It’s funny how sometimes the thing you know is good for you, you just don’t do. One can end up whinging about the status quo endlessly but don’t action the thing you know will change things. Do you know what I mean? Or is this just me.
Let me give you an example. I know, full well, that with my oily and congested skin what I need to do is about twice a year go for a light skin peel and a microdermabrasion. In the grand scheme of things it’s not even that expensive – and it’s probably only a once a year thing… probably.
And when was the last time I went for a microdermabrasion? 2005, ladies (and gent). Two thousand and five. And I sit about and whinge and go “Eugh, my disgusting skin, eugh, eugh, poor me” when there is a solution that only costs money!
As it happens I was sitting about in my kitchen after an unfortunate internet event about two weeks ago and an invitation for a facial came through on my Instagram messages from a nice girl at Skinwork, which is an LA facial spa import now in Soho. That is the weird thing about unfortunate internet events – all that happens is you put on a shitload of followers and people invite you to things. It’s almost worth manufacturing them! (But ultimately not worth the stress.)
When the message came through I was feeling down, I won’t lie. I was feeling down and ignored and passed-over and, if I am completely honest, betrayed. I felt small and meagre and also cowardly and like a headshy, beaten dog. So I took the invitation for the free facial and I said: “Yes! Yes, yes, please and thank you.”
I arrived at a grimy Soho door on a Monday morning and rang the spa on my phone because I couldn’t work out which buzzer to press and was greeted by a sparklingly cheerful Cork girl called Tara. She spoke at, I am not joking, 450mph. Oh my god she was hilarious.
(Irish Mary is always up in my grill about how much funnier Irish people are than Londoners and I feel a bit like “fuck off back, then” and then wonder if I am going to cry. But I worry she might be right.)
Anyway with Tara there was no walking on eggshells how-are-you-feeling-today and no whale music. We had a no-bullshit chat about my face then she slung me down on a treatment table and peeled me and squeezed me and I don’t know what she did to that massive zit underneath my chin but by the time I got home it had basically vanished with no sign of trauma. It is now three days later and it is dead and gone. I was a bit scared by the vitamin C mask which she then ran an electric current through *zzzt* but two hours later my skin looked amazing. Oh and she dug out all but maybe one or two of those hateful little bumps along my jaw that I am constantly whingeing about but do nothing to sort out.
If you’re not familiar with Soho, the place will make no sense, slung as it is like a septum piercing in the underside of the Alex Eagle concept store Lexington Street. But I loved it. I love Soho. I love how higgledy piggledy it is – walking down a street you get some vague idea of what London was like before it was just concept stores and skin spas. I loved the fact that from the treatment bed thingy, looking up, you can see up through glass brick whatsits people walking along the pavement.
They know what they are doing here and they carry out their treatments with zing and spirit. If Soho is convenient and you feel like you need this, pay them a visit. If it’s not and you don’t – then don’t.
I had the 40min Speedy Signature Facial, which is £110. Email for an appointment – hello@skinworklondon.co.uk. Find Skinwork at Alex Eagle, 6-10 Lexington Street, London.
Just don’t have one of their facials with a hangover like I did recently – the ‘extraction’ process was so much more painful than I expected, nearly brought me to vomiting point… (sorry, TMI…)
we like TMI here
I love the sound of this. No point in having a facial if it’s going to be all wafty.
If you have congested skin it is VERY good and effective. I’m going back there in a months’ time and actually paying my OWN MONEY for a treatment
well quite. There are times and places for a wafty facial but broadly they don’t make much financial sense
Thoughts on dandruff? It’s becoming such an issue that i dare not touch my head all day – and it itches like crazy. Where should i go? I am happy to PAY BIG MONEY if you have any ideas (big money meaning a few hundred not close to order £1000). xxxx
Elena what have you tried so far
All the possible anti dandruff shampoos on the market. Reducing hair washing to 2x per week. Leaving moisturising coconut oil in overnight… nothing works.
Hello Elena, I don’t get flaky dandruff but do get sebhorric danddruff, which is a sticky, itchy scalp which can have flare ups of sores. Charming, no? I don’t know if it reads across but I have found these things helpful:
1) a scalp cleanser a few times a week. I use Bumble and Bumble. Life changing!
2) Research whether you have an intolerance to sodium laureath sulfate. When shampoo has SLS in it my scalp reacts badly.
3) Lush bar shampoo. Washes my hair really well with no sodium laureate sulfate, I think.
4) use loads of dry shampoo! Seems counter intuitive, but making my hair more stiff helped me stop scratching and aggravating my poor scalp.
5) track your cycle. Mine is very hormonal
Good luck and best wishes. It’s horrid and absorbs way too much mental space!
Thanks- I think I may have this type you have. Lots of little sores! I will try all that you suggest.
After years I have had huge success this year with Paul Mitchell tea tree shampoo.
Childs farm shampoo is very mild and is really good for dandruff.
Re microdermabrasion, have you tried the Personal Microdermabrasion Device? I discovered this online after going to a clinic and having a course of six sessions for around a tenner each (thank you Groupon) and so I do an at home facial once a week in conjunction with an exfoliating mask. The device cost me around £100. After that and the mask, I end up with close to glass skin. It’s great. (I say “close to glass skin” because I have this one blob on my cheek that I simply cannot get rid of, don’t even know what it is, and am probably doomed to have it follow me around till I am in my grave…)
Has anyone else tried Environ producers and specifically an Environ facial? Truly in a whole new league. There’s a rubber face mask that even covers your eyes and mouth, electric pulses, all the bells and whistles. Plus it literally takes years off you. I’ve been using the products for five months now and they work like nothing I’ve ever tried before. No gimmicks, hardly any smell. They just work.
WHAT? this sounds too good