My journey to flawless, clear, glowing skin

Along with the hair journey, I'm currently embarking on other journeys in my life.  One of them is my skin care journey.  In previous posts, I've mentioned the constant battle with acne I've been engaged in ever since I was a youth.  This year, the decision has been made to take an aggressive approach on obtaining healthy skin.  Ever since the beginning of the year I've focused many of my energies on creating healthy, clear skin.  I've invested money on products, I've a followed a defined morning and night time routine, I've shifted my eating habits.  All of these new actions have helped me to see progress in my skin health but I still will not satisfied until my skin is flawless.

Along with all the actions I was taking to help my skin, I also created some affirmations that I recited on a regular basis.  I would say things like "I love how clear and beautiful my skin is" or  "my skin is clear, flawless and it glows."  I verbalize my affirmations because I believe it draws me closer to my intentions and it draws my intentions closer to me as well.  Another thing I would do is stare at pictures of women with amazing skin so I can absorb the images into my subconscious making my intentions that much more powerful.

Then one day it happened.  I was introduced to a skin care professional who had a huge part in creating the beautiful skin of the very women who's skin I would stare at day after day.  Turns out that many of these women frequent a day spa nestled in swanky Beverly Hills.  The woman who created this spa has been in business in the same location for over 23 years and she's built up quite a clientele. The moment I received a piece of information about the whereabouts of this spa, I immediately started plotting on how I could get there. Even though this infamous spa was located on a different coast then I live on I had no reservations.  Lucky for me, my job affords me the opportunity to fly to California from time to time and such an occasion occurred this week.

I arrived at my appointment at least an hour early because of my excitement.  As I sat in my vehicle across the street in eager anticipation, I noticed a young lady stepping out of the spa looking all kinds of fabulous.  I got a chance to get a closer look at her as she returned to the salon and her skin was immaculate.

I secretly daydreamed of the moment when my skin could someday look like this.  As I stood behind her in line, I over heard her scheduling a follow up appointment for the next time she flew into the town the following month.

 While I waited for my appointment time, I took a moment to browse around the establishment and took note of the various celebrity photos on the wall.  Some I recognized, some I didn't.  Immediately, my gaze fell upon the signed picture of Stacey Dash and a smile flashed across my face.  "Stacey's skin is amazing and I'm standing in the same place that helps create her gorgeousness."     I also hear that Nia Long is another loyal client.  Tami Roman from Basket Ball Wives once tweeted that she used Lady Dee's facial scrub to promote healthy skin.  Tami also has amazing flawless skin.  Meagan Good is also rumored to be a client.

Finally, it was time to have my skin serviced.  Much to my dismay, the person who would be working on my face wasn't Lady Dee but a woman from Russia by the name of Helen.  To be honest, I was a little bummed.  Helen brought me to the back room and proceeded to fire off a series of questions regarding what I currently use for my skin.  On that day, I just so happened to have an active breakout. Just a week or so prior, I consumed gluten because I had to fulfill a responsibility granted to me as a judge on an Iron Chef type team building event at work.  In order to judge the teams fairly I had to consume prepared dishes in which bread/wheat flour was a main ingredient.

Helen looked at my skin and said (in a stern, heavy Russian accent). "You are too young and beautiful to not have beautiful skin."..... "I will make your skin beautiful okay."
"You trust me?"  "You trust me, okay."  "I will make you skin beautiful." "I take before and after picture of you. You see the difference okay?"

Something about her direct style and the heavy accent stirred within me emotions of trust and compliance (mixed in with a little bit of fear and submission).  Helen had heavy hands that felt extremely powerful. In the months prior, I visited two estheticians but none had hands like Helen.  To be honest with you, I was a little afraid when it was time to do extractions. I didn't know how much force Helen would use and how much pain I'd have to withstand.  I held my breath and hoped for the best.  I took to the extractions like a champ and Helen acknowledged my bravery afterwards.  My favorite part of my experience was the facial, neck and shoulder massage.  Helen (with those powerful hands of hers) identified areas of stress located in my shoulders and proceed to work them out to the best of her abilities.

When the facial was completed, we walked together to the receptionist desk and Helen proceeded to share with me before and after photos of various clients who suffered with extreme cases of hyper-pigmentation and acne. In some of the photos, what appeared to be birth mark type scarring on the faces of some clients were removed completely.  I was amazed.  While I do suffer from acne scarring, I felt like my skin wasn't as extreme as the faces in the photos. This brought even more confidence in the results I could achieve from consistent services.  We talked about me coming back for a peel. Apparently this peel would be the answer to all of my prayers.  I reminded her that I lived on the other side of the country.  She shared that she has clients fly in from New York, Miami and, other states on the east coast, that are willing to travel regularly to maintain gorgeous skin.  I purchased several of the recommended products and, with tip, my tab came up to around $280.00.

It's been almost four days since my appointment and my skin just seems to look better as the days pass.  The most obvious difference I'm noticing is in the texture of my skin which is much smoother and brighter than before.  It's starting to show signs of a healthy glow. Helen promised me that if I use the products religiously, my skin would continue to improve even between appointments. Smooth skin is only half the battle. Eliminating the deep scarring is my ultimate goal.  So I've got to find a way to to return for a skin peel.  Once I do, I'll share my experience as a second installment to this blog post.

Before I go, here are some lessons I've learned from this experience that I'd like to share with you:

1. It's about being willing to step out and doing what it takes to achieve the results I want.  Sure I could have continued buying products and doing other things within my comfort zone but they probably wouldn't have created an extraordinary result.

2. People who have achieved extraordinary results take extraordinary actions to get there. Yes, I could have looked at Nia Long, Stacey Dash's skin and said.. "(sigh) oh well, I could never get my skin to look like that, they must have amazing genes."  So now whenever I see someone with the results I want to create, I start to ask myself "what kinds of things are they doing (consistently) to achieve this result?'

3. Thirdly, it's about being consistent.   I struggle with this limiting belief that once a result is obtained, nothing more is required.   I'm now learning that even when a goal is achieved, we still need to maintain the behaviors the created the result otherwise, progress won't be made.