You have your part to play

After you have a chemical peel performed on your skin, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind.

• Your surface dead skin has been striped away to encourage new cells to regenerate. This means that for the nest few days, the skin is more sensitive and needs more protection. You have to wear a sunblock everyday to protect your skin from the sun.
• Because the dead skin had been removed, it readily 'soaks up' what ever it had been 'feed' with. Therefore this is the time for you to use a good moisturizer with serums which contains vitamin C, hexapeptide, kojic acid etc mostly for moisturizing and anti-pigmentation.
• Skin straight after peel feels sensitive and may feel a little itchy or stings when you perspire. It is best to avoid exposure to the sun or play games under the sun.

In usual cases, peels can be done once a week for 4 weeks, rest for a month and start another cycle till you get the result. Usually one cycle is all u need and then once a month as a maintenance. Again this would have to be gauge by the severity of the problem and the sensitivity of the skin.

By far I find this to be one of the best way to get results to turn your skin around to its younger and softer looking days. It is definitely worth a try if you do have scaring, pigmentation, fine lines and acne.

Different Degree of Facial Peel

Yesterday, we discuss about the different types of peels. I would like to go deeper to let you know that not all peels are similar in strength.

Our skin has a natural moisturizing factor of around ph5.6. This refers to the alkaline or acidity balance, with ph 0 - 14. 0 being most acidic and 14 being most alkaline. Naturally, 7 is the neutral point. as you now can see, our skin is slightly acidic. In order for the skin to achieve a peel, the ph has to be below ph3.

Daily skin care items like cleansers, toners, moisturizers and serums that are AHA based usually has a ph of ph3.5. The strength that beauticians are allow to handle is from ph2.2 to ph3.5 and are usually buffered. This means only the superficial layer of dead skin cells are being peeled. Free acids and anything below ph2.2 can only be handled by Dermatologist.

Another factor that affect the peel is the percentage of acid in the solution itself. Again for the daily care product, it usually contains around 8% of acid. For Beauty Therapist, they will use peel from lightest 20% for the beginner clients and will slowly increase its strength as treatment progresses. Because the acids are buffered, they can use up to a maximum of 50% for stubborn acne scars and pigmentation.

Other factors that the beautician should consider before deciding on which peel is the client's skin type, activity level, diet, medical history, etc. With so much factor to consider, it is best to leave the chemical peeling to the professionals then to try it at home. You may just end up with more scarring and pigmentation on the long run. I'll explain this on my next post. See you

Complete Satisfaction

Reflecting on the results that is written on the face of my clients is a wonderful feeling. Many of them first time AHA users and therefore have some peeling on their face. Some panicked, some happy to have such reactions.

I need to reassure the panicky ones that their micro peeling is all worthwhile and I am glad to report that they are now most satisfied with the results and can't wait for their next appointment.

There are many peels in the market. Acid peel alone has a few category:-

• AHA which is mainly derived from sugar cane or fruits. Most acid peels falls in this category and it is effective against light scars, wrinkles, reducing pore size and lightening pigmentation.
• BHA which is derived from white willow bark. It is also known as salicylic acid. The same stuff they use to make aspirin. BHA is wonderful for oily acne skin. It is oil based and have bigger sized molecues and therefore cleans out the pores thoroughly without peeling the rest of the skin too much. BHA helps to control the over active oil glands and reduce scaring. It is anti-bacterial and is very drying, although a welcoming feature for oily skin, it is not suitable for normal to dry skin. This is also not suited for anyone who is allergic to aspirin.
• LACTIC acid which as the word suggest comes from milk. Lactic Acid is great for normal to dry skin as it is rather moisturizing. Like AHA, Lactic Acid improves the skin texture, rids pigmentation and wrinkles and even out skin tone. I usually use this on more matured skin.

Need to attend to my clients soon. Will follow-up tomorrow with more on skin renewal. See you.......

Lets talk beauty..... The Femanine side of me....

So much about my jeans, Lets talk about beauty.

Lately I'm promoting on a skin renewal facial which requires a mild Aha peel on the skin. The results have been promising and I've got a lot of positive feedback. What can Aha peel do? Generally, it loosen the bond between the superficial layer of dead skin cell to expose the younger more radiant new skin cells that is hidden underneath the dull surface skin. After a series of treatment, the skin will have a healthy glow. It also help to firm up the skin and lighten fine lines and pigmentation.

For the oily skin, I'll use a salicylic based with tea tree extract, which is really powerful in controlling the oil glands and to reduce the scars. It is drying for the skin, but I would balance it with 100% pure aloe vera mask.
This I use for my younger clients who is facing their hormone balancing act.

Fruit acid peels are effective, but, it should be done by a trained professional. Usually after the peel, skin is more sensitive to the sun. That is why sunblock is a must after the peel. In fact, for a tropical climate like Singapore, I recommend that we should use sunblock daily to delay any sign of aging.

After the peel, you well feel like the skin is so "hungry" that it "drink" up the moisturisers. That is because the dry outer layer have been removed allowing better penetration of the moisturiser. Some individuals experience a mild peeling on the skin which usually disappear on the 5th or 6th day and the skin feels baby smooth.

Most skin will benefit from a Aha peel unless it is hyper-sensitive. For them there is this enzyme peel which uses pectin extracted from papaya or bromine from pineapple. Need a longer time to see result but it will still produce result.

Do you Have a skin problem that you need some advice on. Just post your comment and I am most willing to give you free advice to the best of my knowledge.