Hey y’all. Since I’m in the (mostly) body treatment part of my program, I decided to get a chemical peel from the spa and document my whole experience so you can see what it’s like.
A few things that chemical peels are good for:
- Sun damage
- Fine lines and wrinkles
- Blemishes, severe acne and scars
- Any type of pigmentation on the skin
I got a 20% Glycolic peel topped with Vitamin A by Rhonda Allison. The Glycolic exfoliates and the Vitamin A speeds up cell turnover (which makes you peel more).
What to expect after a chemical peel:
- No exercise for 7-10 days
- No makeup for 7-10 days
- No sun exposure for 7-10 days
- Do not scratch
- Ditch your regular skin regime and only use a mild cleaner and a moisturizer
- Do not pick any loose skin when you start to peel – you WILL scar
Here are pics of my face before I got the peel:
As you can see, I was suffering from hormonal acne on my chin and leftover pigmentation and blemishes from a mild skin infection.
Right after the peel:
I’m obviously in a different lighting, so my skin tone looks a bit different, but the redness already looks a little bit lighter. The shininess is because of the Vitamin A that is layered on top and left until the morning.
Day 1:
On day one, my face is feeling pretty tight and fragile after cleansing it in the morning. I stayed out of the sun all day and relaxed all day. My pigment on my chin is looking lighter and I’m preparing for my face to peel soon!
Day 2:
I had to work in the spa all day long so it was a perfect place to be with a peeled face. As you may be able to see, my eyebrows, nose and chin barely started to peel in the morning. As the day progressed, they started to peel a lot more along with my forehead and upper lip. Redness is going down and any current blemishes I had are coming to their end and either popping on their own or going down. I have a few new blemishes coming up through my skin, but that is very normal after exfoliating off dead skin (it allows the bacteria to rise to the surface and come out – purging).
Here’s another picture of the peeling later in the day – you can see it in my brows and chin:
I look kind of red, and I am red. Working in the spa was kind of a workout and I don’t think I should have been doing that much movement. But what can you do?
Day 3:
This is when things really starting getting “fun.”
My face was really peeling when I woke up in the morning. My face also did look a little red and irritated.
In the shower, a lot of the skin came off during my cleanse and my face was irritated from the hot shower. My face looks really shiny because of the serum I have on. (If you have a peel, only take a warm shower, not hot. Adding heat to your face will really irritate it and dry it out).
Day 4:
My face was still really peeling this day but things are obviously coming more toward the outside of my face. I felt itchy on and off but tried not to itch (especially with my nails) as to not irritate the skin or let any bacteria from my hands or under my nails get into my pores and cause more breakouts.
Day 5:
Don’t mind my swollen face, I just got off the phone with my mom and had some bad news about my childhood dog. As you can see, some of the pigment from my breakouts has lightened up and the peeling is only really around my edges of my face and my eyes. My face is also only itchy where it’s still peeling.
Day 6:
I was so busy this day and totally forgot to take pictures of my face. I’m sorry 🙁
Day 7:
Since it’s been a week since the peel, I gave myself a hydrating facial. This included a light cleanse, an enzyme to get rid of any excess dead skin and a hydrating mask. After I did this, my face was still very dry and very flaky. I bathed in hydrating serum to help put moisture back into my skin (which took a few days).
You can see in the pictures that my blemishes look diminished and my skin tone looks way more even. I do have makeup on, but only on my eyes (I still wouldn’t recommend makeup, but I had an interview). You can see that under my jaw and my neck looks very dry, and also under my eyes was super dry. If I had put face makeup on, it would have caked around the dry spots and looked disgusting. My face doesn’t look super red because I had just put the serum on and it helped to calm down the dry skin.
Day 8:
I also forgot to take pictures, I fail. But, my skin was still really dry and flaky and I was bathing in serum still.
Day 9:
I took this picture right when I woke up. You can see (hopefully) how tight and dry my face looks. Still really flaky and red and not wearing any face makeup. After wearing serum and reapplying a few times throughout the day, I gave my face a good cleanse at night and put on an antioxidant mask and slept with it on (You can’t sleep in all masks, so don’t do this unless you know it’s okay). This really helped to put moisture back into my skin.
When your skin is flaky and dry, it can be tempting to use a scrub to get all the dead skin off. Although this may seem like it would work, over exfoliating your skin can make it even more dry and continue these symptoms longer than needed. The best thing to do, is use hydrating products and drink lots of water.
Conclusion:
I love chemical peels. Although, there is some down time and people may be disgusted by your peeling face, I think that the results are really effective and I am really happy with how my “new skin” looks.
All my pimples went through their cycle and are gone – yes, you can still see the redness – this is called post inflammatory hyper pigmentation. It means that the zit and bacteria are gone, but the redness is still there because of damage from the inflammation. The inflammation is gone, so makeup now can completely hide where the blemishes were which is awesome! With continued good home care, the redness will go away. I will be doing another chemical peel in the beginning of May, and this will also really help with any leftover pigmentation. My skin tone also really evened out which is great, because then my skin looks more even without having to wear makeup! A few of my friends also noticed that the peel seemed to lift my face a bit. You can see in the early pictures that around my eyes seems a little “baggy” but later, that area seems more lifted.
I would definitely recommend getting one of these if you’re looking for rejuvenation in the appearance of your skin. Although, I would not recommend doing this in the summer, especially in AZ. Also, only get a peel while you are healthy so your body can heal your skin efficiently and effectively.
Thanks so much for bearing with my rough morning face, zits and dead skin. I hope this was helpful in explaining how a chemical peel goes, what to expect throughout the healing process and possible results. Remember, that everyone’s face is different so results can vary depending on what’s going on with your skin and with your body. If you have any questions about this or if you want to know if this would help your skin, please reach out and ask!