Chemical Peel

With the rain today I feel the summer is officially over and with that the sun over exposure. Although I did my best to always wear sunscreen and wear hats I wasn't always consistent. I took a good long look at my skin this weekend and noticed that my skin was looking pretty ragged. It was time to exfoliate. But with the economy the way it is I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars at a salon for chemical peels because truly that was what my skin needed. So, being me...I'm not afraid to experiment on myself. I bought a 15% chemical peel solution and a neutralizer. Due to my Asian skin coloring I decided to go with a Salicylic Acid Peel at 15%. I didn't want to over reach so I went with a lighter solution and the neutralizer is to neutralize the acid once the time is up. Now I've had chemical peels done before and I watched the esthetician closely while she performed the service. So I basically knew what to do. I started with washing my face with a non soap cleanser, then swiped on some alcohol free toner to make sure I got rid of all the residue. I let my face dry for a couple of minutes then swiped on the chemical peel solution quickly never going over the same area twice, avoiding my eyes and mouth. I set my timer for 2 minutes. I felt a tingling sensation. I didn't wait for the two minutes to be up. I applied the neutralizer after about 1 minute 30 seconds. Again I didn't want to over extend since it was my first time doing it by myself. After the neutralizer, I splashed my face with cold water repeatedly, after patting my face dry, applied moisturizer. I've read on several websites you need to do the chemical peel several times to see results so I'm mulling it over whether I want to do another application in three weeks to a month. Some sites tell you to do it once a week for 5 - 6 weeks but that sounds a little much so I'm thinking once every month for 5 - 6 months should be good. We'll see... I'll keep you updated on my results. I'm not saying for you to go out there and do what I just did. I'm not afraid to try things myself because I'm pretty hands on but I'm also very cautious. So please research and get advice before trying to do this yourself. This is acid we're talking about. Always use with caution.