Turn your home into a Harley Street clinic
IN THIS, the fifth and last part of our brilliant series exploring the treatments that can take years off you, ALICE HART-DAVIS reveals the latest ways to turn back the clock in the comfort of your own home...
ALL week, I’ve been discussing the highimpact treatments offered by cosmetic clinics to roll back the years and improve your looks. I’m guessing you like the idea — most people do! But perhaps you’d rather do some of it at home. Perhaps you can’t afford to fork out for salon treatments, or you live too far away from the top aesthetic practices, or you’d prefer to experiment with anti-agers privately.
well, nowadays, the market is heaving with home-use beauty devices offering watered-down versions of the technology in clinics. what sort of technology? Almost anything you care to name.
There are gadgets for stimulating skin regeneration: lasers to smooth and renew, microcurrent devices to hoick sagging facial muscles back into better shape, electrical toners, derma rollers, micro needlers, LeD light masks . . .
You could start with a powered cleansing brush (seen below), which if used a couple of times a week will help remove dead skin cells and allow moisturisers to penetrate more evenly and effectively.
There’s been a big boom in home devices. ‘over the past five years technologies have become significantly more effective, allowing consumers to safely replicate the professional treatments they have experienced in salons and spas,’ says Laurence Newman, of Manchester-based Current body, which markets personal health and beauty tech.
‘with many people looking for non- invasive alternatives, particularly in anti- ageing, devices for use at home have provided an ideal solution.’
But the question I’m always asked is: ‘Do home devices really work?’ The answer is invariably: ‘Yes . . . but only if you use them properly, and consistently.’
In the same way that you will only get fit by going to the gym regularly, you won’t get results by using these devices only when you remember. Because they are lower-powered versions of salon devices, results will take longer.
So, even if a device boasts a clinical trial or U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance showing it does what it claims, it will only achieve those results if you follow the instructions scrupulously. Hav- ing said that, don’t use them more than is recommended, assuming that it will speed results. These devices may offer lower doses of laser or radio frequency than in- clinic treatments, but your skin will still need time to adjust to them.
Pick your product with care, and use it sensibly. I know I am unlikely to use something that means sitting in front of a mirror for ten minutes three times a week. But a mask I can wear as I tidy the house, I can handle. Here are my pick of the best:
THE MICRO NEEDLER
MICRONEEDLING is increasingly popular as an athome treatment to stimulate collagen production.
WHAT IS IT? A sophisticated home-use microneedling device, the GloPro Microstimulation Facial Tool is designed to stimulate the skin’s natural healing response and is said to be particularly useful for ageing skin. It also vibrates and beams soothing, collagen-boosting red LeD light at the skin.
The roller is covered in tiny 0.3mm stainless steel spikes.
Passing it across the face creates thousands of tiny holes in the skin. These allow skincare products to get right into the skin so that they will be more effective.
The theory is also that, as the skin races to repair the damage caused by the needles, it produces growth factors and collagen that help strengthen the skin.
WHAT IT’S LIKE TO USE: Very easy and only lightly prickly rather than painful. when I tried it out, I rolled it enthusiastically around my face for the recommended minute, then carried on a bit until I could see my poor face was going pink — but there’s no harm done. It just means the needles are doing their job.
Then I slapped on my retinolbased night cream and retired for the night.
VERDICT: Fabulous. I have found myself using this with dedication and also experimenting with the larger bodyroller head with its 0.5mm spikes, which is meant to be brilliant for stretch marks and cellulite — though I appreciate that you could get all the same benefits of the microneedling, minus the LED light and vibration, with a £10 dermaroller bought on the internet.
Bear in mind, though, not all dermatologists are keen on it.
Some say that it may cause unnecessary trauma to the skin and that few of the products people apply after needling are designed to go as deep into the skin as they will through the needled holes. I love it, though.
COST: £199 ( Beautybioscience.co.uk).
FACIAL TRAINER
ThE NuFace Trinity Facial Trainer Kit runs low-level microcurrents through the face to improve circulation and help reduce fine lines. By tweaking and toning facial muscles, it helps give a lifted appearance.
WHAT IS IT? This nifty device, hugely popular in the U.S., is the only one of its kind to have FDA approval. All of which suggests it does what it claims, including improving facial contours.
Because it tones muscles, you would think it would work against Botox. But it actually complements Botox because it plumps up muscle fibre — even if those muscles are temporarily inactivated by Botox.
WHAT IT’S LIKE TO USE: Easy. You just switch it on and, having first applied conductive gel to the skin, slide the smooth bobbles of the device slowly upwards and outwards across the cheeks, nine times on each side. Then slowly upwards from the eyebrows, nine times each side. This takes less than five minutes.
having seen a demonstration where a middle-aged model’s eyebrow was hoisted by at least a centimetre in just five minutes, I have been experimenting at home and can just about do it.
