It was a dark and stormy day of self-care.
I had canceled my facial earlier in the week. I decided things were tight financially and that I would skip it for sure. A couple of days later, we received incredible news - literal game changer of epic proportion! So, I decided to reach back out to my esthetician to see if she still has the appointment. Bingo! She still did. I decided to preemptively have some celebratory self-care.
Here I am, appointment day. Mom and I go together. She takes the first appointment because it’s a way that I can knock out admin stuff while she’s in there. I like to get my work done before I relax. We have been going to our esthetician for 10 years off and on. She does unique things that go for beyond a facial. She moves lymphatic fluid and it becomes more of an immune-boosting experience rather than someone just putting hot towels on my face and flitting around my face like a bird on a bird feeder. As a body worker and structural therapist, I value being someone’s hands that knows what they’re doing. This is why I tend to be loyal and simultaneously a tough sell in most circumstances.
She said she wanted to do something different. She applied a vitamin infusion to my face and worked it in. She knows my convictions so I thought nothing of it. I had never experienced it before. She told me to sleep in it and I obey orders. The next day we had affiliate videos scheduled with a make up artist/hairstylist and of course, the videographer.
"She said she wanted to do something different. She applied a vitamin infusion to my face and worked it in. She knows my convictions so I thought nothing of it."
As I got up the next morning and looked in the mirror, nothing really seemed to be wrong. I walked our three dogs, suddenly, my face started itching. I knew I had to get the “infusion” off my face as soon as possible. I looked in the mirror, and my face was swollen, red, felt like it was on fire, and itched like I lost a bet. Guess what? Makeup, hair, and videography were canceled….
Have you ever wanted to undo what you did despite unintentionally doing it in the first place? Give-A-Derm to the rescue…. The adventure began! First of all, I used our Clay Cleanser - very diluted. It did a good job, the challenge was using enough pressure to remove the dried mask type “infusion” without rubbing my face raw. Next step, nothing aggressive! I moved straight to Bamboo Mist, it both cool down my face and felt a little bit stingy because of the raw aspects of my skin, but SOOTHING once it had time to absorb. Next, I moved to Nourish, lots and lots of Nourish. I alternated between The Lotion, Nourish, and MOTHER SLUGGER™️! Slugging helped me get through in ways I cannot explain.
Day 2 - Swelling my assets off!
I woke up and itched like CRAZY! Honestly, all I wanted to do was face-plant in aloe and never get up. Also, I had no idea fresh cut aloe smell like body odor! Yeah, insult on top of injury, I put some on and felt exceptionally good about myself as my face now smelled like BO. I almost sprayed Pits Me Off™️ all over it but I knew the peppermint wouldn’t be helpful! I looked like I had been stung all over my face by a swarm of stinky bees. Who knew that could’ve been a healthier choice? I started to feel like the outer several layers of my skin were in such turmoil that it made my face feel like I couldn’t move it without it cracking…. Mother Slugger™️ stat! I used black tea and nano-silver so many times and while it was still on my face, I covered it with MORE Mother Slugger™️.
"She said she wanted to do something different. She applied a vitamin infusion to my face and worked it in. She knows my convictions so I thought nothing of it."
Day 3 -Going straight to swell.
More inflammation, more burning, more itching. Same protocol implemented over and over. I heard back from our esthetician with the ingredients of the “vitamin infusion”. It had soy (major allergy of mine), retinol (trash for the skin) and Japanese honeysuckle (mimics a paraben, affects your body as a paraben), and she added in willowbark which turned the whole thing into an extreme chemical mask. If you know me and as you get to know me, you’ll find that I am crunchy and would never sign up for this had I known. In addition to the treatments, I made sure I forgave the esthetician (literally she’s a friend and meant no harm), forgave the “vitamin infusion”. It’s been proven that emotional conflicts and unforgiveness will inhibit healing and potentially increase the disfunction of the entire situation! Severely itchy face-on-fire will for sure be a motivator to move through any residual offense quickly!
Day 4 - Un-apeeling
Here it came - looked like my face had massive patches of what appeared to be dander and snowflakes - essentially massive layers of skin started leaving my face all at once! I looked like I had a disease. In addition to all of the other sexy things happening on my face, let’s add peeling to the roster. I used a very watery version of our Bar Soap to cleanse once a day and the slathered on Mother Slugger™️. No joke - it was my lifeline. I can’t even remember how many times a day I applied it.
Day 5 - Same, Same, Same,
Same but now add that my face felt like alligator skin that can’t breathe. Boy oh boy.
Day 6 - The outbreak arrived.
So many break outs and so little fun! My poor sweet skin was just trying to purge the awful stuff in any way that it could. I couldn’t cover it with any makeup because it still hurt so I just rocked my errands and kept my head held high. “Please forgive my accidental chemical peel gone wrong”. The saddest part is that I would have never in a thousand years agreed to it, however, I did no due diligence on ingredients before saying yes in our session which is very rare for me.
Today - Day 7 - Swelling is down
Significantly, breakouts are alive and well, peeling is like snowflakes on a Winter’s day on my face, and I’m trying to figure out how to keep Mother Slugger™️ in my pocket at all times like a can of tobacco in the back pocket of Wranglers. Even though it looks like I have a growth on my hip who really cares in the end as long as I have Mother Slugger™️ as a pocket holster, ready to put out my itchy, flakey, face fire. The thought of makeup is like a swear word to me. I’m still scratching my face like an allergic monkey. Thank God I’m not swollen!
must say this as I close, I am an incessant label reader, I ask weird sourcing questions at grocery stores, I ask what kind of oils restaurants use, etc. I never asked about ingredients when she said she was going to give me a vitamin infusion. Rookie move for sure on my part. Lesson learned. Be informed and ask questions on these type things. It matters. I’m off to put on my next round Mother Slugger™️.
Stay tuned for more healing progress.
Julianna Grimmes
CEO of Give-A-Derm