It’s Phoebe here :) And I have a confession: I’m a bit obsessed with skincare.
You got me. I’m a LOT obsessed with skincare.
I love trying all sorts of different products and experimenting with them - after all, it helps make sure our Happy creations are the best of the best ;)
Up till now I’ve played it safe but before we went into isolation I was a bit braver than usual and tried something completely out of my comfort zone… microneedling!
Microneedling is a procedure that uses a bunch of tiny needles to puncture the first layer of your skin, creating lots of little micro-injuries, and the idea is that your skin will create collagen to heal these injuries, reducing the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and scars, and improves the overall texture of your skin.
Since I’ve had hormonal acne for as long as I can remember, the idea that microneedling could help with my acne scarring was enough motivation for me to give it a go.
In the name of research I kept a little video journal of the whole experience so I could share it with you but please note that there is a bit of bleeding in the video, so if you’re sensitive then you should give this one a miss!
When I arrived we had a lovely chat with the ladies in the salon (I can't help myself!) then we went into the treatment room and I had some refreshing gel smoothed over my face. I was left to relax for about 15 minutes while the gel went to work numbing my face, then it was showtime.
The needling part of the procedure lasted less than 20 minutes and straight after that I had some hyaluronic acid serum applied and wore a LED mask for 10 minutes to speed up recovery. All up I was in and out in under an hour, but what an hour it was :)
You might be wondering about the cost of the procedure, and I think it varies quite a bit. My salon usually charges $400 per treatment but they had a half price special and I couldn't resist the bargain so I purchased 2 treatments upfront.
Here are my big takeaways from the whole experience...
It hurts (but not too much)
Before I had the microneedling treatment my beautician was completely upfront with me and gave me the hard truth - the procedure can be pretty uncomfortable. For me only the first part was a little painful (that was my forehead) because there’s no fat there - it’s just skin and bone, so the needles get a bit ouchie, even after the numbing gel. The good news is that once you’ve done your forehead, the rest of it’s a piece of cake :)
You’ll probably bleed
I didn’t really expect to see the bleeding and I think most people having the treatment might not even realise they’re bleeding - it’s just that I whipped out my phone and started taking selfies, hehehe.
Make sure you’re in safe hands
I think it’s really important that if you’re going to have procedures done that involve needles or lasers, please make sure you’re visiting a salon or medical facility that you trust to do things right. The salon I visited was owned by medical professionals and the staff were highly trained, so I felt completely safe the whole time.
Follow the aftercare instructions
Make sure you treat your skin incredibly gently for the days (and weeks) following your procedure. It’s hard to avoid touching your face, and even harder not to cleanse and moisturise for 3 days!
But if you’re patient and you wait for that initial healing to take place before you use a gentle exfoliator on day 5, you’ll be rewarded with results. Remember to stay out of the sun too.
Once you’re allowed to use products on day 4, opt for good quality, gentle (!!), natural skincare products as your skin will still be healing for the next few weeks. Hopefully you’ll share my experience of noticing how well my serums worked post microneedling!
You may need more than one treatment
Initially I was quite sceptical, but a few weeks after my treatment I started to notice that my skin texture had improved. And now writing this and looking back on the photos I can tell there has definitely been an improvement in my pigmentation, and possibly a slight improvement to my acne scarring.
My scarring was the main issue I was trying to address with the treatment and my beautician did tell me beforehand that it can take more than one treatment to notice a difference, so I am planning on going back to do a 2nd treatment once we’re out of isolation as I actually purchased two treatments upfront initially (but I think I’ll be done after that!!).
If you’re interested in microneedling and you have some questions, feel free to send me a message and I’d be more than happy to share my experience with you. x Phoebe
