I used to be a peeler. Not anymore. I only use botanically based skincare now. I know what a lot of you are going to think. I know because I was like a lot of you. I used to go to med-spas to peel and laser my skin to oblivion in my 20s and early 30s. You could never put enough acid on my skin. I loved it. Until, one day, I really didn't love it anymore. At some point, my skin, like yours possibly, hit its limit and became sensitized. My skin was never sensitive but it became sensitized - and these are not the same thing.

All of a sudden, my skin started to rebel against everything. I didn't know why this happened for another decade. Our skin is an incredible organ, made to heal and be strong. It is made to protect our immune system and fight off bacteria.

It requires a lot less than you think and one thing it really doesn't like is peels. Those who rely on peels as skincare are actually doing long term damage to their skin's health and reducing its ability to do it's vital job.

What Peels Do 

Very simply, between our skin layers, (epidermis and dermis), there are little finger-like things that connect these two layers. The dermis feeds our epidermis essential nutrition but recently, cited in numerous dermatology studies, we see that chemical peels over time damage these feeders. Chemical peels hinder the ability of our deeper skin to feed our outer skin. The result is skin that ages faster, is dryer, more sensitive to products, increased pigmentation. All the things we want peels to IMPROVE, long term, it does the OPPOSITE.

There are also many types of acids and many are not suitable for people with deeper melanin skin-tones. I have seen too many women come to me with damage from peels done by others who do not understand acids. This kind of scarring is not easy to correct.

So, why are peels so popular? A moment of truth here - I know because I buy medical grade peels. An average skin specialist can turn a profit of 100 fold per treatment. They also take no more than an hour. So yes, it's a money motivator and also makes client needing immediate gratification happy, for a short while.

The flip side - my average cost per treatment for a high performing botanical treatment is FAR MORE. Why? I FEED the skin essential nutrition and boost its health and functionality. 

I do perform peels on clients though. But I do so for clients who are established, on a solid home care routine, and we use these as boosters - maybe 1-2 times a year. They have their place in the world of skincare but not THE place.