"It's better to look good than to feel good." -right????

So I have this fabulous idea. I'm gonna get a facial peel!! Why not? My mom gets them and they work great for her skin. I got a coupon for 20% at Toppers to get anything facial wise, so I pick t his European facial that has massage of your feet and hands and arms included! Wow, sounds decadent, right? Oh, and the facial part of in included a "vitamin C peel". Lalala, sounded good to me, sign me up.

The procedure was heavenly. She had me lay on the warmed bed, she massaged my hands and arms, and then put plastic around them and put each hand into a containor of some sort (I didn't look, I was practically sleeping) that keep gently head on the hands. Then she even did a little foot massage and at the end wrapped them in a warm towel and tucked them back under the sheet.

bliss bliss bliss

the facial part of it seemed normal enough, some cleansing, some exfoliating using Papaya, lots of other goops and creams that were whisked on and whisked off. The peel itself didn't feel so bad, it tingled a little, but she warned me of that. Also, she said since she knew I had sensitive skin (we'd done stuff before), she was mixing up the lightest possible dose of this stuff to use in the peel. Sure great, sounds perfect. Time passes, my face is feeling warm, but nothing bad. Unfortunately for me, I have a high pain tolerance (thanks Mom) so sometimes I wonder if what I'm feeling as just a feeling should be having me call the police.

Anyway, she cleans it all off and my face feels warm, but soooooooooooooooooo smooth. My skin is never smooth. My skin and I have had a contentious relationship since the 1980s, with brief intervals of lovey-dovely (thank you accutane). I have NEVER NEVER NEVER been able to find the products that my skin is looking for.

But i digress.

That night, I went home, used a gentle cleanser on my pinky face, put some moisturizer for sensitive skin on it and went to bed, no problem. Got up the next morning, hmmm, still red, but no problem, cleaned it with a gentle cleanser, but on sunscreen, moisturzier, and lathered on my foundation. They said I could!!!! Hmm, looks a little thick, but will have to do.

Mid-morning it happened. I caught myself in the middle of scratching my neck right under my chin. uuuuuuurrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. It's hot there. It itches. It makes me want to scratch the rest of my face. My face is hot and itchy and has that gross make-up sitting on top of a layer of burnt off skin!@!!!!!!!! What was I thinking???? I didn't think this through AT ALL.

I make it through the rest of the day and even stop over my parents house for dinner where my mom gives me a cold compress to put under my chin, but then my dad says he can't talk to me when I'm standing there like that, so whatever, his loss. :-)

I get home, and use neutrogena and a washcloth. Rubbing your skin with a washcloth NEVER felt as good as it did to me just then. don't even bother to compare, you lose.

Without the makeup the skin looks REALLY red and hot, and rough feeling, with just the strart of little crusty bits near my lips.

Charming Leah. You look delish.

I lather it all up with my all organic for senstive skin moisturizer and go to bed.

Day 3

Wake up, skin feels so rough and nasty, but less warm then yesterday. I wash it, now it's warm and irritated again. I actually put makeup on top of this seething bubbling mess and march on in to work.

I tried to camoflage. I wore my hair straight and down so it would half cover my face. I kept all the lights off in my office, which I often do. All to no avail. The NANOSECOND my friend Eric saw me, he was like, oh my god, are you okay?

He says he thought I was crying. You see, with this day, not only was it red and itchy and hot and starting to be scaly, now it was swollen too. I almost made it through the entire day without seeing anyway, and was getting ready to leave when there was the "emergency" meeting. darnnit. Thankfully the lights were off for most of them and I was able to escape quickly after they did get turned on. Not that I didn't fill everyone in on what I did. I'm all about sharing my personal stupidities with others.

I literally drove home at like 180 miles an hour just so I could wash my face. Okay, it wasn't that fast, but it was fast. That was the best face washing I ever had in my entire life. Just to have the opportunity to rub the washcloth all over my poor face......AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH. I probably should have been more gentle but I'm only human.

Put my goop on it, it feels warm and nasty and scaly. I hate it. And went to bed. And then woke up. Needed more advil. On a good note, I do think the heat factor has scaled back a bit so I think it won't slide off my skull and leave me with a lot of explaining to do.

Lessons Learned:

1. If you have sensitive skin, don't forget that a peel is not like an exfoliating masque. A peel is liquid acid poured directly onto your face, and you asked for it!!!!!!

Still......ask me in a week, maybe I'll be all for it!!!