What Really Happens After a Chemical Peel
You want to use an acid to even the skin layers, a retinoid, and a melanin inhibitor. Those are like three key things. I've been trying to minimize this for people just because they're like, this is a great regimen, but these are the three things that you have to do.
It can get overwhelming.
It really can.
It gets scary.
Like you want an antioxidant, you want this, and your mysteries are here. And it's like, okay, the three main things you need are an acid, you need a retinoid, and you need a melanin inhibitor. These are like-
Those are it.
They're no-go. You must do these and start slowly with your Fade Bright. Start slowly with your retinoid. It could take you four weeks to just be fully acclimated to use it all the time.
When you get your products, don't start putting them all on every day, like right when you get them.
Yeah. It says I can use this one two to two times per day. I'm going to put this on twice a day. Oh, you're going to be very sorry if I need it.
All right, we are going to break down the timeline of peeling for our acid peels.
Yeah. It's easy.
Another common question.
Yeah. How long am I going to peel?
How long am I going to peel? How much peeling am I going to see? You know, let's precursor this with: we can never predict that. We can give you some guidelines.
Average times.
Yes. So many variables go into this equation.
Yeah. I would say the main thing to take is that the process is the same, whether it's a super mild peel like lactic or a stronger peel like TCA. It is still going to take, you know, three to five days for your skin to reach that point where any flakies are going to happen. And once that starts, it's three to five days till it's going to finish. So we're looking at a window of, you know, six to 10 days. Some people are really, really fast peelers, but it's still going to take a couple of days before you start.
Yes.
This is average. And the difference is, it just depends on the strength of the acid as to how much flaking you're going to get or how many layers you did. It's still the same timeframe.
Yes.
I try to stress that so much. And also flaking and peeling are the same. Some people think, like flaking is one thing and peeling is another thing. If the skin is coming off, it's peeling off, whether it's peeling off in baby flakes or if it's peeling off in a larger piece, because all those baby flakes stick on there a little bit longer. Maybe you like to use more Aquaphor or something like that. So they're stuck to your skin longer, and you get bigger chunks coming off versus baby flakes. It doesn't matter.
Yeah.
Flaking, peeling, it's all the same.
All right. Let's talk about basically there are two types of peels. We have our superficial peels that are mild. You can use those weekly or biweekly.
Yeah. And that is hydroxy acids: alpha hydroxy or beta hydroxy. So we've got mandelic 22, mandelic 40, and lactic 50. We've got salicylic, well, let's say 15 and 25. And then we've got glycolic 30, 50, and 70, and 70 is meant to be diluted. All of those have the same application. They're all applied one time only and rinsed, and it's going to be three to five days to see a little bit of dryness or flaking, and then three to five days to finish. I would say it doesn't always take that long because it's such a little bit amount. Some people just get a hint of dryness, some people get more flakes, some people get a lot of flaking. It really, like as we were kind of talking about before, it really depends on how much dead skin you have on your face to come off at any one time.
You may get more flaking the first peel than you will with subsequent peels.
And a little less the next peel. It also depends on how close you are, like how often you can do these? Generally, once a week is the minimum. I think most people probably do once every two weeks because they like to get a little bit of air. You know, if you've got to stop your retinoids four to six days prior, you want to be able to use those, right? So, you know, you do your peel, and then you start your retinoids, and you can probably start it for a couple, two, three days. Then you've got to stop again because you've got to stop them for four to six days before you do your next peel. So I think two weeks is probably golden standard for most of these peels.
Yeah, for sure.
And obviously higher percentages, you can do it less often. It's not a rule. You don't have to do it at, you know, week two or week one. You can do it every three weeks. You can do a glycolic peel once a month.
Yeah.
It's not just keep doing it. Make sure whatever you're doing, you're going to create or complete a full series, which would be like six to eight peels in a row.
Right. Because the more peels you do, that kind of extends that collagen-stimulating for longer because, you know, for weeks after every peel, your collagen is stimulated, which our body stops stimulating at what, 20-something?
Oh, gosh, it goes down.
Yeah.
Big time down.
Yeah.
Fifty percent down. I don't even remember.
I remember we had this conversation with a customer the other day. There was a gentleman, and he was like, so we don't just naturally produce that anymore? I'm like, mm-mm. You have to force it.
It's way down there. So whatever you can do to stimulate more is better.
So basically those are weekly or bi-weekly?
Those are the, yep. And then we've got our stronger ones.
Applied ones or they're timed?
Yes.
