Customer Reviews

20% Glycolic Peel for Lines, Acne, Sun Damage & Rosacea Mild Home Chemical peel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

REVIEWER'S SKIN TYPE: 50 yr old with VERY dry, VERY sensitive skin with Rosacea, large pores, sun damage

I did careful research before choosing this peel since it was considered a "mild" peel for beginners. I have REALLY sensitive, super dry skin and in the past 10 years started developing Rosacea. In January, I had IPL laser and pixel laser treatments done - $800 later - little to no change in texture or redness so started reading about peels.
The spa where I had the laser treatments done charges a ton for this and, after reading dozens of reviews on the in home peels, thought I'd give this a try.

I was very careful to be extra gentle with my skin for several days before the peel and did the peel when I knew I'd have a few days off work just in case I had an adverse reaction!

The directions state to wipe down your face with alcohol after cleansing to remove any oil. I skipped that step since I knew it would set my face on fire and I really haven't much oil in my skin at all.

Also, the directions indicate to have a sink or bowl full of water with a small amount of baking soda mixed in to rinse the peel off with to neutralize the skin. I had the bowl of water w/baking soda ready but had also ordered the $10 bottle of Ph neutralizer and had that standing by.

Cleansed gently with mild cleanser, blotted dry and braced myself.

Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next! I carefully applied on my forehead to start since that's the least sensitive part of my face. As soon as the product touched my skin, the burning started. I mean BURNING! Thinking it would subside after a few seconds, and while I was still brave enough, I applied it to the rest of my face.

Using the blowdryer on the cool setting, I was hoping it would help the ever rising temperature of my skin, but...ah no. I'm watching the clock tick off the seconds wondering how I was going to be able to keep this on my skin for ONE minute, let alone 5 to 10 minutes!

I was almost afraid to look in the mirror as I was sure I would see flames coming off my face, but my skin was just beet red. The burning was so intense, my eyes were watering so much I could hardly see. Less than 2 minutes was all I could take so I set the bowl of baking soda water in the sink and scooped up as much of the water as I could and doused the flames.

It was the second right before the water hit my face that I remembered the directions said this step could cause "stinging." The liquid hit my face and I just about wet my pants from the instant burn which was actually worse than the product I was trying to "neutralize!"

Now, before you think this is a negative review, I will pause here to tell you this. I know my sensitive skin and I knew this would probably burn worse for me than it would for the average person so I did realize what I was getting in to with this. I don't want to discourage anyone from using this, I'm just saying that, if you have REALLY sensitive skin like I do, you may want to consider either a couple of shots of whiskey or medication before you do this peel!

Back to the proceedure.....So I've just splashed my face with the baking soda water and cannot believe the pain could actually get MORE intense and immediately had a flash back to when I had a kidney stone a few years ago and mentally made a note that this experience, while much shorter in duration than the kidney stone incident, ranked right up there as a "10" on the pain scale!

Afraid I was going to pass out from the hyperventilating, I turned the sink faucet on full blast and started splashing my face with cold water...LOTS of cold water. After several minutes, I was confident ALL the acid was off my face, down the drain and was now doing a wonderful job of cleaning out the pipes.

I gingerly patted my face dry and applied the neutralizer I had purchased. While it still burned a bit, it was NOTHING like the baking soda/water torture.

Once my face was dry all I could think of was getting something soothing onto my skin as quickly as possible, so I applied vast amounts of Argan oil and a very thick ointment I had purchased from the spa for post-laser use.

After about an hour the burning had decreased quite a bit and now my skin just felt tight and sunburned. I check my face in the mirror to make sure I still had skin attached and saw that my pores already looked smaller. Ha! I think they shrank in terror when the acid hit them!

By the next day, my skin looked slightly sun burned and was more dry than usual, so I just continued with the products I normally use and kept the make up off my skin for a few days and stayed out of the sun as advised.

By day 2, the flaking started which I expected and wasn't much worse than my skin normally is. By day 7, the "peeling" part was over and I could actually tell it had smoothed the texture of my skin which was great! While my pores are still rather large, they are much less noticeable than before I subjected myself to this.

Soooooo....am I glad I did it? Yes! Was it worth the pain? Well, yes. Isn't that what women say right AFTER they give birth?

Would I do it again? Well, with some conditions! 1. I will probably dig out the bottle of brandy left over from Christmas and have a glass...or two...before I start. 2. I will pray my skin gets "used" to this like other reviewers have said and the pain will be less intense next time.

