Test tubes, Bunsen burners, the periodic table… there was nothing in the GCSE syllabus which (excuse the pun) lit my fire. With glazed eyes and a wondering mind, 16 year old me sat there waiting for the bell to ring. Of course my parents blamed my terrible grades on ‘uninspiring teachers’ but I knew, deep down, that a life in a lab wasn’t to be my destiny.
So, more than 20 years later and I am now keen to re-enter the world of science. Or let me rephrase that: I am keen to know how non-evasive science could improve my skin. I have heard (time and time again) of the benefits of Environ, the deeply scientific skincare brand, and – quite frankly – my misguided skin is screaming out for some action.
The Skin3 salon has been on my must-visit list since it opened a few months ago on Fairfax Road, Swiss Cottage. The South African founders are no novices to skincare as they have made it their business to provide the UK (some 1500 salons) with their native Environ magic potions.
skin analysis with the Visia machine
On arrival I was whisked into a private consultation room by manageress, Faye. And here my in-depth skin analysis began. The Visia machine uses powerful imaging technology to scan your skin and therefore reveal early signs of damage hidden beneath the skin surface. Percentages, x-ray images and even a computer generated image of how I would look in 10 years time were all flashed in front of me.
It turns out that my skin is suffering. Not only is it even more vulnerable in the sun than I had imagined, it is ‘confused’ as I try every cleanser and cream sample sent to me by the beauty prs and, perhaps most crucially, it is desperately lacking the vitamins C and A which it needs to effectively regenerate the cells.
Faye prescribed (and performed) an active vitamin treatment to load my skin with the freshest, most active forms of Vitamins A and C straight from the Environ lab. These nutrients were then driven deeper into the skin using soundwaves and small iontophoresis.
I left Skin3 on that first day with a bag full of Environ skin products,key vitamin supplements and a huge promise to Faye not to touch another skincare brand during our experiment.
In Part 2 I will disclose (and share the brutal statistics) as to whether, over a 3 month period, these products have changed my skin.
COMPETITION: I felt a little selfish with all this skin-attention so I thought perhaps one of my readers might also like to discover how their skin is fairing… Skin3 has very generously given me a skin analysis and the new signature facial (worth £85) for one of you to win. All you have to do is email info@skin3.co.uk stating which vitamins my skin was lacking. Competition ends Sunday 22nd July 2012.
Skin3 41 Fairfax Road London NW6 020 7328 1291
follow @yablon to find out the winners of this competition…
