Professional Facial Treatments for Textured Skin

If you have large pores, oily skin and/or acne scaring, you might be familiar to textured skin. I know I am! I suffered from cystic acne and I have scarring left from my younger teen years and large pores. Unfortunately, you cannot make your pores physically smaller. Once the pore stretches because of the accumulation of sebum, they won’t shrink back in size. The good news is that you can still make them appear smaller and treat the unevenness of overall texture of the skin.

A little bit of a story…

This was me late 2017

I remember staring at the mirror and not liking what I was seeing. Michael and I had tried to do photoshoots and I just despised seeing myself in those photos. I actually had a hard time finding photos of myself without blurring filters to show you how my skin used to look. I never liked my skin and I was made fun of as a teenager for having bad acne (I don’t have a picture to even show you). It made me uncomfortable and I was not very confident even in my twenties and it was an awful feeling. I never want anybody to feel like I did and plaster tons of makeup to try to hide it.

In 2018, I started treatments like dermaplaning and chemical peels with Stephanie at Blush Beauty and Spa in downtown Manchester, NH and later seeing Amanda for microneedling at Aesthetics by Amanda in Tewsbury, Massachusetts. I was able to gain my confidence back and started seeing how my skin really could look like. I was blown away that I could do something about it. All I needed was to access the right treatments and the right skincare regimen.

It is important to visit a licensed aesthetician who can assess your skin and recommend the right treatment for you. I wanted to share with you the treatments that changed my skin completely!

Chemical Peels:

My favorite treatment!  It consist of a a blend of acids like citric, lactic (for sensitive skins) salicylic or trichloroacetic acid (TCA). These acids can penetrate in the skin remove the cells located right at the surface of the skin.

What to expect:

• The esthetician will apply a liquid substance with a brush on your skin. You could feel a burning sensation during treatment but it should not hurt
• You might experience redness as this treatment stimulates the blood supply to the surface of the skin
• Skin sensitivity after the treatment: You must wear SPF. Your skin is so open and vulnerable to burn even if you are going to be on the shade, you should protect your skin and wear SPF for at least a few days to a week after treatment if you don’t do so already.
• Flaking off the skin: You might noticed dry patches and a slight flaking. It doesn’t happen all the time but it is completely normal. Make sure you drink plenty of water.

Benefits of Chemical Peels:

1. Better absorption of skincare products
2. Smoother skin complexion
3. Diminishing of fine lines
4. Brightening of skin
5. After healing skin has a natural glow

Dermaplaning:

I love this treatment because you can see results right away. It gives you instant gratification. Dermaplaning consists of the use of a surgical blade that glides on the skin to scrape dead cells and superfluous hair (peach fuss),

What to expect:

• Treatment is painless
• Takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour to complete
• Skin will be the most vulnerable and sunscreen must be worn for the next few days
• You might experience some redness but there is typically no down time after the treatment

Benefits of Dermaplaning:

1. Super smooth skin
2. A flawless makeup application
3. Makeup foundation will glade on smoothly and evenly onto skin
4. Perfect treatment before any airbrushing makeup application
5. Diminishing of fine lines

Microneedling:

This treatment is probably the most invasive but OMG! it was lifechanging for me. It completely changed my skin!

Microneedling consist of tiny little needles that create microscopic punctures  on the skin. I have only seen this treatment done with a microneedling pen which is a tool that has needles that go into the skin straight on at a ninety degree inside similar to a tattoo machine. There is a big difference between this tool and a derma roller. I do not recommend the derma roller. This treatment should be done with a professional licensed esthetician. This treatment is done in multiple sessions, you’ll have to talk to your esthetician for recommendations on how many sessions you’ll need.

What to expect:

• Redness: you might feel your skin wind-burnt
• There is a numbing lotion that gets applied on the skin
• It can be painful, the worse part is the forehead, cheek bones and nose
• Healing happens slower, no makeup for the next 24-48 hrs. (clean all your sponges and brushes before applying makeup again)
• Skin should be treated like a open wound: stay away from dirty surfaces, no touching the face and change your pillowcase to a fresh clean one.

Benefits of Microneedling:

1. You will notice instant plumping of the skin
2. Uneven skin texture start to appear more even
3. Pores look more refined
4. Helps produce collagen
5. Minimizes wrinkles and hyperpigmentation

I started with dermaplaning and chemical peels and added microneedling. I staggered these services and worked with my aesthetician on a plan and booked multiple sessions to see better results.