Yes. Okay. So now let's talk about the heavier peels that are medium depth, that are applied in layers.
Yeah.
TCA and Jessner both work by volume. Yes. We have TCA 7, 13, 20, and 30. 30 is meant for dilution or scars. And then we have our Jessners. And then we also have Dream Peel, which is once a month as well.
Yeah.
Because these are predominantly applied one time per month, and they're applied multiple times. That's what's so great about them. It's like, even like a TCA 7 can be a mild peel. Like I feel like it's almost maybe like one layer that might be like a glycolic 50 or something like that. It's not super strong.
Right.
You know, it's so comfortable. It's my favorite one now, like, you know, and we usually suggest you start with one to two layers. So let's say, you know, you want something a little bit stronger than these hydroxy acid ones.
Sure.
And you want to do a layered peel, and you're just, you're starting, you're a little bit scared. Start, you start with that one layer, and then you're like, okay, this is manageable. Same thing. It's still going to take that six to 10 days. By 10 days, you're done. You're just going to get a little bit more flaking, a little bit more dryness. And then, you know, next time do two layers. Okay. Now you got a little bit more. It just, it helps you along the way because we only want you to add on one additional layer every time.
Sure.
Um, unless you frosted, you know, it doesn't matter if you plan to put five on, but you frosted at two. Well, then you stop.
You could be stuck at two or three for many treatments.
You could be.
And that's okay.
Span it out over a longer amount of time. Make sure you stop your retinoids early enough and your levon acids early enough. But the timeline is the same. And I think people just, they think, oh, it's going to, you're going to peel longer because it's a stronger peel. It really isn't.
Right.
It's complete in X amount of days. You're going to start three to five days from when you applied it, and you're going to finish it in another three to five days.
Yeah.
It's very, very rare that people go past that. I have heard of a couple of people saying that's day 12, and I'm like, wow. Okay. Well, you're very slow at turning over.
It can happen. Like we, as you said, we've talked to people who will start peeling super soon.
Two days.
Yeah. And then, you know, we get tons of emails, I just applied my peel, and it's been two days, and I see nothing. It's like, yeah, you shouldn't see anything.
Yeah. You haven't even reached the minimum yet, which is three days, three to five days before you start peeling. So yeah. People like they start panicking. Oh, they kind of feel like I put it on, and I should be peeling off, and that would be very terrifying if that happens.
And then they say, can I put it on again?
No.
Don't do that. No. Or they'll call and say, I look 80 years old and I just did this peel, but nothing is happening, but it made my wrinkles so much worse.
Yeah. It's not going to stay that way.
Yeah.
It's getting ready.
Fabulous sign. Congratulations.
And you're almost there.
Yeah. The phone call is tomorrow. Dramatic, happy change, you know, because they're, they're so concerned when they call, thinking they, you know, ruin their skin and this and no, that's a great sign. That's the skin separating.
It's drying up, and it's getting wrinkly looking. And you look haggard.
Those wrinkles.
Oh yeah. You look like you're like 30 years older, and that's okay because then once you see it coming off and then you see that beautiful, smooth skin underneath, you're like, “so cool.“
Then they can't wait to do the next one. And then that's the next phone call. Oh my God. You're right. It peeled. When can I do it again?
Yeah. Open that peel manual. When does it say? How many layers did you do? Oh, 30 days.
Yes. Yes.
Oh, 30 days from when I applied it or 30 days from when I finished peeling. 30 days from when you applied it or one week from when you applied it.
It can be six weeks because you want to make sure you're properly prepping as well. So, let's say it takes you two weeks to peel and then you're not starting back up on your Fade Bright, but you need that four-week prep.
Everybody's different.
Yeah, everybody's different. So the darker your skin, the longer you need that prep. So obviously we recommend two to four weeks because it takes some time for your skin to acclimate to daily use with Fade Bright.
That's very true. So when you do your prep, which you should for all peels. And at the very minimum, you want to use an acid to even the skin layers. You want to use a retinoid. You want to use a melanin inhibitor. Those are three key things. I've been trying to minimize this for people just because they're like, this is a great regimen, but these are the three things that you have to do.
It can get overwhelming.
It really can.
It gets scary.
You want an antioxidant. You want this. And your moisturizers are here. And it's like, okay, the three main things you need are an acid, you need a retinoid, and you need a melanin inhibitor.
Those are it.
They're no-go. You must do these and start slowly with your Fade Bright. Start slowly with your retinoid. It could take you four weeks to just be fully acclimated to use it all the time.
