Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)REVIEWER'S SKIN TYPE: 50 yr old with VERY dry, VERY sensitive skin with Rosacea, large pores, sun damage
I did careful research before choosing this peel since it was considered a "mild" peel for beginners. I have REALLY sensitive, super dry skin and in the past 10 years started developing Rosacea. In January, I had IPL laser and pixel laser treatments done - $800 later - little to no change in texture or redness so started reading about peels.
The spa where I had the laser treatments done charges a ton for this and, after reading dozens of reviews on the in home peels, thought I'd give this a try.
I was very careful to be extra gentle with my skin for several days before the peel and did the peel when I knew I'd have a few days off work just in case I had an adverse reaction!
The directions state to wipe down your face with alcohol after cleansing to remove any oil. I skipped that step since I knew it would set my face on fire and I really haven't much oil in my skin at all.
Also, the directions indicate to have a sink or bowl full of water with a small amount of baking soda mixed in to rinse the peel off with to neutralize the skin. I had the bowl of water w/baking soda ready but had also ordered the $10 bottle of Ph neutralizer and had that standing by.
Cleansed gently with mild cleanser, blotted dry and braced myself.
Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next! I carefully applied on my forehead to start since that's the least sensitive part of my face. As soon as the product touched my skin, the burning started. I mean BURNING! Thinking it would subside after a few seconds, and while I was still brave enough, I applied it to the rest of my face.
Using the blowdryer on the cool setting, I was hoping it would help the ever rising temperature of my skin, but...ah no. I'm watching the clock tick off the seconds wondering how I was going to be able to keep this on my skin for ONE minute, let alone 5 to 10 minutes!
I was almost afraid to look in the mirror as I was sure I would see flames coming off my face, but my skin was just beet red. The burning was so intense, my eyes were watering so much I could hardly see. Less than 2 minutes was all I could take so I set the bowl of baking soda water in the sink and scooped up as much of the water as I could and doused the flames.
It was the second right before the water hit my face that I remembered the directions said this step could cause "stinging." The liquid hit my face and I just about wet my pants from the instant burn which was actually worse than the product I was trying to "neutralize!"
Now, before you think this is a negative review, I will pause here to tell you this. I know my sensitive skin and I knew this would probably burn worse for me than it would for the average person so I did realize what I was getting in to with this. I don't want to discourage anyone from using this, I'm just saying that, if you have REALLY sensitive skin like I do, you may want to consider either a couple of shots of whiskey or medication before you do this peel!
Back to the proceedure.....So I've just splashed my face with the baking soda water and cannot believe the pain could actually get MORE intense and immediately had a flash back to when I had a kidney stone a few years ago and mentally made a note that this experience, while much shorter in duration than the kidney stone incident, ranked right up there as a "10" on the pain scale!
Afraid I was going to pass out from the hyperventilating, I turned the sink faucet on full blast and started splashing my face with cold water...LOTS of cold water. After several minutes, I was confident ALL the acid was off my face, down the drain and was now doing a wonderful job of cleaning out the pipes.
I gingerly patted my face dry and applied the neutralizer I had purchased. While it still burned a bit, it was NOTHING like the baking soda/water torture.
Once my face was dry all I could think of was getting something soothing onto my skin as quickly as possible, so I applied vast amounts of Argan oil and a very thick ointment I had purchased from the spa for post-laser use.
After about an hour the burning had decreased quite a bit and now my skin just felt tight and sunburned. I check my face in the mirror to make sure I still had skin attached and saw that my pores already looked smaller. Ha! I think they shrank in terror when the acid hit them!
By the next day, my skin looked slightly sun burned and was more dry than usual, so I just continued with the products I normally use and kept the make up off my skin for a few days and stayed out of the sun as advised.
By day 2, the flaking started which I expected and wasn't much worse than my skin normally is. By day 7, the "peeling" part was over and I could actually tell it had smoothed the texture of my skin which was great! While my pores are still rather large, they are much less noticeable than before I subjected myself to this.
Soooooo....am I glad I did it? Yes! Was it worth the pain? Well, yes. Isn't that what women say right AFTER they give birth?
Would I do it again? Well, with some conditions! 1. I will probably dig out the bottle of brandy left over from Christmas and have a glass...or two...before I start. 2. I will pray my skin gets "used" to this like other reviewers have said and the pain will be less intense next time.
NOTE One thing I realized is that I have a very acidic system according to my doctor. So acidic, in fact that when I have to have dental work done requiring novicane, they have to give me twice the amount of injections because my acidic system sort of "burns up" the novicane before it has a chance to work. My dentist is the one who told me about this and recommends to his acidic patients that they take a handful of Tums the night before the dental work and 2 to 4 Tums the morning of the appointment.
It works! They now don't have to stop several times during the dental work to keep numbing me again.
I said that to say I think I will try the Tums thing before I do another peel. The reason is, if a person is already overly acidic, putting ACID onto highly acid skin probably is part of the reason it burns more than usual.
After some time passes and my skins forgets what I did to it, I will try this and let you know if it helped.
I gave this product 4 stars only because I hope those with extra sensitive skin take the time to read up and know what they are getting in to.
What we won't do for beauty, huh?!
Click Here to see more reviews about: 20% Glycolic Peel for Lines, Acne, Sun Damage & Rosacea Mild Home Chemical peel
Get 72% OFF
No comments:
Post a Comment