Botox Treatments - Wonder Treatment or Load of Botox?

Most definitely a favourite with a wide range of celebrity users across the globe, rose to fame in the 80s as an anti-ageing skin injection which relaxes the muscles of the face and reduces wrinkles. But does it actually work? Here’s our Botox guide for your perusal:

What actually is Botox?

Brace yourself, this is the slightly off-putting bit, for Botox is actually the trade name for Botunlinum toxin, a highly toxic protein. But before you run scared and banish any thoughts of the treatment, bear with us, for Botox is actually a very safe process with few side effects recorded through the plentiful testing it has undergone in the past. By decreasing nerve signals to the muscles by inhibiting chemical releases, it can be used for a variety of beauty and medicinal treatments. Botox itself is actually a brand name for the product.

What are the uses of Botox?

Botox’s widest use is one in the world to reduce wrinkles and ageing, but there’s also a variety of medicinal uses in addition:

• Temporary wrinkle reduction

• Reduce neck pain associated with cervical dystonia

• Reduce severe sweating

• Treating misaligned eyes

• Help with eyelid twitching/spasms

So all-in-all it’s actually very useful for a variety of both beauty and medicinal reasons, and well worth a try for those that are keen. We would always recommend you consult your GP or doctor before undergoing any Botox treatments, but why not use our search engine to find a local clinic today?

Getting Your First Facial

Getting a first facial can be both exciting and a little daunting. But you should be prepared for it as it's a great opportunity to find out more about your skin for the future, and indeed a luxurious treatment that is both enjoyable and invigorating. It's not all scary face masks and cucumbers in your eyes!

Prescription Facials

Prescription facials are a good way to start, as your facial therapist will analyse your skin and look at what sort of treatment you should be considering. It might be you have dry skin, so a moisturising facial is your best option, or alternatively you could be getting those first signs of wrinkles and an anti-ageing facial will just knock them back again. Don't worry, your therapist will be nice but fair in their estimations!

Expectations

Don't expect to come out of the facial feeling like a new person or 20 years younger - you've got to have realistic expectations. Yes, facial treatments do have benefits but without regular courses they are short term and not long lasting. To really reap the rewards you should be looking at treatments every few weeks...not a bad way to spend an hour a week!

Don't be daunted!

Finally, embrace the experience and you'll get the most out of it. Don't be put off by strange contraptions or weird coloured creams - it's all for your own good. You may look like a swamp monster for an hour but then once you're out you'll feel like royalty!

5/ Gold Facial Treatment

5/ Gold Facial Treatment

Last, but most certainly not least, is the Gold – a favourite with Japanese beauty salon-goers. Using thin sheets of 24 carat gold across the skin, the theory is that the gold penetrates the skin and revitalises and rejuvenates, removing toxins and wastes while it’s at it. As if that wasn’t enough, the gold facial also enhances skin elasticity and brings a somewhat unsurprising glow to the face. Hopefully you won’t end up looking like Shirley Eaton in Goldfinger.

The Arctic Ice Room

4/ The Arctic Ice Room

OK, here’s another one that doesn’t really sound that inviting, but is meant to be a hugely luxurious and expensive treatment. Ah well, I suppose we shouldn’t judge until we’ve tried it...

The Qua Spa in Las Vegas offers you a rather “cool” treatment where you head to a chilled room after your spa treatment, at the not-so-inviting temperature of 12.5ºC. But just as the Romans used to have a dip in cold water after a very hot spa, so can you to good effect – the cool tightens your skin and reduces the appearance of pores. As the man-made snow (98% water, 2% harmless chemical) drifts down into the room you’ll be left feeling great and with any luck looking great too, once you’ve dived back into normal room temperature and stopped turning blue!

3/ The Snake Massage

3/ The Snake Massage

Being honest, comparing this treatment to the chocolate facial therapy is like comparing a massage to decapitation – it’s a bit of a no-brainer really (geddit?). Having said that, it might tickle some people’s fancy so who are we to judge? The snake massage is currently only provided by one place in the world (perhaps not surprisingly) – at Ada Barak’s Carnivorous Plant farm the owner’s snake massage parlour allows you to lie back, relax and...well...have snakes poured over you. Apparently the persistent wriggling and writhing is very relaxing and calming, but we’re not really seeing how.

2/ Chocolate Facial Therapy

2/ Chocolate Facial Therapy

Surely it’s a matter of time. Surely. A delicious treatment in more ways than one, chocolate facial therapy is currently available from the Aquapura Douro Valley Resort in Portugal – providing a creamy melted Chocolate face mask with oxygen infused into it. The oxygen apparently (so we’re informed anyway) helps the skin absorb the chocolate’s vitamins and anti-oxidants to provide anti-ageing and other beneficial effects. Somehow we think we would be less bothered about the science, more about the taste.

1/ Fish Pedicure

Much in the way that you go to foreign countries and experience exotic cuisines and dishes that seem strange to our anglicised pallets, the beauty salon world is one of a wide range of exciting and inventive treatments throughout many countries. And while we happily pick and choose and take the treatments we like – Indian Head Massages, Swedish Massages, Hollywood Waxing are just three of the many – there’s a few that for some strange reason we decide to leave in the country of their creation..

1/ Fish Pedicure

Like some kind of human anemone, you can go get your feet cleaned and nibbled by some aquatic beasts for a small fee in many Asian countries. It’s all very simple – your feet a cleaned and buffed before they are dipped into a tub of water full of dozens of tiny Garra Rufa carp. These fish love dead skin and will devour all the dry and dead skin from your feet whilst you enjoy the tingling (but not painful) and effective results.