It’s fair to say we’re probably all feeling a little unkempt, or will be before long. Perhaps the regrowth is getting a little dark (or silver), the brows may be looking a bit straggly and things might be getting a wee bit fluffy in areas. These lapses in maintenance can definitely make you feel pretty ‘blurgh’ and it’s tempting to tackle all of these beauty dilemmas at home with whatever you can get your hands on. While some DIY beauty-work we can pretty safely get away with, although maybe not with the usual professional results, we strongly advise that you leave certain treatments to your trusted therapist. These include;
Waxing
Look, we know that hairy legs and out-of-control bikini lines can be hard to live with but think twice before attempting to tackle them with at-home waxing products. Your skilled therapist may make your regular waxing treatments look easy but realistically, it takes a fair amount of training and practice along with top quality professional waxing products to achieve an effective and safe result. Many of us have experienced painful and unsightly bruising or burns (ouch!) in delicate areas thanks to a disastrous DIY waxing attempt. A safe and successful waxing procedure requires precise application of a high-quality wax at the exact right temperature, which then must be removed skillfully and oh-so-carefully. Get this wrong and in addition to burns and bruising, you may end up with skin-lifting, snapped rather than removed hair, or just a generally poor waxing result. Although shaving means putting up with prickles, as a temporary measure until your therapist is in action again, it’s certainly a safer one!
Lash Tinting
A fresh lash tint can make you feel like a new woman and allow you to feel as though you can forgo mascara, we love that! There are a variety of at-home tinting kits being sold in pharmacies and while you can’t get into too much trouble tinting your brows this way (apart from maybe a shade-disaster), we’d recommend leaving those lashes to your trained professional. Unless somebody really knows what they’re doing it’s too easy to end up with tint in your eyes and while this may not leave you blinded, it’s extremely painful and some tint formulations could do you some damage. So, stick with mascara for now if you’re really craving some eye enhancement and save those precious peepers!
Dermaplaning
We’re seeing lots of dermaplaning tools being sold online for use at home and quite frankly, this is pretty scary! It should go without saying that using a razor-sharp blade on and around your face is extremely dangerous, unless the person on the other end of the blade has undergone proper training. Your skin therapist has been trained in exactly how to hold the blade, at what angle to use it and exactly how to avoid the risk of damage. They also do this with an extremely high level of hygiene with sterilized, high-quality tools. Please just don’t go there, to avoid infecting, cutting or even scarring your face, it’s not worth it. We know dermaplaning leaves your skin feeling baby-soft and looking luminous, but please be patient and wait until you are able to book in with your skilled skin therapist.
Microneedling
It seems that everyone is keen to get on board with this amazing, skin-transforming treatment. With its ability to stimulate collagen production, lessen scarring and encourage a more even skin tone we get why. This is a specialized treatment using expensive tools and products and your therapist must be well-trained before being able to perform it, explaining why this is one of the more expensive treatments on the menu. This is absolutely not a reason to try Microneedling at home using a device found online. Improper tools and an untrained method can easily cause grazing, bruising and scarring-not pretty at all! When performed in your skin clinic, the utmost measures in hygiene and sterilization are used to prevent any chance of infection and these standards are very difficult to replicate at home. As microneedling essentially punctures the skin it renders it very susceptible to infection, another reason to leave this treatment to the professionals. Microneedling devices using needles at a length of 0.25mm are commonly sold for at-home use to enhance product penetration. As needles of this length pierce only the very surface layer of skin, these are considered safe for home-use, provided you clean your device in a sanitizing solution after every single use.
