How Do You Cure Those Mundane Skincare Blues? Sing the Dermalogical Song….

Dermalogica on Twitter

Though Supertramp may not have written any lyrics to this tune, both you and your skin will thank you for tuning in. Don’t worry if you’re new to the brand , or aren’t sure which products are best suited to your own individual needs: never fear, speed mapping is here! (N.B. As handy and informative as this tool is, Dermalogica also recommends paying a visit to an authorized skin center and consulting with an esthetician. I plan to do just that: I’ll let you know how everything goes after my appointment with Carolyn at Miracles Hair Studio next weekend.)

Of course, being the overly-enthusiastic beauty junkie and blogger that I am, I couldn’t stand to wait until then to try some of their products. My Beauty Bunny’s loyal followers know how much I love spreading the word about the ones I adore–and naturally I adore those which have had yielded the most promising results! However, because I am so impressed with the plethora of editorial and educational content featured on Dermalogica’s site, I want to share a bit of company information I’ve picked up first:

We’re Not Pretty (Or beautiful. Or pampering. Or luxury.)
We’re far too interested in guiding you to a new level of skin health fitness! So, while our packaging may not be designed to color-coordinate with your bathroom, you can always be sure that we’ve spent our time on delivering your skin the high-performance formulas it needs. Plus, we’ll never use common “beauty” ingredients like mineral oil, lanolin, artificial colors and fragrances or other cheap fillers. Sure, it’s easier to formulate with them–but the bottom line is–they’re just bad for your skin. Instead, we use ingredients that we know will work…for over 25 years we’ve been dedicated to delivering skin health results through education, innovation, and professional recommendation–not through advertising, frilly packaging, promises of miracle cures, or over-blown hype.

Sounds good to me; I would definitely rather use a product that works, as opposed to one that doesn’t, but is made to look otherwise. Also, in my opinion the so-called “nondescript” packaging stands out because it bears some resemblance to that which is used by fellow cruelty-free visionary Paul Mitchell.  But I digress…now, back to my regularly scheduled product review.

After mapping my complexion twice I decided to try the oily skin kit , as I’m new to the brand myself. For $35 (a great value!)you get 5 travel-sized bottles (1 each) of the recommended skin care regimen:

• dermal clay cleanser

• skin prep scrub

• muti-active toner

• oil control lotion

• climate control lip treatment

Also included are 2 additional samples:

• precleanse

• skin refining masque

Oily Skin Kit

Each product has been formulated to help clear, control oil production, hydrate (sounds counter-intuitive but as Jen mentions in pamper-yourself-at-home, even oily skin must maintain homeostasis), and restore one’s overall complexion to a healthier state–none of which require over-zealous scrubbing and exfoliating with harsh alcohol-based cleansers/toners etc. After all, Dermalogica would like to remind us that there’s nothing unclean about oily skin: it is simply an effect of hyper-active sebaceous (oil) glands producing excess sebum. Scouring the face as if it was a frying pan only causes the already over-wrought glands to think they’re not doing their job well enough, and that more surface oil is needed on the skin–when, in fact, the opposite is true!

For best results,  the directions listed on the packaged insert recommend beginning the twice-daily routine by prepping with Precleanse (be sure to rinse thoroughly in between the first two steps), followed by Dermal Clay cleanser, Multi-Active toner and Oil Control lotion.  Use the exfoliating Skin Prep scrub  and Skin Refining Masque once or twice a week–not concurrently–after regular cleansing; individual skin sensitivity should determine the frequency.  Since both treatments are pretty intense, you would probably want to only apply them at night.

Having read everything thus far, you may feel taken aback by the routine number of products involved and/or steps suggested for a full Dermalogica daily double-cleanse (a term coined by the brand), or worry that cutting corners might have an adverse effect on the end result.  If so, don’t feel bad–I will be the first to admit I don’t have time (nor am I willing to sacrifice the additional zzzzs required) to add extra steps to my morning regimen.  Moreover, I actually ran out of the Precleanse on the third day and still have noticed an overall improvement; I will be sure to ask my esthetician at Miracles for her expert advice about this concern when I meet with Carolyn on Saturday.