Thursday, July 30, 2015

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

BRS Treatment Cycling for your best shot at keeping your skin younger longer

If you are working our program the way it is designed you will see a difference in the quality, clarity, tone, color, firmness and overall radiance of your skin. If you are not working the program or only partially participating then your results will not be as good....but they will still be much better than anywhere you go for a 'fluffy facial." 

So what does this mean? We call it Treatment Cycling. It integrates intense once monthly facial treatments along with a good strong at home care system of products and 3 to 4 times a year peel or C.a.a.t. Treatments. When combined this process comes together perfectly to keep your skin looking younger longer. For more information on how this works follow this link or ask us about it. http://www.brsfacialspa.com/#!cycling-your-treatments/cspr

Friday, February 27, 2015

How to treat & prevent adult breakouts

Are you experiencing adult breakouts?  There is a difference between teen and adult breakouts.  Teen breakouts are almost always the result of the over production of sebum (oil) caused by hormonal fluctuations and surges.   Hormone fluctuations are usually about 75% of the cause of teen acne.  Also teens are more likely to be lazy with their skin care routines, making up the remaining 25%.  In the majority of cases if teens follow a strict skin care routine they will see a significant improvement in their acne.  This is not always the case with adults.

Adult breakouts can be caused by several different things making it harder to treat. Hormonal upheavals do not go away as we age, this is why women notice breakouts during their menstrual cycles and again in menopause.  Men have hormonal fluctuations too, and may notice breakouts in a cyclical pattern as do women. 

Adult breakouts can also be caused by food allergies, most common being wheat and dairy.  Believe it or not even the slightest sensitivity to these 2 foods can have a huge impact on breakouts.  I recommend that adults who eat a lot of one or both of these foods try eliminating them to see if it helps.  Many times this alone can make a huge difference.  Other contributing factors are stress, medications, diet, skin care hygiene habits, dehydration rather internal and/or external, the overuse of drying agents (over the counter spot treatments), build-up on the surface of the skin from not exfoliating often enough....or ever.   

The best way to prevent adult breakouts is to control the things listed above like stress, etc.  In addition, take an active role in how you care for your skin. When combined these things will help. So what can you do? Start by making sure you are following a good at home skin care routine considering the following things: 

1.  First you MUST pH balance your skin. People mistakenly believe if they dry out their blemishes it is a good thing.  It's not, it's a bad thing. When you over dry you knock off the pH balance resulting in more oil being pumped to make up for the dryness that was caused....thus the never ending cycle of breaking out then clearing up only to break out again.  This is why pH balancing is so important.  Use products that do not disrupt the pH balance.   
Alpha Enzyme Cleanse and Botanic Soft Cleanse. 

2.  Use a potent anti-oxidant to help fight the free radicals caused by our everyday environment.  Vitamin-C Elixir  These free radicals cause havoc in your entire body and the skin will reflect the damage.

3.  Exfoliate on a regular basis, I recommend nightly use of a topical exfoliating elixir to help rid the dead skin cells from the surface of the skin, this prevents blockages that can lead to blemishes.  Glycolic-50 Elixir  Also exfoliating a few times a week with a manually helps keep skin completely free from build-up.  Exfoliating Pore Reducer

4.  Make sure you are using a moisturiser.  Many times people think moisture causes breakouts, this is wrong, and actually the opposite is true.  If you do not use a moisturiser to balance the pH of your skin you will over dry....and as a result, over produce oil to compensate creating the cycle mentioned above.  Multi-Peptide & Collagen Elixir for moisture without oil.

If all of this is overwhelming don't worry, a short visit with your Esthetician will simplify and help you.  At BRS facial  spa our product consultations are free, we will recommend the right products for you and show you how to use them.  Everybody's skin is different, there is no ONE CURE for breakouts and there is no ONE PRODUCT that will work for everybody. 
Visit us at BRSfacialspa.com or BeautifulRadiantSkinProducts.com



Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Vitamin-C Doesn't Lighten Skin. What Does?

