Quite frankly, the idea of taking myself for another post-summer peel this year was not very appealing. The one I had last year was intense and I didn’t want my skin to blister/peel/look generally revolting for days on end again (or fancy the pain during; that fizzing haunts me), despite the irrefutable skin benefits.
When Dermalogica got in touch to say they were launching a new peel, flashbacks of my peeling face almost put me off, but I heard them out and my interest was piqued. In a nutshell: peels come in varying strengths and this treatment sits on the less severe end of the scale. Reassured that the Dermalogica approach is far removed from a violent chemical peel and is rather more a strong AHA/BHA exfoliating session, I found myself lured into their treatment room in Liberty’s to test the treatment out.
The approach is medical – this is no spa treatment complete with a massage and aromatherapy. There are also no extractions (I suggest booking in for a skin treatment facial the week prior if you need spots dealt with first). The treatment instead consists of a cleanse followed by layers of lactic and salicylic acid, with enzymes and peptides being applied to eat up dead skin and speed the turnover of cells.
The process, while not relaxing, isn’t painful (I’d equate the sensation to using a chemical exfoliant at home: prickly, not stinging) and didn’t leave me ridiculously red. My post-treatment skin felt tight initially and a touch uncomfortable. This was followed by an eruption of spots that had been brewing under the surface and, finally, everything settled down to be slightly smoother and clearer. The adage of beauty meaning pain springs to mind when thinking of this one – if you want spectacular results, you’ll need a deeper peel than this, though it’s a nice refresher and I’d imagine the course of six Dermalogica recommend would yield a more noticeable result.