When you get your products, don't start putting them all on every day, like right when you get them.
Yeah. It says I can use this one to two times per day. I'm going to put this on twice a day. Oh, you're going to be very sorry in a few days. But you know what? Most of these, I know our retinoids say it, and I know our Fade Bright says it because I made sure and I put it on there. But it says, if you read the bottom of this panel, you have to acclimate to this: start two or three times a week, then add on one additional day as your skin is acclimating. And once that's tolerated, then you can start your next product or start alternating these products. But don't just put them all on every day. You're just asking for that to be the next phone call. My skin's all red and irritated, and it burns, and I think I messed up my skin barrier and blah, blah, blah. It's like, okay, you started far, far too aggressively.
Yes, yes.
Please cut back. And you can come back from that.
You just basically stop everything for a couple of days. Use something nice and hydrating like PDRN or emu oil.
Yeah, PDRN is great for people with barrier mechanics.
Yeah.
PDRN.
For sure.
And Regenerate and also Vitamin B.
Yeah.
Amazing.
Let's talk about peel boosters for TCA and Jessner.
Yeah. So we have two peel boosters. One right here is our Dream Peel, which is a stand-alone peel, which is why you have to be very careful with this one. This is in your peel manual. There's like, do you want to apply a peel booster? You've got two options. You can do Dream Peel, and it doesn't matter if your acid is still on your face. It doesn't matter if you rinsed it off because Jessner, we like to keep on. TCA, we like to rinse off. If they're both on your face, it's okay. If it's on your face, you can still apply Dream Peel. This goes on one time only.
Let's talk about that: how this was custom created by you, and it has a patent.
It does. It has two patents, actually.
Super exciting. I mean, that's just, bravo.
Because we did the one patent and then had to update the patent because I wanted to add in the other vitamin A sources from here. So yeah, it's really cool. It's a little bit stronger than it used to be. Not much, but it is a little bit stronger than it used to be.
It's unique. So you can use it as a stand-alone. You can use it as a finishing layer.
Yes.
And what this will do, if you add a booster on, or our other booster…
Luminosity.
Luminosity is our strongest daily retinoid. That's our Fusion A .55. We also call it our Luminosity Method, and we sell like a little 6ml bottle because that is perfect to last you through one of our 1-ounce boxes, you know, to however many peels you get of that, minimum 6 peels, 6 to 12 peels. And that one, since it's milder than this, this is super, super strong. Since that one is milder, your option is to put that on one time per day until your skin starts to flake. I would say average is maybe 3 to 4 days.
Yeah, for sure.
Doesn't matter which one you choose. You do not have to choose either of them. You can just do the acids. These are optional boosters, like moving forward, I want to boost my results.
Absolutely.
What these are going to do is, obviously, vitamin A is just super-duper for your skin in all aspects, anti-aging and all that kind of good stuff, pigmentation. Because this is a ton of vitamin C, too, I should throw that out there: this huge amount of vitamin C in here. But putting either one of those on, we're going to get the vitamin A and vitamin C benefits in your skin, but they also tend to make your skin peel a little bit more aggressively, and they also help to make it peel a little bit more quickly.
A little bit quicker.
I would say one day, maybe two days. I've heard of people getting the skin off a little bit quicker. We don't really want to be any more aggressive than that because the point is your skin should not be coming off until it's ready to come off. We don't want something that's going to make your skin come off five days early. It needs to stay on there. We don't want pink skin showing. We want normal, healthy skin that's ready for that dead skin to come off. We want to burst through looking wonderful, not red and full of problems. This isn't going to knock off three or four days. It's like one day, maybe two days. I think most people notice that they peel a little smidge more quickly, but these are awesome for that.
All right. Let's talk about an advanced peel user, somebody who has used TCA. They have used Dream Peel on their own, and then they want to maybe incorporate Jessner. A lot of times, they'll do one to two layers of Jessner, one to two layers of a TCA 7 or 13, and then follow it with the Dream Peel.
Right. The key takeaway from that is once you've tried each acid individually or each peel, I want you to use TCA by itself at least one or two times.
For sure.
How do you even know if you need to add another acid if you haven't even done a full series of these?
Yeah.
Some people just want to combine, and I understand that.
Because sometimes they see those photos in the group.
Yeah. They're using multiples, and they're like, that's what I need.
There's another who has got some really solid peeling because they've worked their way up to this trifecta of acids, and they want to start there, but it's not really smart. You've got to ease your way into it.