Skin lightening ingredients that you should know more about.  First let me inform you of a myth.  Vitamin-C does NOT lighten skin.  It doesn’t.  Vitamin-C is, however, one of the most powerful antioxidants you can apply topically to your skin.  Vitamin-C does impact hyper pigmentation (dark spots) but not by lightening them, this is so important to understand.  Vitamin-C’s role, in regard to skin lightening, is that it retards the skins’ ability to form dark spots, it does not lighten dark spots that are already there.  Vitamin-C, especially in high concentrations,  (check out BRS brand Vitamin-C Elixir for the most potent you can find) works by protecting your skin from the free radicals that contribute to the damage that becomes dark spots.  See the difference?  So when you are looking for a product to lighten dark spots Vitamin-C is not the ingredient to look for.

Recently there has been a lot of attention on the Kakadu Plum used in skin lightening products.  These products boast about the high concentrations of Vitamin-C in them.  Well, that’s all fine & good but, like I mentioned above, although a very powerful ingredient when used as an antioxidant, Vitamin-C doesn’t lighten the skin. 

Let’s address their advertising for a second, before moving on to what ingredients actually help to lighten the skin.  First, the Kakadu Plum advocates (people selling products that contain it) claim it has the highest amount of Vitamin-C on the planet. Depending on the source, and there are many, the Camu Camu Berries has as much if not more Vitamin-C.  On all charts these 2 run very close.  The range for both is anywhere from 2700mg of Vitamin-C  per 100g to 3100 mg per 100g.  The Kakadu Plum is a powerhouse when it comes to one of the best antioxidants available, but it isn’t antioxidants that lighten the skin. 

So what are the best sources of Vitamin-C?   Consider the following,  Ascorbic Acid IS Vitamin-C and it works absolutely as well or better than any rare berry or plant from the Amazon or anywhere else.  I urge you to make note of the people making the claims on these new products they claim are better, they simply are not.  It’s important to know which types of Vitamin-C absorb deepest into the skin.  When Vitmain-C comes from a food based product that is fiber rich and contains mostly cellulose you should know it is not even active when applied topically.   Ascorbic Acid has been proven to be the BEST and most deeply penetrating way to apply topical Vitamin-C.  Okay, enough about Vitamin-C.

Now on to actually lightening the skin.  Remember Vitamin-C does not lighten dark spots, but it does interfere with your skins’ ability to make additional dark spots by retarding the melanin production responsible for darkening the skin through damage caused from free radicals and exposure.  So what does lighten the skin? 

In medical studies…….note, ‘medical studies‘…… and not from someone trying to sell a product (although BRS  sells skin care products, our products are based on medical research not hype).  Arbutin is the BEST and most potent form of skin lightener there is.  There are 2 types of Arbutin, alpha and beta.  Alpha Arbutin is more productive in lightening of the skin.  What is Arbutin?  It is a natural source of hydroquinone.  It is derived from natural sources of Bearberry, Mulberry, Cranberry, & White Mulberry.  Many skin care companies use Arbutin in their skin lightening products, and that's great!  But in what concentrations?  This is important to know.  Beautiful Radiant Skin Products use Arbuin as it’s main ingredient in our Luminous White Skin Bleaching Cream, but we take it a step further.  Our fillers are not fillers at all, we add (not dilute) our Arbutin with other highly active ingredients that make this product the most potent you can find.  We mix it with Vitamin-B3, Bellis Perennis Flower Extract, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Sage, Ginseng & Rosemary Extracts, & Avocado Oil for moisture.  Our product will lighten without drying and is scientifically based and proven.  Google our ingredients to see how they work together to lighten the skin.


