What's a bigger bummer than flipping through your wedding album and realizing that your translucent, alabaster skin with porcelain-fine texture and youthful glow is GONE: stolen by time, hormonal fluctuations, thrice-nightly wakings and sub-standard spa exposure? Looking at your 60-year-old mom and realizing her skin looks exponentially better than yours, that’s what.
Given that both S. and I had the same debasing experience of gazing upon our lovely mothers’ radiant visages and wondering what we were doing wrong, we knew there had to be some trick of the trade.
We both scored one gratis, but not from advertisers or the manufacturer (this post is going to read like a paid endorsement, though I swear to you, it is not), but from concerned parties and ladies in the know. S.’s mom gave her a Clarisonic Mia and my dearest Auntie E., a skin care pro, gave me (and my mom) a Clarisonic Plus, because of the dramatic changes this handy little gadget had reaped in their lives.
S. started using hers right away, in January, and by our last meeting in March, in spite of four-month-old night feedings and a non-napping preschooler, she was glowing, and when I asked what she was using on her skin, it wasn’t a new cleanser or cream, but the Clarisonic. I had just started using the Clarisonic on what has become, through two pregnancies and 26 months of breastfeeding, some pretty problematic skin, and I was beginning to see some results in texture and tone.
Now, almost one month later, I have significantly smoother skin, less pronounced fine lines, an overall improvement in texture and blotchiness, and I’m experiencing fewer and less severe breakouts. Um, SOLD. After a lifetime of essentially perfect skin--skin that people stopped to comment on, skin like that in the un-retouched picture above--to go to hormonal, tired, breakout-prone skin during pregnancy and breastfeeding was a big blow to my esteem, and I am ecstatic to finally have something that’s making a difference.
Given the results the Clarisonic yeilds, and being a bit on the hippy side when it comes to organics, cosmetics and hair & skin care while pregnant and nursing, S. and I resolved to post about the Clarisonic as a public service to moms. Although it is on the pricey side (Clarisonic offers a 30-day 100% money back guarantee, however), it is hands down the best alternative to chemical treatments like retinol and salicylic acid, which are contraindicated during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and it serves up real results.
Clarisonic may not be able to give me back my 26-year-old blushing bride skin, but it’s getting better everyday, and if S. and our moms’ results are any indication, I’m on the right track!
- M.