That hoisted brow will last just one evening, but I know daily use would hold it for longer. WHAT IT FEELS LIKE: It tingles a bit, but it’s not remotely painful. Some people use it while watching TV. That’s only possible if you’re alone as the beep from the device telling you to move to a new spot will annoy others. Trust me.
VERDICT: Terrific, portable and slightly addictive. I love the way that, when I have worked over my forehead and tweaked up my eyebrows, I feel much more awake. This is because my forehead is lifted and so my eyes are that little bit more open.
What I haven’t managed to do is use it consistently enough to get lasting results, but I know it is proven to make a significant difference if you keep at it.
COST: Original size, £315. Mini version, £167 ( currentbody.com).
THE LIP PLUMPER
ANY non- surgical method of making your lips look bigger, even temporarily, is worth a closer look and PMD Kiss promises just that.
WHAT IS IT? A compact device which uses a pulsating vacuum to apply suction to your lips, which makes them swell. It’s like a kinder, electronic version of the shot-glass trick. (I wouldn’t recommend trying this, but it involves pushing your lips into an empty shot glass, then sucking out the air to create a vacuum, which causes lips to swell.)
If you apply the serum supplied, it is meant to help hydrate your lips and boost their volume further. The effect lasts up to three hours.
I can see this being popular with young women who want fuller looking lips without filler injections, as well as with older women whose lips are thinning.
Daily use is meant to boost collagen production and give plumped up lips for as long as six weeks.
WHAT IT’S LIKE TO USE: Easy enough. It vacuums up a chunk of lip at a time, and you move it around until each bit has been treated. It doesn’t hurt, and it takes about three minutes to do.
VERDICT: It certainly boosts lip volume and colour ( due to the increased blood flow) for an hour or two, but I found that going too near the lip edge could leave a red ring around the outside of the mouth, which looks odd and which you can’t hide with lipstick.
This is something I can’t really be bothered with. Why have I included it in here if I wouldn’t use it myself? Because it does give a result and you might feel differently about it.
COST: £71.20 ( currentbody.com).
FACIAL SHRINK WRAP
RADIO FREQUENCY energy is a popular in- clinic choice for tightening skin and reducing wrinkles. The Tripollar Stop offers a home- use version of the same technology.
WHAT IS IT? Like a clinic-based radio frequency treatment, the Tripollar Stop creates heat within the skin, with two results. Initially, it has a quick tightening effect as the heat makes collagen in the skin contract; and longer term, the heat prompts the skin to make new collagen. The device can be used on hands and neck, too.
WHAT IT’S LIKE TO USE: I apply a thin layer of conductive gel all over my clean, dry face, switch on, and get going. The head of the Tripollar device has four rounded metal pegs and these must be in contact with the skin for it to work.
As instructed, I work on a small area of face, sliding those four pegs around in a slow circle. It feels very warm, and just as it is becoming alarmingly hot, the green indicator light on the device turns orange, which tells me that patch of skin is cooked — or at least, hot enough to stimulate new collagen. Phew.
Then I move on. It takes just over 20 minutes to go over my whole
face, which is left a bit red, but this goes within half an hour.
VERDICT: As with all home-use devices, you need patience and commitment to get the best results. And because it takes 20 minutes, you need to set that time aside two or three times a week. What I’m really interested in seeing is what difference it can make to my neck, which is in more need of attention than my face, so I’m motivated to keep going with it.
COST: £249 ( currentbody.com).
SKIN TIGHTENING LASER
THE Tria Age-Defying Laser uses a lighter version of the same nonablative (ie removes no skin) laser technology you find in professional salon treatments, and is FDA cleared, too.
WHAT IS IT? Tria uses targeted laser light to reduce discoloration, improve skin texture, smooth wrinkles and rebuild collagen. It drives tiny pinprick beams of laser light into the skin, and as these micro- channels of damage heal, you begin to see the benefits.
If you worry that a laser could be dangerous to have around at home — this has several safety features. Each zap of laser won’t fire until the gadget’s head is in flat contact with skin.
WHAT IT’S LIKE TO USE: Very userfriendly. The little zaps of laser light it delivers feel no worse than gentle pinpricks, even after I have skipped past the first two levels and cranked it up to maximum.
One major attraction is you use it on clean, dry skin and don’t need expensive conduction gel other home devices require. The treatment takes 15 minutes — five minutes on each side of your face and five on the forehead. I was a bit pink for an hour afterwards, but now my skin is used to the treatment, it lasts for ten minutes.
When I was new to the Tria, I had to watch what I was doing in the mirror, but now I relax on the sofa, watch TV or even lie in bed while gliding it over my face.
It’s recommended to use the device for five days a week for 12 weeks and then for another 12 weeks when needed. I don’t manage that, but do use it weekly.
VERDICT: I love a home beauty gadget and I have found I use this regularly just because it is so easy to use. I am very happy with the way it brightens up my skin when it’s a bit dull and smooths the surface. I’m hoping it’s keeping some lines and wrinkles at bay, too.
COST: From £299 ( currentbody. co.uk).