In short, Kakadu Plum may be rich in Vitamin-C, but it cannot deliver as deeply as Ascorbic Acid which IS Vitamin-C.  And Vitamin-C doesn’t lighten skin when used topically, it is important for skin as an antioxidant not a skin lightener.  Check out all our products at http://www.beautifulradiantskinproducts.com/

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Add fullness to your face without injections with the right products






 Watched a TV commercial yesterday on a new product they're advertising that adds fullness to the face, where you are losing volume. BRS has had this product for years. In fact we have 2 of them. The ingredient that adds volume is Hyaluronic Acid and/or Hexapeptide-3. Both Firm & Lift Elixir and Multi-Peptide & Collagen Elixir have VERY high amounts of these ingredients. We are seriously cutting edge, all the time. I keep up on this stuff to make sure we have the best, all the time, because my face depends on it too :-)

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Newest Skin Care Treatments in 2015

Should you follow skin care trends?  Short answer, don’t believe everything you read or are told.  Ask questions, a lot of questions.  Knowledge is power. I research everything!!!  At BRS facial spa we don’t add new treatments simply because they are new or because everybody else is doing it.  Trust me when I tell you that this industry is constantly reinventing the wheel.  Companies that make the machines we use have to keep coming up with new machines in order to continue to make new sales.  Once they sell a machine to a skin care therapist it’s a done deal, they can’t sell it to us again, so they need something else to wow us with so they can keep selling equipment. 

I attend the big Aesthetic shows several times a year, every year, to see what is new, and I challenge the new treatments.  I can tell you, without a doubt,  I am one of the people these companies don’t like to see at their booth.  A couple of years ago I got some flack for writing a blog post about a new machine that combines Diamond Microdermabrasion and Hydra-Oxygen.  They were new to the market at that time.  We offer both of these treatments at BRS facial spa,  but we have one machine for each, it’s not a dual purpose machine like the one being promoted.  When I asked the benefit of the dual purpose machine over having each machine separately they could not answer, other than to tell me it is more convenient.  But it isn’t more convenient.  What if one of the modalities need repair, but the other doesn’t?  It’s necessary to give up the entire machine while it’s being repaired which results in the skin care technician not having 2 modalities at their disposal instead of just the one being repaired.  This is the main reason we have one machine for each treatment.  In addition, the cost of the multi machine was thousands of dollars more than purchasing them separately.  Literally 25K from one company that I talked with!!!!  Are you kidding me?  The enormous amount of money spent on these machines is why the consumer pays so much for these treatments.  The cost trickles down, it has to.  Otherwise how are these skin care studios going to pay for these machines?  Makes sense right? 

Some of you might have read this story before, but since we have a lot of newer clients I’m going to tell it again.  At another booth, at the same show as the above story,  was a new machine that uses vacuum suction to promote collagen development.  Okay, there is so much wrong about this that I don’t even know where to start.  First of all vacuum suction does not promote collagen development, that is ridiculous.  Vacuum suction is used to loosen and remove  debris from the pores or to facilitate a lymphatic treatment.  In addition, the vacuum is used to vacuum dead skin cells for a cleaner treatment.  For example, all Diamond Microdermabrasion machines use vacuum suction to suck up the dead skin cells as they are removed during the treatment.  The benefits of this treatment come from the abrasion to the skin not the vacuum suction.  In fact, the vacuum setting used should always be set on the lightest suction because pulling the skin with a higher setting can cause damage.  All that being said, this booth I was visiting was promoting a machine they claim plumps the skin through vacuum suction.  I was watching the demonstration as my questions were piling up in my head.  Before asking my questions though, I wanted to see where this was going, so I watched. 

When the demo was finished the model receiving the treatment sat up to show how the side of her face that was treated was more plump than the side of the face that was not treated.  Well HELLO!!!!  If you suck the crap out of your face with a vacuum it’s going to swell.  That’s not collagen!!  That’s swelling which will dissipate very soon after the treatment is finished.  BTW the cost of this machine?  30K.

