I recently received a chemical peel and the whole process lasted about two weeks. I had never received a chemical peel before and wanted to try it. I always loved seeing people's Before/During/After pictures and was interested in the peeling process. I also love the idea of getting rid of the first layer of skin on your face and starting new and fresh.
I had received a DeepNeedling treatment by Mary Nunez of Nu Bloom Esthetics last year and by the conversations we had during that treatment I really began to trust her with my skin, so I went back to her for a Chemical Peel.
If you only have one concern, that being wrinkles, dark spots, or acne scars, Mary offers Chemical Peels that specifically work to concentrate on those troubled areas. Options include Chemical Peel TCA, Salicylic Acid, Lactic Acid, Vitamin A, and SLG. I received a Chemical Peel Jessner which is an all of the above type of peel. It diminishes the appearance of dark spots, acne scars, wrinkles, sun damage, and also helps with acne.
First, Mary performed extractions to create a smooth and open surface. Then she wiped it down with an alcoholic wipe. She put four layers of Jessner on my face and under my chin, waiting in between each layer to see how my skin reacted. My skin was able to take four layers, which is the most she does but in some cases, depending on how your skin handles it, 1-3 layers might suffice. Your skin tells her if it is taking it well. If your skin becomes bright red and it starts to burn from the inside, then your skin is telling you to stop whatever you are doing.
Slight burning and redness is normal, which is what I experienced. Mary put a little neck fan to my face which helped alleviate the burning.
As expected, I started peeling at around the 2nd and 3rd day. On average people start to peel at around that time but for others they may start to peel at the week-mark. I experienced peeling in sheets as well as flaking and I was very excited the whole way through. I loved seeing the difference between old skin and new skin throughout the peeling process.
My skin did feel really tight and dry the whole time which did not feel great but in order to see those results, I was down to endure the discomfort.
I was instructed not to moisturize the old skin, only the new skin. The more you keep the old skin dry, the better peel you are going to get. I left my face totally alone for 24 hours but after the 24 hours was up, I began to wash my face twice a day, in the morning and at night. After I washed it, I would only apply moisturizer onto the new skin. I did not apply any product onto the old skin. Throughout the day the old skin would get fairly oily.
Full disclosure, I would find flakes of skin on my bed because hello, your girl is a side sleeper so it was inevitable that some flakes would fall off while I was sleeping. If you're a back sleeper you are in luck! I did sleep with a satin pillow every night though, so I like to think that helped.
Also, I definitely had to clip some hanging skin off with scissors too because it was just getting too long.
This is the After-Care Text I received from Mary:
DO’s & DON’T:
1. Leave you skin alone for 24 hours - that means no touching, washing, or applying any products
2. Avoid applying Make-up for 24hours
3. Avoid abrasive facial scrubs and rotating brushes for the duration of your peeling process
4. No Retinols or Acids for a minimum of 1 week
5. DO NOT PEEL OFF ANY SKIN! (If the skin is hanging, you can use small scissors to cut off the hanging skin)
6. Avoid swimming pools, jacuzzis, saunas, and hot tubs
7. Avoid excessive sweating
8. Avoid long periods of sun exposure, tanning, and tanning beds
9. Apply Moisturizer, night and day
10. Apply sunblock every single day
I documented the peeling process from Day 1 to Day 10. Overall, it took about 13 days for the peeling to completely stop.
Overall, I'm happy with the results and I do recommend the treatment to anyone who has concerns regarding fine lines, sun damage, dark spots, acne scars, and acne. I noticed my pore size did look a bit smaller, my skin had a glow to it, and it definitely looked like new and fresh skin. Also, the appearance of my dark spots reduced.
The only downside was that my skin became more sensitive than before and the sensitivity lasted for a couple weeks. My face had to get reacclimatized to my products.
Also, it was strange but cool, I'm not sure if you have ever tried a pore strip but usually once you take the strip off you are left with the gunk sticking out of your pores and hanging onto the strip. Well, that is what was happening on my nose and chin area once that first layer of skin started to come off. It was like I was using a natural pore strip on my nose and chin area, which I thought was pretty interesting.
Being in a pandemic and working from home allowed me the ability to experience the full downtime. I would not have been able to get this treatment done if I had to go into work or school because, no, look how your girl looked. The only bummer is that I could not workout. I didn't want to worry about sweating too much and I had built up a good workout routine, working out 3x/week, so to not be able to continue that routine sucked.
Also, I tried staying out of the sun as much as possible but I did have to take my car in to get fixed and to run a couple errands so I was in the sun a decent amount of time but not too long. It also helped wearing a mask and hat to somewhat shield my face from the sun, but I tried not to worry about the mask peeling off my flakes too much.
Even though I did enjoy the chemical peel and the results, I think it will be a while until I get the treatment again. Mainly because it took so long to heal. I think next time I will resort back to Microneedling just because it's way less downtime and I still notice a difference with my skin after that treatment.
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