't working.

My mom thought that was pretty amusing. So did my boss.

I am now trying a cream a dear friend gave me to put on a scar left on my throat by thyroid surgery a couple of years ago. (That's a story for another time.) It's not making the annoying dryness -- which I apparently brought on myself by neglecting to read the labels the first two times -- worse, which is good. But I'm not sure how much it's helping. It's full of vitamins, but it was formulated specifically to lighten scars. (I can tell you it works well for that because you can barely see my scar now unless you know it's there and are really looking hard for it.) I know what you're thinking. Read the label on the jar. There isn't one. It was a prototype.

So, now here I am with a flaky face desperately searching for a new moisturizer -- one that won't make me break out. (For some reason, I now have the lyrics to "I Want a New Drug" by Huey Lewis and The News going through my head. Sad.)

I'm open to suggestions.