Yeah. In a perfect world, you would do a series of six to eight of this TCA peel and see if that could be perfect for you. You may not need to add on vitamin A. You may not need to add on Jessner. It could have taken care of everything you needed, and then you're good.
Yeah.
But most people aren't like that, right? They want to mix and match. So I always say, at the very least, one time for your TCA. You use Jessner one time. You use vitamin A peel one time, all by itself. So that's like one month, one month, one month.
Yes.
Because we're checking for allergies and things like that, you don't want to put all three on and have a reaction and not know which one caused it.
And you won't know.
You won't know. So we need to make sure that you don't have allergies to any of these. You need to understand that sometimes this can cause heat in your skin. It can. You can feel warm like you got a sunburn.
For real.
It can make you very, very sensitive. These don't make you sensitive after the fact. This feels like nothing when you put it on, but a few days later, there's that kick. And then when you're adding this to either one of those or both of those, that enhances that kick.
It does.
And you need to be prepared for that, and that's why it's advanced. So advanced options are you can do TCA plus Jessner, or you can do Jessner plus Dream. You can also do Jessner plus TCA, which Jessner is great for hyperpigmentation. TCA is like the gold standard for wrinkles, aging, and scars. So a lot of times people have both of those issues. You might as well use both.
Sure.
And you always put Jessner on first. Jessner almost pre-peels the skin and prepares it for the TCA. So those are your options. I'm sure maybe there will be another option in the future, but I can't think of one yet.
And then after you apply your Dream Peel, you leave that on your skin for 4 to 6 hours.
Yes, don't apply anything else, whether you're doing Dream Peel all by yourself or whether you're adding it on as a booster. You're not going to put anything else on your skin. Once Dream Peel is on your skin, that's it for 6 to 8 hours. I do want to throw in there that, whether you're using it alone or adding it to one of these peels, we say 6 to 8 hours. But if you're more sensitive to it or you don't want quite a strong effect from the vitamin A, you could leave it on for less time. Maybe you're only going to leave it on 2 hours or 3 hours. You could totally do that.
I've had that experience with Dream Peel when I was using it as a standalone peel because sometimes you put it on and your skin feels heated.
Yeah, mine gets pink and hot. Hot to the touch.
And you get a little nervous. Like I said, sometimes I want to call the hotline, and then I remember.
Oh, I'm the hotline!
Right, because you're putting an acid on your skin. It's a gel. It is, but sometimes you get hot, and you're like, oh gosh, I think I'm going to rinse this off. Just because. Because sometimes it just gets a little uncomfortable. Not every peel, but every peel can be different, even from month to month. When you're using the same acid.
Yeah, so that's one last thing that we definitely need to touch on. This month maybe I got some flaking from this and this month or week. Maybe I didn't. I barely got anything. But as long as your skin is feeling smoother and you see changes happening and you know, you just know, even if you rinse it off and it feels smoother, whether you didn't get a lot of heavy flaking or not, it's okay. Just keep going because, at the end of the day, the peels aren't changing. They're always the same. You're putting them on your skin. They're going to give the same reaction they can. The only thing that is changing in this factor is you. You, your skin.
Or something happening in the chemistry of your body.
Something you ate. One of your medications. You got sun today. You didn't get sun that last time.
You didn't stop your retinoids.
You didn't stop your retinoids. Something, but it's always you that's changing. It's not these. So it's not like the TCA. I don't think the TCA worked this time. Is this still, you know, is this one okay? Is this expired? No.
Let's talk about how our peels are certified. So I get that question a lot, like what you just said reminded me of, like, I used this last time and I got a lot of peeling, but now I used my TCA this time, and I didn't get as much peeling. I think it lost its strength, and it doesn't.
No, it doesn't work that way. And, you know, okay, so this right here, this is our safety seal here. This is certified. We put these in here. These are guaranteed to be what we say they are: the acid, the percentage, the pH level. Everything is in here, what's stamped on this box here. And then on the back, you know, we have our scanner. So when we're filling your order, we scan these. Your expiration, we don't necessarily put an expiration date on this. We put a batch number, and we put that it's good, sealed for two years. And actually, our new ones- this is an older box. It says, you know, two years unopened and one year opened. But you can just tell, like our peels are made so fresh, it doesn't even make sense to put that on there. It's just like the date you purchase it is literally the start date. You know, it's not- I mean, if we made it last week or we made it three weeks ago, it is not like a product that you buy in the store that could be a year old before it even reaches the store or six months old. These are weeks to maybe a month or two old maximum. I mean, it's like they're always very, very fresh. So when you get it, I mean, they're fresh. They're very fresh. They're good for two years, no problems. And you can always just look at your order, just log into your account, look at your order, and you can see, oh, I purchased this last October. Yeah, it's fine. And if you really, really want to know, yes, you can shoot us an email and say, hey, this batch number's on here. You know, is this still good? But I'm telling you, yeah, it's good. It's not even worth, you know, I need to know the date. And even, you know, when you're talking about expiration dates and stuff that are on most products, usually it's just a best-use-by date. It's not like it's going to magically turn to dust or turn bad for you or reverse polarity. Nothing weird is going to happen. It's just going to lose its effectiveness over time. You know, it's not food. Skin care products and things like that preserve it.
