I’m a 33-year-old male who can sometimes pass for being younger. But I know it won’t last forever.
Stress from adulting has started to rear its unkind face. My skin has begun to sag, and dark bags under my eyes make me look perpetually exhausted. To help with some of these issues, I decide to try the men’s anti-aging microdermabrasion facial ($165) at Luxe Day Spa in Chagrin Falls.
When I walk into the small, unassuming spa tucked in the back of an office building, I’m not sure what to expect. I rarely wash my face outside the shower and have never had a facial before. But as I lie on a massage table in a low-lit room, Irina Shpigelman, the spa’s owner and a former engineer from Ukraine, assures me I’ll have immediate results.
“When we have sensitive skin or skin that’s not glowing, it means we are covered with dead cells,” she says. “It’s the aging process.”
To slow it down, she says, you need get rid of all the dead stuff. So she lathers my face with two rounds of cleanser followed by two rounds of exfoliating lotions. This is all to prepare my skin for the microdermabrasion machine, a vacuum-like contraption that uses small salt crystals to sandblast dead cells off my face.
Sure, that sounds terrifying and the vibrating hum of the machine is unpleasantly loud, but it’s comforting to feel the suction tube run across my cheeks, sucking up all that dead skin I didn’t even know I had. The whole experience makes me feel like my face is getting the kind of deep cleaning I’ve been neglecting for years.
I am then barraged by a series of treatments — a tingling pumpkin enzyme chemical peel, an ultrasonic sound wave machine that pushes warm hyaluronic and lactic acids underneath the surface of my skin, and a pure cocoa mask — all to perfect, brighten, tone and repair my skin cells.
Almost immediately, my skin feels tight, silky smooth and invigorated, like I’ve been gifted with more energy, and my eyes are less heavy than before. To prevent wrinkles and maintain my youthful glow, I’m told I should get this facial once a month.
Although I could always rely on hefty Instagram filters to polish my profile pics, dedicating time to my future self may be worth the effort since I’m not getting any younger.
8401 Chagrin Road, Suite 5, Chagrin Falls, 440-543-0588, luxedayspaohio.com
