Say the words 'Stem Cell facial' to people and they tend to react quite oddly. The words 'Stem Cell' seem to evoke some primal form of fright, as though all those science classes they've forgotten have now come back to haunt them. The reality is quite different however, and I was happy to head down to Knightsbridge to try out my first ever stem cell facial at Destination Skin.
The official name of the procedure was called the The Dermaquest signature stem cell facial as it uses Dermaquest products and was developed by their clinicians and it involves many similar aspects to that of a regular facial. It's supposed to brighten your skin, reduce fine lines and leave you ready to go out straight away. Here's my story...
I arrived at the brightly lit salon and was greeted by the lovely Sara Smith who was my therapist that day. We went through a chart talking about my skin concerns and goals and I filled in my details on an easy to read form.
Next up the treatment. I'm used to fully undressing when I have treatment but Sara said I merely need take my top off so she could have access to my neck and shoulders and thoughtfully covered me u with a warm towel.
The facial involve a few stages- there was the cleaning phase where she used strong hand techniques to massage off the deep grim and accumulated makeup of every day, hot towels to moisten the skin and some more firm hand stroking to help stimulate blood circulation. She also used a Clarisonic which I was impressed by- I love it when clinics incorporate technology into their treatments (they sterilize it for each client).
There was a point where the facial stopped and Sara carefully examined my skin under a magnifying mirror. She identified areas of dryness in my nose and cheeks, a blackhead (shame) on my forehead and told me that my skin was very dehydrated and I needed to try and rectify this. I loved the personal element of this facial as it was so tailored to my specific needs and it was really useful.
Sara then applied different masks to the face, and whilst they were on gently massaged my head and neck, kneading out knots and making me feel very relaxed.
Then we got to the stem cell part of the treatment. The Dermaquest Stem cells treatments uses botanical stem cells combined with pineapple and papaya enzymes. These have been suspended in a cream type formulation which was applied to my face with a spatula. It felt quite gloopy and a little prickly, but it was bearable. The prickly feeling is the enzymes gently exfoliating the top layer of skin and the cream was enriched with peptides and antioxidants to help nourish and brighten it.
Once my treatment had finished Sara created a treatment and product description tailored towards my skin needs. It involved a line of suggested treatments that would further benefit my skin such as Microdermabrasion for extra skin brightness and IPL to remove broken capillaries in my cheeks.
There was no pressure to book in for anything else on the day, and the advice was friendly and not intrusive.
What I really enjoyed about the treatment is that I was ready to go and face the world after it- I didn't have to suffer through redness or breakouts that are so common with traditional facial procedures. I was advised not to wear makeup but hat mineral foundation would be OK, but I loved how glowing and bright my skin looked that I actually went barefaced for the rest of the day.
The treatment costs £70 for 1 treatment at Destination Skin and a course of 3 is £165 (a 20% saving). It's a gentle enough treatment that you could have it weekly if you wanted to boost your skin and it's a great way to give you some added skin confidence as there's no skin downtime afterwards.
Check out Destination Skin here for a clinic near you or call them on 08451258415