Especially if the bottle is sealed, if your bottle is sealed, you're pretty good. Now, if your bottle is unsealed, you do have a chance of it evaporating a little bit, and then the alcohol could evaporate, and then the content could be a little stronger. But that's only if you have an opened bottle. That's why we say if it's opened, one year.
Yeah, right, because we're still guaranteeing it for, you know, up to one year once you've opened it.
Absolutely.
Yeah, so for the most part, unless, you know, I've had people call me. This is from 2023, and it's 2026. I'm like, you know what? I think it's time to get a new box.
For sure.
But I did have the lady tell me that she had a TCA peel or something, and she was like, it was TCA 30, as a matter of fact, and she had used it on, like, her arm or something. It was over 3 years old.
Okay.
And she was like, I actually got some flaking chills, but it wasn't bad stinging. It wasn't strong. I'm like, right, it wasn't TCA 30 anymore. Maybe it was 20. Maybe it was 15. We don't know. There are no studies, and there's actually no way for me to, like, you know, there's nothing I can stick in there to tell me what percentage it is anymore. I could see a pH level, but I can't be like, oh, it's now 14.5%. There's nothing like that, so all we can do is guess.
And we should state that our dream peel has a shorter shelf life.
Yes, that one's like one year. And we've done everything we can to make this last you as long as possible. Like, A, store it in this box.
Yes.
B, this is in an airless bottle, which means it's a bottle inside of a bottle.
Yes.
It's like a dark opaque bottle.
Yes.
Inside of a bottle.
And then the top is on there. There's no air in there.
Right.
When you press your pump, the bottom is coming up. There's just no air in there. So this is the very best it can be to last as long as it can.
Absolutely.
And I'll tell you, like, even when it's being made, a lot of times, same thing with our retinoids. Like, when they're being made, even though it's not even- it's just in my head- even though these lights really aren't damaging it because they're not in there for hours and hours and hours, I'll turn the lights out. I will turn the lights out in the room while things are processing and close the door and walk away and let it do its thing.
Sure
Just so that every single thing in here is the freshest, most potent possible.
I have literally seen your big beaker with aluminum foil on the outside.
Yeah.
And I figured, oh, she must be making retinol.
Yeah, just to keep it safe. Because if I'm still in there working or doing other things, I might, and that's mixing because, you know, to make the retinol ingredient or the hydroxypinacolone ingredient, all that kind of stuff, it takes hours.
It does, yes.
It's like it's heated. It takes hours for that to process. So, yeah, if I'm in there doing something else, I might, like, completely cover it so there's just no light. And is it necessary? No, but I do it anyway.
I know, I know. You have your little cameras.
It's like the princess' baby.
If you have to walk out of the lab, she has cameras like a baby monitor monitoring it.
I do.
Legit. I know.
I do.
So fun.
Because they're babies and you've got to be gentle.
Yes, we have to take care of them.
Yeah. Well, excellent.
Well, that was a fun tangent.
Yes, sorry about that. But, yeah, so I think we've really touched base on, you know, the process of all of these. And, again, consistency is always so important with any chemical peel series.
Yeah, and no matter what, you're going to be done by six to ten days. So it doesn't matter which one of these you do.
Right.
Yeah. So pick the one that's going to work best for you.
Pick the one and stick with it.
Or do the Peel Finder tool on the website.
Yeah.
Go to our website, select the Peel Finder tool.
Yeah.
Put in your problems, and if you're okay with a lot of peeling or a little bit of peeling. Yeah, it'll guide you. It's going to tell you which acid is going to be best for you. Yeah. And if you get your response and you're still not sure, well, then call us at 1-800-917-3155 or email us.
Yeah, support@platinumskincare.com. Or, you know, post in our Facebook group, Platinum Skin Care Gurus.
Yeah, we'll take care of you.
Yeah. Have a great day.
