My Spa Weekend at Home Part 2

Ok, compared to today yesterday was a breeze. How many of you have heard of coconut oil? To use for the face, body and hair? Well if you have then I must have been living in another dimension for the last few decades because apparently coconut oil has been known and used worldwide for quite a few centuries. Why didn't I know that? I don't want to get into all the specifics, you can google it yourself, but it has been proven to be a healthier oil to cook with and use as part of a beauty regimen for the hair and skin. There has been some controversy regarding using it on the face. If you read the reviews some people have benefited from it's antimicrobial properties but some claim that it's comedogenic. I think it just depends on the person and how their body reacts to it. So, I spent most of this morning googling coconut oil and by the afternoon I was excited enough to go run to the nearest Whole Foods Market and purchased myself a jar. When I got home I was dubious as I looked at the white solid oil. It smells delicious but it looks a lot like that Crisco lard that people use to fry some fried chicken in albeit the coconut oil looks a lot prettier. So standing in front of the mirror I had to plan my strategy. I wanted to use the oil as a pre-shampoo treatment so I used a clean spoon and scooped out about a teaspoon full and warmed the oil between my hands by rubbing my palms together. It melts quickly. As soon as it was melted I saturated my hair with it concentrating on the ends and working my way up to my scalp and then massaging my scalp with the oil. When I was satisfied that I had slathered on enough to saturate each strand I rolled my hair up and secured it on top of my head and covered it with a plastic cap. While the oil was doing it's thing I prepared my face for the fourth installment of my chemical peel treatment. I did the treatment leaving it on for five minutes and then rinsed it off with cold water. I then got in the shower and did a sea salt and honey body scrub. I massaged my entire body with the scrub. It felt invigorating. I then took off the plastic cap, let my hair down and shampooed it. After rinsing the shampoo and all of the scrub off. I got out of the shower and towel dried my hair, while it was damp I scooped out maybe 1/3 of a teaspoon, melted it by rubbing my hands together and softly ran it through my hair concentrating on the ends and avoiding my scalp. I don't want my hair to look too greasy and then I scooped a little bit more of the oil, melted it and massaged it on my face. I know I'm taking a huge risk experimenting with an unknown product right before Thanksgiving but I'm just too curious to not give it a try. Hopefully I don't wake up Thanksgiving morning with a break out of acne or pimples. Knock on wood. So here I sit on my bed feeling soft, relaxed and smelling like dessert. My dog keeps sniffing me and looking like he wants to take a bite...

*Allene Angelica*
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Third Installment of My Chemical Peels

Just finished my third round of a series of five DIY at home chemical peels.  I'm getting better at applying the chemical peel, more confident.  My hand was steady and knew exactly where it wanted to go and what areas it wanted to concentrate on.  My previous two applications I was a little apprehensive and was much more timid with the acid.  My skin must be getting used to it because it didn't burn as much as the last time.  I left the acid on for a total of five minutes before washing it off.  We'll see how my skin does in the next couple of days.  I also want to mention that after the last chemical peel I thought the peeling had ended after about the third or fourth day but I noticed over a week after the peel that my skin was still peeling in random areas on my face.  I feel really good about doing the peels at home.  If I would have gone to a salon it would have cost me $100 per treatment so not only am I giving myself a beauty treatment my skin really needs but I'm saving money in the process also I am able to control the procedure so that if things go well I have only myself to thank but if things go sour I also have only myself to blame.  So far so good though.

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*Allene Angelica*

Update - Chemical Peel Part Deux

Just wanted to give you an update on the chemical peel results.  As I expected I haven't noticed any dramatic changes.  I still have the two dark skin discolorations from the two large pimples I had months ago on my right cheek, although they have faded a little they are still noticeable.  It's hard to determine any minute changes since I see my face everyday all day long.  My skin did peel, not obviously but it did peel just the same.  The second day after doing the peel my face was covered with a layer of dead skin cells that I scrubbed off with a washcloth in the morning and again in the evening.  The same on the third day.  Today I didn't feel too much dead skin on my face when I woke up so maybe that's it for the peeling.  We'll see.

Chemical Peel Part Deux

I just completed doing my second application of the chemical peel. The first one was three weeks ago. I followed the same procedure as the last time. I wasn't expecting the chemical to burn as intensely as it did tonight. Maybe because my skin isn't as thickly layered as it was three weeks ago. It was pretty bad back then. Exfoliation was definitely in need. I left the chemical peel on for four minutes this time before rinsing it off. My skin feels good but I probably won't see any results, any real improvement anyways, until the fifth procedure.

*Allene Angelica*
Sent from my iPad

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.