NOTE One thing I realized is that I have a very acidic system according to my doctor. So acidic, in fact that when I have to have dental work done requiring novicane, they have to give me twice the amount of injections because my acidic system sort of "burns up" the novicane before it has a chance to work. My dentist is the one who told me about this and recommends to his acidic patients that they take a handful of Tums the night before the dental work and 2 to 4 Tums the morning of the appointment.
It works! They now don't have to stop several times during the dental work to keep numbing me again.
I said that to say I think I will try the Tums thing before I do another peel. The reason is, if a person is already overly acidic, putting ACID onto highly acid skin probably is part of the reason it burns more than usual.
After some time passes and my skins forgets what I did to it, I will try this and let you know if it helped.

I gave this product 4 stars only because I hope those with extra sensitive skin take the time to read up and know what they are getting in to.

What we won't do for beauty, huh?!

UPDATE - January 2012

Ok, so here's the much anticipated follow up to my original review (ha!) I know you all have been waiting breathlessly to know how things turned out, if I still have skin left on my face, and did the burning, flaking and peeling every stop?!?!?

Well, I'm very happy to report that I have bravely subjected myself to this beauty ritual quite a few times since that first...uh..."incident!"

It did take a few months before I could even LOOK at that tiny brown bottle again without breaking into a cold sweat and having flashbacks of flames shooting from my face. :::shudder:::

I did make some very helpful modifications in the application process that may also help anyone else with wacky skin like mine.

First, I did NOT apply it to freshly cleansed skin! Stepping out of a hot shower with all of your pores wide open and dousing your face with acid is not wise for the uber-sensitive skin types!

I used a gentle cleanser the night before, moisturized with very gentle creams, took a handful of Tums AND a sleeping pill to fend off fitful tossing and turning over what awaited me in the morning.

In the morning, I simply splashed some cool water on my face and splashed some of that left over Christmas brandy in my AM coffee, braced myself and ever so gently brushed on the liquid.

The other thing that was helpful is I purchased a small, battery operated fan with which to try to minimize the burning which did help.
I actually made it almost 2 minutes this time with the product on my skin which I considered a triumphant achievement. I did NOT use the baking soda & water mixture this time! Just LOTS AND LOTS of rinsing with cold water followed by gentle patting dry and the Ph neutralizer I used before.

The burning was far less and stopped much sooner the second time. Still, a few days of flaking and feeling like I fell asleep in a tanning bed for too long, but better.

The other thing that worked REALLY well is I ordered the Boots No. 7 gentle glycolic peel kit and used that about a month after doing this peel for the second time. That is a great product and much better to start with if you are the sensitive skin type.

I did that once a week for a couple of months and eventually worked up a tolerance to where I started to slowly add some of this 20% glycolic acid to the Boots No. 7 peel to "ramp up" the effects ( I know! Can you believe it?!)
After several times of doing that, I was able to use this 20% product straight! The results are pretty amazing and I'm really glad I stuck with it, got that Post Traumatic Stress counseling, bought a spare bottle of brandy just in case and ventured into Scaryskintreatmentland again.

The surface-of-the-moon sized pores have gotten quite a bit smaller, the bumpy, uneven texture has smoothed out a bit and the deeper wrinkles around my eyes and mouth no longer produce an echo when I talk loudly!
All in all, I can recommend this to the timid and nervous on the fence folks who may have gotten scared off by my initial review and graphic details.
Gosh, I feel a little like William Wallace in Braveheart leading the charge for the pursuit of freedom from wrinkles! Ok...so that's a bit of a stretch, but still...SOMEONE has to take the plunge, right?

After reading the reviewer with sensitive skin, I was hesitant to try this at home. I have had several deep chemical peels at the dermatologist before for severe acne scarring. While I had great results, over the years I have developed some mild discoloration from additional acne so I was considering going back to the dermatologist. I was looking around online and came across this product. I usually pay $200-$300 to have this done in at the dermatologist and the fact that this is so inexpensive overcame my hesitation. I figured I would try it and if something went wrong, go to the dermatologist to fix it.

