Crystal clear
Is your face dull, flaky, and generally in need of a
freshen-up? Microdermabrasion might be your
answer.
As you get older, your skin changes. I realised this
suddenly one morning, gazing bleary-eyed into the mirror at my
face, rying to get the energy to cleanse, tone, and moisturise when
the sun was barely out of bed. Leaning closer to my reflection, I
thought to myself, "Hmm. My face looks… Boring. My skin isn't
glowing, my eyes aren't sparkling, and my complexion is not as
fresh as a daisy." Okay, I probably wasn't as coherent as that.
What I probably thought was, "Holy hell, I'm starting to look old.
Why am I using all of this expensive stuff on my skin if it's
not making it look any better?"
So the next time I visited my
beauty therapist Sarah at Caci MediSpa for my usual three-weekly
brow, lash, and 'stache tidy-up, I moaned to her about how my skin
wasn't dewy and youthful any more. Sarah, herself dewy and
youthful, immediately suggested I book in for a session of
microdermabrasion. It would remove dead skin cells, help even out
my complexion, and generally make me look a bit fresher in the
face, without plastic surgery or a time machine. All I needed
to do was show up and let Sarah work her magic.
Of course I booked. I'm a sucker
for new beauty treatments, especially when they have complicated,
expensive-sounding names. Microdermabrasion, however, isn't
shockingly expensive for what it does - it only takes about half an
hour, and costs around $100-$125 for a session. Beauty therapists
will recommend that you book in for a course of treatments, which
means one treatment per week for six weeks. I'm not good at
commitment, so I tend to have a microdermabrasion session on a
casual basis when I feel like my face is looking dull again. But as
Sarah has repeatedly told me (and I do believe her, I'm just lazy),
it's better to do the six-week course to really get your skin on
track.
Sarah starts a microdermabrasion
session by cleansing my face, then applying an AHA (alpha hydroxyl
acid) glycolic wash to my skin. The glycolic wash stinks to high
heaven and stings a bit, but it's not too bad - just uncomfortable
for a few minutes. The purpose of the glycolic wash is to soften
and loosen the dead skin cells that are hanging out on the surface
of my skin, getting my face ready for the microdermabrasion process
itself. The glycolic wash comes in three strengths - mild,
moderate, and maximum - and usually when you're doing a six-week
course of treatments, you'd start with the mild wash for the first
two treatments, move on to the medium wash for the middle two
treatments, then the maximum wash for the last two treatments. You
don't have to have the glycolic wash as part of the
microdermabrasion treatment, but it's recommended.
After washing the glycolic off my
skin, Sarah then dries my face and gets out the microdermabrasion
wand. It's not very big - it sort of looks like a long, white pen -
and not very intimidating. The wand pumps a blast of tiny crystals
against my skin, then immediately sucks them back up, and takes all
of the dead skin cells along with them. Sarah goes over my whole
face with the wand in precise strokes. It doesn't hurt, but it's a
little bit uncomfortable, and at times makes me want to sneeze! It
feels like your skin is being rubbed with a tiny piece of
sandpaper, gently but firmly.
When it's all over, my face is
always a bit red, but not sunburned-looking - I probably wouldn't
go to the supermarket straightaway. It always calms down in a few
hours and by the next day, when I look in the mirror, my skin is
glowing and looks much fresher.
Microdermabrasion is good for
evening skin tone and helping with sun-damaged complexions. It may
also be helpful to lessen the appearance of scars and dark spots on
the skin. But generally I find it's an amazing freshen-up if you
feel like your face is starting to look a bit older then you feel.
And one day soon, I am going to book in for a six-week session and
amaze you all with my amazing transformation afterward - just as
soon as I run out of all that expensive stuff.
Katherine Granich doesn't care how many wrinkles or chins she
gets, she is never having Botox or a facelift. A boob job, though,
she wouldn't turn down.
As seen in OHbaby!
magazine Issue 9: 2010
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