Sunday, March 12, 2017

Must See // This Obagi Facial is the Greatest of All Time.

Ismail oubarka | 7:16 AM

You may remember Brittney Hampton from a previous article on the topic of her favorite detox tonic. Brittney is one of my faves to follow on social media because she's pretty transparent about her beauty routine.

The other day, I received a message from a homie on Instagram alerting me that Brittney was documenting her professional facial. I've seen videos of Brittney's facials in the past. In fact, she's even a client one of my favorite skin centers in L.A.

But this time was quite different. After watching the video, I concluded that Brittney was receiving the best facial of all time.
The entire thing took place at Zo Skin Centre. These centers were founded by Dr. Zein Obagi, world-renowned dermatologist, and creator of Obagi products. Obagi's skin care line is well respected by skin enthusiasts. I've read many rave reviews over the years from happy folks who relied on Obagi to deal with troubled skin.

The whole sequence began with Brittney discussing the issues she had with her skin. She pointed out some barely visible blemishes near her chin and cheek area. I caught myself rolling my eyes as I laughed at her tiny little imperfections. But then I remembered that truly flawless skin comes from setting high expectations for our skin.

The actual facial began with the first and most important step---exfoliation. But instead of a chemical exfoliation with enzymes, Brittney enjoyed a microdermabrasion treatment.

Following the microderm, her facialist continued by performing detailed extractions. Once the extractions were complete, Brittney was treated to a calming gel mask followed by an intense face massage.

What she did next both confused and astonished me. The woman placed a thin mesh cloth over Brittney's face in preparation for a high-frequency treatment. Nex,t she grabbed a glowing, vibrating wand and proceeded to move it over her face.

The high-frequency wand looked very familiar me. I remember featuring long ago in a wishlist post. These nifty little wands generate a gentle oscillating electrical current to the deepest layers of the skin. The treatment has a laundry list of benefits including tightening muscles, toning the face and even stimulating hair growth when used on the scalp. The one I wanted long ago was shaped like a comb and meant to help stimulate hair growth.

The next step in this never-ending facial is a game changer. Immediately after the high-frequency session, Brittney's skin is rehydrated using a brightening sheet mask. We're no strangers to sheet masks here but it's what happens next that blew my mind.

After the mask is applied, the women breaks out a NuFace microcurrent device. She explains to the novices that the machine tightens and tones the muscles in the face (but we already knew that 😎). We also learn that using a microcurrent machine helps the skin to absorb the nourishing contents of the mask. But the whole time I'm watching the sequence, my face was like this....

What she didn't mention was that pairing the mask and microcurrent machine together actually could improve the effectiveness of the electrical current. Remember, water helps improve the conductivity of electricity. Typically, when I use microcurrent, I have to constantly reapply gel or keep misting to keep my skin moist. But this pair of sheet mask and microcurrent solves that problem. Plus one helps the other to become more effective. I'm so happy to know this, I could cry. You best believe that I will be trying this out today!

The next step in the process involved an LED treatment. Like radiofrequency, LED has a host of skin and anti-aging benefits. But instead of using a face mask, it appears that Brittney's entire upper body is enjoying the process. It kinda reminds me of the collagen bed that I just discovered.

There's another step performed in the facial that's so foreign to me that I'm holding back on discussing it. I will talk about it in a future post (I promise). I just need to do a bit more research. More importantly, I need to figure out if there's any way to replicate this step at home.

The facial concluded with the obligatory application of a high spf sunscreen. This step comes complete with a service announcement from Brittney on the importance of not skipping this step.

Did you guys hear what the facialist said? If not, please read carefully, "80% of the aging process comes from sun damage!" That's alarming.

*Side note, I think a more accurate statement is "80% of premature aging comes from sun damage." I'm currently formulating theories around what causes real aging and how we can combat it. But that's a whole 'nother discussion.*

I search for Zo Skin Care center locations and learned that there several certified specialists in my city. I tingled with excitement at the thought of experiencing this same super-facial as Brittney. You can tell that she's a happy camper. I mean, just look at her, the girl is absolutely glowing.