Yesterday, I walked over to a med spa which I have booked an appointment with for a Deep Pore Cleansing Facial. I was early, but was still asked to wait another half an hour before the dermatologist/treatment lady could attend myself. I wasn’t impressed, but she later on explained that the previous customer was late so it just carried on. Ah well, just as long as the treatment’s good.

The consultation began, with me explaining what problems I had with my skin, and asking if the facial I had wanted to do would be suitable, or if she would suggest something else. Well, obviously she did.

She said that for my skin, it would be advisable to do 4 Peel treatments, and 2 Hydrating Facials. All for a ‘special price’ of 1600AED. This treatment would go on for a month. And after that, I can decide if I wanted to proceed with the next treatment (I cannot remember the name). She then added that I would purchase this ‘Home Spa’ treatment thing that costs 400AED (which I later on found out was a mistake, to be explained later on… Read on). Total of 2000AED. I looked at her and said, so it’s 2000AED, and nothing more? She said yep.

I told her, as I am new to this place, I would like to try just one treatment, see how it goes, and then decide if I want to sign up for this ‘special package’. I said I don’t mind paying ‘full price’ for just this one treatment. She explained to me briefly what this peel does, and how good it would be. Yes she did tell me it was acid. To be honest, I wasn’t completely horrified because facial care products do contain acid. Hyaluric acid. Salycic acid. I just didn’t know how intense it would be, and she did not tell me that, either.

I’m going fast-forward to the moment she actually placed this product on my face.

I cannot explain how excruciating it was. It was literally, like high concentraiton acid, splashed ALL over your face. She told me before putting on – it’s going to have a little bit of a tingling sensation. Tingling sensation my ass. I thought maybe it’ll go away, but it did not. My tears started to pour out of my eyes and she asked “Which part?“. I told her, “The whole face.”

She then very quickly wiped this stuff off and rubbed a whole lot of, I think it was antibiotic cream all over my face. She then told me, you have to keep this on for 8 hours, and then wash it off with water, and put this K-ceutic cream on. In my head, I was thinking, okay – 8 hours. It is about 6pm now. 8 hours form now is 2am. I asked her ‘You want me to wake up at 2am to wash this off my face?’. She said ‘Yes, you have to’. I asked her ‘Is it not good for your face/health to wake up in the middle of your sleep?‘. She said ‘You have to do this’. I did not bother to ask her, what if I rolled around when I was sleeping and the product went all over my bed, anyways?

I then said, alright, what else do I do after that? What about this home care product, when do I use that?

She was confused. She said, no no no, you don’t use that yet, you use this K-ceutic cream. I looked at her and said, so that’s part of the home care? What about eye cream, etc? She said, no no no… that’s separate.

$%#^@!.

This was when I was getting really agitated.

I said, well you told me just now, 1600AED + 400AED for home care, and that’s it. I asked you if that’s it and you said yep. She then went to explain it was a misunderstanding, the 400AED is for the K-ceutic cream. The home care is separate.

Alright fine. May be it was a miscommunication. I was however very sure when I asked her, straight to her eye, 2000AED and no more?

Moving on to this K-ceutic cream. She said, you have to pay me 400AED in cash. I said, I don’t have cash. I can pay at the counter. She told me, no, you have to pay me cash. I asked her why? She went on about paying some Indians this cash, which I just couldn’t comprehend or even tried to understand.

At that point, I sat up, and I told her.

Look, I am just going to pay for this one treatment. I am not going to buy this K-ceutic cream. I am a bit sceptical about this product that you have used, and I will do some research. If it’s all good, I will come back to you. I appreciate your comments and help today, thanks.

I don’t know how to explain to you guys how horrible I felt at that point. I looked in the mirror and my face was just, red. I mean, alright – I’ve been to facials.  My skin ain’t great. When I used to have acne problems, after facials it looks even worst BUT, it gets better. The thing is, the dermatologists normally tells you in very detail what they will do to your face, how much you have to pay, and well, everything you need to know. This was just now professional, at all.

When I went home, I went to research on this TCA Peel thing. I’m gonna tell you 8 things she should’ve told me, or advised me to do before/during/after. Ladies, please keep this in mind. Don’t be a dumbas like me and let your face be experimented.

Refer link : http://www.skinacea.com/facials/peels/TCA.html

1. Before you get a TCA peel, dermatologists normally recommends using retinoids or an AHA serum to prime the skin before the peel. This is optional. I was recommended to do a TCA peel immediately after a half an hour consultation. I was not asked if I had been using a serum prior to coming to this consultation
2. Before a TCA peel, dermatologists also recommended that, three days before the actual peel, you should stop usage of all exfoliants (manual or chemical), and on the day itself, that you have not used any harsh products. I was not asked about this at all.
3. 48 hours before you do a peel,  the dermatologist should’ve given you a patch test. This was not done, and it was not done before I got the treatment itself either.
4. It is also recommended that you take time off work due to the effects of peeling. I was never told how serious this peeling will be, or that I should have some ‘downtime’?
5. You might get some swelling after this treatment. I was not told this.
6. Dermatologist did not recommend me to drink a lot of water, or regularly spritzing of thermal water after treatment.
7. It is understood that a peel can only be done once every month for 3 months, and then a break for 3-6 months before the next peel. I was recommended (or asked to pay for) to do 4 peels in the space of one month?
8. I was asked to use tap water to wash my face and then use the K-ceutic cream. With Dubai tap water? On sensitive, peeled skin?

I know some of you are going to give me a lot of crap, and go,omg you dumbas, why didn’t you do this this this, blah blah 🙂 Give me a break 🙁 I already look like shit now and can only anticipate what will happen to my skin in the next 10 days.

I had to cross the road with my boss today, and I brought my umbrella, sunglasses, and thermal spray water. He just laughed, and I told him ‘sensitive skin’.

I go to the bathroom every 2-3 hours, to put aloe vera on my face, because it’s so red now. The guy sitting across me keeps telling me I look fine. But seriously, I know how I look!

Okay – who knows, maybe 2 weeks from now after my skin is all peeled I will look fabulous. I don’t know. If that’s the case, that will be fantastic. But that’s not the problem. The problem is, she SHOULD have told me the 8 points above, being a ‘professional’ and all. Unbelievable, really.

This is my second facial in Dubai. The first one – see “Elemis Facial“, was fantastic 🙂 This is not really a facial I guess, it’s more of a treatment. But still, she should’ve told me those points above, and well, you can’t always blame everyone for these things. I am at fault too, for being, really, a dumbas.

Price to pay, on my face.

If you know me, I am going to be ‘hibernating’ for the next two weeks.

If you don’t know me, and you see someone with a red-as face who looks like she’s just sunburnt, come say hi. I’m not sure at what stage my face will be by then – let’s just say a red face person or a peeling face person, or shit-faced person, ha ha.

Rolling back to the end of the treatment, she told me to come back on Thursday for a check-up. I don’t know if I’m ever going to want to walk into that med spa again.

All those points above that you see? I have sent an email to them (Update 14/08 – no reply since).

Honestly, I walked into the Spa hopeful, and was quite excited to blog about it. Which is why, most of the stuff that you see here are things that have impressed me in a good way, or should I say ‘worth blogging’, being ‘spoilt’ in Dubai. Well this is definitely  not good stuff, but I’ll say, worth sharing. I just hope it’s not my face that is going to be getting ‘spoilt’, in Dubai 🙁 

Share this, to other ladies (hopefully not as dumb as me) won’t have to go through what I did.

Feel free to leave comments.