Sand-blasted and picked over..

..in the name of vanity

[Warning: semi-gross and probably more information than I should share]

My first ever sand-blasting, aka micro-derm abrasion, session went well last week, but I think yesterday's over-zealous facial and subsequent spot-removal solution cancelled it out. And may have scarred me for life, if not physically, then emotionally. (Yeah, I'm exaggerating for emphasis.)

For a couple of years now I've always wanted to try micro-derm abrasion. Last month I won a couple of facial-type gift certificates from one of our newspaper's online auctions and have started to redeem them. I was quite pleased with first treatment, but results from yesterday's follow-up and skin-lightening gel were unexpected, to say the least. The initial massage and facial were great, but I encouraged her to pick away at bumps & stuff, so now I have little dried-blood scablets on my forehead and cheek. But the weirdest part was when I applied the skin-lightening gel. I tried it for the first time last night, just before going to bed. It stung a bit, but I attributed that to the fact the my face was still pretty beaten up from the facial and skin-picking. When I woke up, my skin didn't look too good, but I went ahead and applied the darn thing again -- and freaked as I stood there watching my face turn a lovely shade of RED! Any dark areas that I was trying to lighten became DARKER as my skin felt as if was slowly gonna burn and peel off of my face. I resisted removing the gel in the hopes that it would subside, but eventually ran to the sink to douse the flames.

Of course, I had to go out and meet a friend for coffee looking like that. Tried to cover up w/make up, but I know my face still looked inflamed. I told her about it and she was kind and didn't laugh out loud. Later, I met another friend for lunch, but didn't mention it (he's a guy, I know he wouldn't care), and don't know if he noticed the scabs or residual redness that mostly subsided by then. [He reads this periodically, maybe he will comment - hint, hint - to let me know!]

*sigh* I shoulda known this wouldn't have proceeded without a hitch. So now I look crappier than before. I think. Damn. It sucks getting old.