I read the directions carefully (thanks other reviewers) and set everything up. I figured I would start at the lowest time and increase it when I found out how my skin reacted. I applied the product and it stung, but was not unbearable. After 3 minutes I started to rinse with the baking soda and water. Wow that stings!!!! It was worse than the peel. After a couple of seconds I think my face went numb and it wasn't so bad. I applied the neutralizer and vitamin E oil. The next day I didn't notice anything. On the second day I started peeling. Around my nose and mouth I really peeled and had to keep putting lotion on it so I didn't look like I was a snake shedding it's skin, but everywhere else I didn't notice any peeling at all. I think I was a little disappointed because when I have had peels before I have really, really, peeled. I think that is because they used a higher concentration and left it on longer. I was able to work through the whole thing.

I waited two weeks, did it again and this time left it on 4 minutes. I got a better peel this time, but was still able to work. Next time I will go to 5 minutes.

I can already see a change in my discoloration and this is making my forehead, eye squint and mouth lines less noticeable.

I have moderate acne, ALOT of black heads and large pores. My skin is slightly rough and uneven because of this. I read the other reviews so I also was gentle with my face a few days before the peel. I washed my face and skipped the alcohol step just because I didnt have any and didnt want to wait any longer to try it :) when I put it on my skin did sting but not bad so dont worry. I left the peel on for 5 minutes and rinsed with baking soda/ water. The directions say this will sting worse but it didnt for me. After rinsing I applied straight vitamin e oil to my face for a few hrs to soothe my skin. I didnt have any redness or problems. Right away my pores were smaller. Its been 2 days since I did the peel and my chin broke out in a few tiny white heads but its not very noticable and the rest of my face looks great. I NEVER thought it was possible to have smooth, even skin and Im sure after a few more peels I will finally be able to go out with out foundation on. So happy I tried this peel!!!

Giving a fair and honest review is important to me. I must, in good faith, share my experience with this company. I ordered a 20% glycolic peel and received it on time. The packing slip said 20% glycolic peel. The instructions were for a 20% glycolic peel. I noticed that the bottle said TCA peel but i thought that TCA and glycolic were interachangeable since everything else said 20% glycolic. When i conducted the actual peel, something felt very strange. I have been doing 10% glycolic peels for a year and this felt like nothing i had experienced before. Tears were streaming down my eyes and i had to grit my teeth to last the entire 3 minutes. Turns out that TCA is a much stronger peel than the Glycolic that I ordered. I contacted the company at the support@ e-mail address given to make them aware and perhaps keep someone else from having a similar experience. For some skin types, this mistake could have had very adverse and permanent effects. That was two days ago. I have yet to hear from them--not even to ask about the condition of my face.

I have some form of psoriasis/dermatitis that makes my skin rough and flaky. My skin has always been combination in the most annoying sense of the word: oily, overactive pores beneath perpetually dry, dead skin that just would not go away. I started researching AHA's a few months ago and ended up purchasing this peel, along with a glycolic acid cleanser and cream. I used the cleanser and cream for a month before my first peel. I noticed significant improvement before I peeled: younger, dewy skin with significantly less acne. I have now completed my third peel with Skin Obsession's 20% Glycolic Acid Peel, and I am very pleased with the results. I have a couple of years-old cysts that come and go on my neck. With each peel, they get a little closer to the surface of my skin. I had one ancient zit at the edge of my eyebrow that I was able to eliminate after the second peel. My husband says I look younger now than when I married him almost 8 years ago. I wear less make-up, and discoloration and light scarring around my chin is improving. I even think my skin is firming up a bit, but this may be because I have lost some weight and work out regularly. If you suffer from psoriasis or dermatitis, please consider adding a glycolic acid wash and cream to your regimen at the very least; this peel is icing on the cake.

Some other notes: I have half a bottle left after three peels. I will move to a stronger glycolic acid peel, a lactic acid peel, or a combo peel when the bottle is gone. I use this peel once a month (in spite of several online sources recommending weekly use) because I would rather be safe than sorry, and I use a 50 SPF daily moisturizer on top of my glycolic lotion. If your skin is anything like mine, you will experience peeling for about a week after the peel. It becomes more visible as time goes on. During the first few days after the peel your skin will feel very rough. About 2 to 3 weeks after the peel your skin will be fully recovered and so surprisingly and significantly improved. Great confidence booster! One last note: leave on for about 4 minutes the first time, then add a minute with each subsequent peel. Again, you'd rather be safe than sorry.

Shipping was great, it took about 3 days in December where everybody claims the slow ship time. I'm using the 20% Glycolic peel and my skin seems to be tighter and smooth. I have been using it only 3 times now and I think it is a little too early to judge the lines.