Collagen production can ONLY be generated by damaging the cellular connection deep within the skin which causes the body to rush to the damaged area to repair it.  The repairing of this tissue is accomplished through collagen development.  This is why we use treatments like peels and non-invasive face lift among others.  These treatments cause controlled damage resulting in collagen development.  Knowing this, I asked the technician giving the demonstration to explain to me how this treatment results in collagen development.  She told me the collagen is produced from the suction.  Again I asked HOW does suction develop collagen?  She kept repeating the same answer and then moved on to someone else’s questions because clearly I was irritating her.  I then asked her if there are any side affects to this treatment and what about the pulling of the skin, couldn’t this pulling lead to loosening of the connective tissue?  She quickly answered there are no side affects, she completely ignored the second part of my question while giving me a pretty irritated look.

I left completely irritated at these ridiculous claims and felt sorry for the people falling for it and spending literally thousands of dollars to buy this machine.  So the next day I went back to the booth, in disguise and with my husband.  I was afraid she may recognize me, but luckily for me, there was a different person manning the booth that day.  I asked if my husband could be the model for the demonstration, she accepted him as her model and started the treatment.  When the treatment was finished she followed the same routine as the girl did the previous day; sat him up to show the onlookers the plump side of his face.  I didn’t say anything, I didn’t ask questions, we just left.  I watched my  husbands face deflate over the next hour and THEN it started to show signs of bruising.  The next morning his face was black and blue from all the suction and it was very swollen.  Probably not necessary to mention the swelling was not collagen,
it was trauma from the brutal use of high suction.

So what’s new and stupid in 2015?  PRP is getting a lot of hype this year.  PRP is short for Platelet Rich Plasma.  A persons own blood is drawn and then spun to separate the plasma which is later injected into areas of the face needing rejuvenation.  The claim is that this plasma is safe because it comes from your own body, an alternative to derma fillers like Juvederm, for example.  The plasma contains platelets which are proteins that stimulate collagen growth.  This collagen growth is what plumps the skin.  The cost for this treatment ranges between $1,500 and $2,500 per treatment depending on the area you live.  The problem with this treatment is not just the cost. It also does not build any more collagen than a peel or other means of causing the controlled damage necessary to build new collagen. It simply costs a lot more.  It’s an impressive technique, I’ll give it that.  It requires a doctor and some very expensive machines to spin the blood.  There is simply no scientific proof or studies that show this way of attracting collagen is any better than other more traditional  methods.  In addition, consider these treatments need to be repeated, as do all collagen treatments, usually every 3 to 4 months.  Now that gets expensive with PRP.  In my opinion this is simply another fancy and expensive way to reinvent the wheel.

The many different treatments available to maintain your youthful skin are not any different than the many different diets and exercise programs there are to maintain your weight and health.  What does this mean?  There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of different diets and exercise programs you can follow to lose weight.  The bottom line is that with all of them you are doing just 2 things:  Eating less and moving more.  It’s not any different with skin care treatments.  There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of different ways to have younger looking skin.  Don’t fall for the hype, simply make sure your skin care therapist is addressing the main issues that cause skin to age and look old.  Do these things regularly and you will look younger.  Here’s the areas you want to make sure are addressed:  Texture, Soft Tissue Rejuvenation, Color, and Muscle Tightening. 

At BRS facial spa this is our end game.  We offer our clients the Modality Facials so that each time they come in to see us we are addressing the areas mentioned above, we keep them rotating and active and engaged at all times.  We use well known, tried and tested treatments for collagen development, for exfoliation through manual or chemical means, we address muscle loosening, and soft tissue rejuvenation as well as color tone and overall condition of your skin. 

To sum it up, there is no miracle cure for aging.  We all do it.   At least we all hope we do, the alternative to not growing old is dying, nobody wants that.  Here at BRS facial spa we take a very sensible yet extremely targeted approach to help you age gracefully.  Some of our treatments can be aggressive, however, you can rest assured we are not going to learn about some unknown side affect by trial and error on our clients.  You can also rest assured that nobody wants to keep their skin looking young more than we do, we’re kind of obsessed about that, and that’s good for all of you.