My 27-year-old skin behaves like I just hit puberty. I’m constantly battling pimples and swearing off makeup to let my pores breathe.
Despite being a skeptic of dermatological remedies, I’m always willing to try the next purported cure. This time, my clarity quest brought me to Gingie Spa & Massage. The holistic refuge at Eton Chagrin Boulevard offers a 30-minute hydrafacial ($199), a serum-based treatment vaunted for being quick and noninvasive.
First, master esthetician Amy Densmore led me into a low-lit, wood-paneled private room, where she probed my history of eczema and breakouts. Unlike microdermabrasion, which exfoliates with scrubs and crystals, hydrafacials use hydradermabrasion. This means a tubed plastic device with a suction head the size of a thick marker sucks oil deposits and dead skin out of your pores and replaces them with moisturizing serums. Fun.
Surprisingly, as Densmore began methodically vacuuming my entire face, the light prickling was almost entirely painless. She repeated the process three times: first cleansing my skin, then extracting excess oil and applying salicylic acid for acne treatment, and finally re-infusing my face with a glycolic serum to moisturize.
Densmore finished by applying a lavender serum to my slightly red face. The finale was soothing until I noticed a graduated cylinder filled with 100 mL of murky liquid — the refuse of serum, dead skin and oil deposits sucked from my skin.
“It’s not as bad as some people’s!” she claimed. I was not comforted.
Yet, four days later, my face remained shockingly soft. My nose pores were noticeably smaller. My acne scars hadn’t gone away, but my skin tone was more even.
Jackson recommends visits every three weeks for lasting results. Maybe if I sign up for that course, my skin can finally graduate junior high. 28699 Chagrin Blvd., Woodmere, 216-245-6858, etonchagrinblvd.com
