Beauty Lab Glycolic peel London

Are you looking for a Glycolic Peel in London? We have clinics in Canada Water SE16 and Stratford E15. This brightening and deep cleansing facial will give your skin a deep exfoliation and leave you with a wonderful glow. Helping refine pores and resurfacing fine lines, your skin will be left looking brighter and tighter. It also aids in evening out skin tone if you suffer from hyper-pigmentation, further treating inflammation and healing acne scarring.

“Great for ALL skin types except extremely sensitive skin”

The Beauty Lab skin care facial GLYCOPEEL™ is an amazing glycolic acid peel for the face. Glycolic acid is a type of alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA) that is produced from sugar cane. It joins a family of other AHA’s such as lactic acid (from sour milk), tartaric acid (from grapes) and citric acid also known as fruit acids.

These acids are all water soluble and great at removing the surface layer of skin, therefore leaving the skin smoother and brighter, additionally reducing uneven skin tone. Our glycolic peel facial consists of 3 stages of deep exfoliation. We start with a 10% glycolic acid wash, followed by a granular exfoliator and then the 10%, 20% or 30 % peel.

Great for most skin types but not extremely sensitive skin.

Why choose a Glycolic acid peel?

We love glycolic acid at bodytonic clinic as it’s a tiny powerhouse AHA. Glycolic is the strongest and most effective acid because it has the smallest molecules. This means it can get deep down into the layers of skin and exfoliate, reducing inflammation and reducing the appearance of marks left from acne breakouts.

As this facial focuses on deep exfoliation using Glycolic acid with pomegranate enzymes, it is ideal for sun damage, premature ageing, dull, congested and acne scarred skin.

Our Glycolic acid peel comes in three percentages – 10%, 20% and 30%.

Glycolic acid peel benefits:

• Great for firming of the skin
• Anti-ageing
• Helps brighten the skin
• Evening skin tone
• Helps reduce pore size
• Great resurfacing treatment
• Smoother skin
• Reducing acne inflammation
• Help reduce acne cysts
• Can be used as a regular skin brightening programme

Skin types that benefit from glycolic acid:

• Congested and dull skin
• Sun damaged skin
• Acne prone skin
• Aging skin
• Thickened skins

The therapist will discuss your skin type and concerns every time you have a facial.

If you think a Glycolic acid peel sounds scary, don’t fear, our therapists are very knowledgeable and use the best formulated glycolic acid products. Your skin care therapist will do a full analysis of your skin and share advice for the best strength to use in treatment. We will normally start lower on the 10% and work your skin’s strength and resistance up to higher levels, which your practitioner will discuss with yourself upon your 1st visit to the clinic. Book a FREE skin consultation to find out if this is the treatment you need.

All our practitioners are professionally qualified and insured, we have been using The Beauty Lab skin care facial GLYCOPEEL™ at bodytonic for 6 years, achieving excellent results.

Our glycolic peel facial consists of 3 stages of deep exfoliation. We start with a 10% glycolic acid wash, followed by a granular exfoliator and then the 10%, 20% or 30 % peel. For your first treatment we always use the lowest level of peel so we can gauge how your skin reacts to the product. The Glycolic peel is left on between 5-10 mins depending on how your skin is feeling. It is then thoroughly wiped off with water and sponges.

Facial extractions are included in our glycolic peel, which are performed after the peel has softened the skin. Deep cleansing extractions allow us to manually remove congestion, white heads, black heads, larger breakouts and milia.

We follow these processes with a soothing massage and 4 layers of calming and hydrating products. These products will neutralise the peel, soothe the skin and help to maintain moisture for the next few days. We finish off with a SPF 50 sun protection layer.

Directly after your facial, you should expect some redness and a shiny appearance, but skin will look fresher from about 12hrs after.

There is no down time after this Glycolic peel facial, as there is with some very high grade medical chemical peels.
The best results are usually seen about 1-3 days after the treatment. You must use sun protection after this treatment and do not need to do any home exfoliation for at least 4 days. This includes all chemical and mechanical exfoliation.

