I have a soft spot in my heart for the Face & Body Clinic, as I had session of Ultratone with its lovely owner Shenaz Shariff last year. If anyone can make donning paper panties and lying supine on a table a comfortable experience it is she, so when I heard that her salon was now offering the DynaShape treatment I was quick to volunteer my porky abdomen to her soft fingers.
DynaShape is a relatively new treatment to hit the UK and sells itself as being a nonsurgical way of sculpting the body. This is done by using a Swiss produced machine that performs an endodermic massage on the areas you'd like slimmed down. For the non initiated this means that various interchangeable heads are used to activate the cell membranes in the tissue, and act as an intensive lymphatic drainage treatment with major skin tightening results as an outcome.
OK, the science is all very well, but I don't want to bore you with data or studies, or even the fact that this is a temporary treatment- as it's non invasive, unless you maintain your new shape with diet and exercise you'll quickly see an end to the benefits.
A general sceptic when it comes to treatments that proclaim they are the answer we've been looking for, I lay on the table thoroughly prepared to dismiss the whole thing as a psychological trick.
To start with I underwent a very through Q&A with Shenaz about my medical history. 'Many people omit things because they don't think they're important', she said. 'They don't realize that the littlest thing might have an impact!'
Then we decided that the area I'd like to focus on would be my stomach. I lay on the bed and she placed a blue ultrasonic light over the area. It felt slightly warming, and I was then left to my own devices for around forty minutes whilst it worked its magic on my insides- this was a preliminary step to the actual treatment.
After the right amount of time had elapsed, Shenaz came back and applied a viscous like gel to my abdomen. She then selected a head for the machine- the probes differ in size depending on the area treated, and mine was relatively small. For the next forty odd minutes she vigorously rolled it across my stomach in sweeping circles.
It wasn't an unpleasant experience as it felt like being gently prodded by a teddy bear, and the cream wasn't cold at all. When we finished the treatment Shenaz removed the excess cream and I stared at my profile in the mirror.
I had a waist! Correction- I had more of a waist then previously, with definite contours shaping my sides- and as Shenaz had massaged the 'side rolls' too, I seemed slimmer all over.
I was speechless, I'd expected some sort of contouring, but not this instant tightening, or sleeker profile. The modelling done via the probe had seriously changed my shape, and I was ecstatic at my new contours. True, I knew they wouldn't last unless I hit the gym big time, but for now I was happier with my body than I'd been in a long time.
I can't recommend this enough- my inner sceptic has been well and truly silenced.
The Face and Body Clinic, 57 Harley Street, London. Tel: 0207 436 3936. From £600 for 5 treatments.