February has been so long and cold and snowy, I’m starting to get a little antsy looking for signs of spring. OK, I’m Canadian, I’m used to our winters but you know what happens, one day you’re wearing a parka, the next day you’re in shirtsleeves.
So what’s on your wishlist to get ready for spring?
A lot of folks are doing the hair removal thing now. I explained all about the process and how it works, here. The article states that the full process requires 6 to 8 treatments but, if you start now, you could easily get 2 or 3 treatments before you’re in tank tops and shorts and see up to a 50% reduction in hair growth. That can mean a huge reduction in shaving.
My biggest problem is dry skin. My friend calls it “the ashies” — that almost greyish cast to the skin from the build-up of dead, dry skin. Moisturizer alone just doesn’t cut it for me. We have an amazing body scrub from Vivier that exfoliates and moisturizes that I will use on my arms and legs.
For my hands and feet, I’m starting a series of chemical peels to rev up the cell turn over and get rid of dead skin. Any actual peeling starts a few days after the application so you have to time it right with your social calendar. My hands look fine during the peeling process if I remember to slather moisturizer on for 2 or 3 days, then, voila! I have nice soft hydrated skin.
For my feet, I’ve been playing around with some pretty aggressive peels. What I’ve found is that I have none of the symptoms in my feet that would occur with the same peel on my back or my face. The skin is so much thicker on the feet that it actually takes a lot to get them to peel. When my feet start peeling, it only takes a few seconds in the shower with my foot scrubber to smooth them out and they end up softer and smoother than any pedicure I’ve ever had.
That reminds me — I want to put a coat of peel solution on my elbows and get rid of that dry rough skin.
For anyone who has hardcore dry, cracking skin, I have a newer treatment that works miracles. Meso is given as a series of tiny injections just into the skin in a grid across the target area. I did Laura’s hands — she’s used to having dry cracked hands all winter — and it made a huge difference. I also did Michele’s neck and it helped to thicken and hydrate the skin there. Michele’s neck hasn’t had all the attention that her face has had so it had lax skin and pretty deep lines.
Meso is hyaluronic acid (HA) — same compound as you find in our Teosyal filler. The difference is that this form of HA is uncross-linked, just like the HA that the body makes to hold moisture between our cells. Each molecule of HA holds 1000 times its weight in water so the first benefit of the injections is hydration or increasing the water content of the skin. The second benefit is the thickening of the skin that goes with the water content.
That’s how I’m getting my skin ready for exposure as temperatures rise. What about you? What do you need to do to get ready for spring?
If you want to know how we got Laura’s tummy ready for bathing suit season, check out our ad in the March edition of Burlington SNAP!