With the lower levels of our peel you will get minimal visible peeling, once we work your skin’s strength up to the higher levels, more advanced peeling will occur. This is normal and you should make sure you use extra moisturiser over the period of visible flaking.

The bodytonic back cleanse is an excellent treatment for those who have acne breakouts on the back or for anyone who wants a deep back cleanse and exfoliation. We use the same products and steps as for our glycolic peel facial, so this is basically a facial for the back. A back facial is a great way to deeply cleanse that hard to reach area and resurface the skin, as well as have a relaxing treatment all in one.

Due to the skin on the body being less sensitive then the face we would use the 20% peel from the first treatment. This ensures you get a deep exfoliation and extremely smooth back from the start. We will then perform extractions for the back, as this area is impossible to reach yourself, followed by a 20-30 min massage.

Peeling does not normally occur on the back but we recommend moisturising a few days after the treatment to make sure the skin is kept supple. Also to maintain the effect of the peel, you should exfoliate the back once a week post treatment.

Once you have had the glycolic peel facial it is important to look after the skin so you get the best results:

• It it best to have your glycolic facial in the evening
  • This means the product can work overnight
  • You need to avoid wearing makeup for at least 4 hrs post treatment
• You will have many layers of soothing products on your face – these need to stay on the skin for best
• results, massage them in if there seems to be any excess on the skin
• Avoid exercise for at least 12hrs to avoid sweating
• Avoid being in the sun for 24 hrs
• Wear SPF daily for at least a week post facial
• Do not exfoliate your skin for at least 4 days post treatment
• Increase moisturiser on day 2,3,4 after treatment to reduce tightness from peel
• We recommend regular treatments for best results, your therapist will give you a personalised plan once your skin has been treated

Can Glycolic Facial Peels be painful?

Glycolic Peels are not painful, however some patients experience tingling or a stinging sensation throughout the treatment but mainly when the glycolic acid peel is on and active. We will keep massaging the peel over the skin during this time to minimise this sensation. The skin may feel a bit sensitive and warm, with some redness after the treatment which is normal. This will calm down within 12 hrs.

Will I be able to go out after the glycolic peel?

There is no down time for this facial whoever directly after treatment you can expect some redness and a shiny appearance, but skin will look fresher from 12hrs after. You are advised not to wear makeup for about 4 hours to let the products fully absorb. We would suggest the peel settles for at least that amount of time before going out.

Avoid sweating for 12 hrs post treatment as the products should remain on the skin to give you best results. Your best results are about 2-4 days after the treatment.

I have had chemical peels before. Can I go straight to 30%?

For safety reasons, we can only start with 10% for your first visit to the clinic. If we use a higher percentage straight away, without fully following procedure, a reaction could occur. If this happens the desired results could take longer to achieve, as you would require a longer break between sessions.

How quickly can I go onto the 30% peel?

It will vary person to person, we will see how your skin responds to the 10% and 20% peels. If your skin is extremely tingly or flakes with the 10 %, we would treat the skin twice at this level leaving the peel on for a longer time. If you have minimal results we would apply up to the 20% on your second treatment for the minimum time . This would be the same process for 30%. The results will guide the level of use after your first Glycolic peel facial.

You can have facials every week depending on your skin concerns which will be discussed with your therapist prior to treatment or in our FREE 20min skin consultation.

Why don’t you use a steamer in a glycolic peel facial?

As the steamer creates steam to soften the skin, it also causes heating of the skin. This is not good for the glycolic acid, as heat may cause the peel to over stimulate therefore causing more of an irritation. Steam will also cause the skin to sweat which means the peel will be expelled from the skin and not allowed to absorb and work within the deeper layers as required. The heat from the steamer will open the pores further, either causing the products to sweat back out onto the surface of the skin, or cause further irritation from the peel.

Is Glycolic acid better than Salicylic acid?

It is not necessarily better but is different – the molecules in this type of AHA are smaller, allowing it to penetrate the skin deeper so getting to the area where inflammation would occur . Salicylic acid is an oil based AHA which will be absorbed into the pores and merge with the oil that is already inside, therefore helping with very congested skins. A combination of these two AHAs is great for oily acne skins.