I need to share with you my latest addiction in making my skin look absolutely FABULOUS, healthy, and compliment worthy.   I’m known to be a little extreme when it comes to my face and this is definitely worth the entire unpaid week off from work that it took for me to recover.  It’s called the VI Peel Precision and it’s my secret weapon when my skin looks tired, crepey, and dull.

In case you haven’t heard of a VI Peel, it’s a medical grade chemical peel that can only be done in a practitioner’s office.  To learn more about this peel, and all the other peels they offer, here is a link to their website VI Peel

Let me start by saying that this is a peel you need to plan into your life because this is definitely a process.  The process takes 5-7 days and unless you don’t mind leaving your house looking like a snake shedding its skin, you should plan to stay home all week.  I absolutely refuse to leave my house with sheets of skin falling off of my face.  I have known people who have missed funerals because it’s so hideously unacceptable to be seen in public with your face falling off.  You get the idea.

I always plan this peel on a Wednesday because the peeling usually starts Friday, which gives me the weekend to get it together before I go back to work on Monday, but that’s not always the case.  Everyone’s different, but my starting point is Wednesday because I feel that day gives you the least number of days off from work.

Here’s a brief rundown of the process.  There are several VI Peels, however I did the VI Peel Precision, which I love for anyone my age.

Day 1: APPLY THE PEEL – After wiping the face down with acetone to get the oils out, the peel is applied with gauze all over the face and neck and décolletage.  The peel stings at first, but since there is a numbing agent in it, that lasts seconds.  The peel is applied in three layers, however the eye area which is delicate, gets only two passes.  The thing I love about this peel is that it can be applied on the eyelids and also under the eye where I get the “chicken skin”  bumps.   When I left the practitioner’s office, I looked like I had a spray tan gone bad from the color of the peel.

My instructions were to leave the face alone for 4 hours, then wash with the cleanser provided, and rub the first of three towelettes all over the face.  An hour before bed, I was to use the second towelette and call it a day.

Sleeping is NOT fun!  My neck and face itched like HELL.  In the post peel packet, they provide post peel protectant and sunscreen.  The post peel protectant has hydrocortisone in it for anti-itching, but since that flares up my dermatitis, I could only apply that on my neck at night.  I laid on my back and took two Tylenol PM’s and called it a night.

Day 2: TIGHT AND TAN: My skin was feeling tight and it looked very dark like I had a some amateur give me a spray tan.  The instructions were to use the sunscreen every 3 hours and also the post peel protectant (which, again, I didn’t use).  I put a sunscreen on every 3 hours as directed even though I didn’t leave my house.  That step is essential because even though I was hiding out and didn’t see the light of day, there are UV rays everywhere (something to google when you’re bored).  As instructed, one hour before bed, I washed and used the last of the three towelettes and called it a night.

Day 3: ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE!!! Ok, starting from the chin and mouth area, my face looked like one of those birch trees with the peeling sheets of bark.  Every time I talked, I felt it peel deeper and wider in width.  My face felt extremely dry, and no matter what type of lotion I used on top of the sunscreen, NOTHING helped.  This is when I got sterile surgical scissors and trimmed the skin off throughout the day (DO NOT PULL THE SKIN OFF OF YOUR FACE!!! YOU MUST LET IT HAPPEN NATURALLY, hence the scissors for the dead skin that’s hanging there in limbo).  Plenty of sunscreens and moisturizer later, It was bedtime, so I washed and slathered on the thickest face lotion that I could find (that did absolutely NOTHING as my face still felt tight and was still pretty actively peeling)

This is just the beginning of what things are going to look like:

Day 4: HELL IS STILL HAPPENING: This is pretty much more of the same, but now on my cheeks, forehead, and nose. Again, I was trimming the hanging skin that has already peeled but still attached to the skin that wasn’t peeled yet.  My neck was also reeking havoc, but I started to feel some progress, the new skin peeking through was looking fresh and flawless, reason to smile!

Day 5: I lose my patience and apply an obscene amount of Aquaphor all over my face and neck, so now I look like a greasy corn dog that just comes out of the fryer.  The skin doesn’t hang off in dry sheets anymore, but it sticks to my face now that It’s greased up.  I have to say, it looks and sounds gross, but my face doesn’t feel so dry and itchy when I do this (in the past, this has always worked for me when I did this peel, I just find that constant lubrication that doesn’t “soak in” is way more comfortable and also helps the peeling process – I have always done this on the last few days when I’ve had this peel done)

Day 6: WELCOME TO THE WORLD NEW SKIN! After almost a week of hibernation, I’m ready to leave my house with sunscreen all over my new skin, sunscreen in my foundation, and a big hat if I’m outdoors any more than 2 seconds.  Sunscreen is the more important factor in this entire process because you don’t want to ruin your fresh new skin.  Also, if you’re a smoker….ugh.  That’s terrible thing to do to your fresh new skin.  Would you smoke around your fresh new baby??  Same thing!!

Even though I curse myself EVERY TIME I do this peel, when I see the results I’m in love with my face because it’s fresh looking, awake, and flawless.  It’s definitely a process, but really what isn’t a process when you’re a woman on a mission to look forever 29?

Before

After

Not the best lighting in America, but here is my skin before (left) and after (right).  You can see that my skin tone is better, my age spots are gone, and my pores are barely visible.  This was worth every sleepless, itchy night, the one week of hibernating, and every last penny!

To find a VI Peel practitioner near you, follow the link at the end, scroll all the way to the bottom and you’ll find Practitioner Locator, then type in your zip code and you’re good to go!!

VI Peel

Happy Peeling!

♥