When I was approaching the end of my 3rd decade, I decided I wanted to enter my 4th a strong powerful woman. Someone who ate well, exercised like a pro and had skin like a 20 something. I pretty much achieved the strong, powerful and the food bit (having posed naked for Women’s Health magazine on my 40th birthday to advocate Strong Not Skinny) but Mother nature had her own say on the skin topic. She just loves to deplete us of our coveted collagen once we hit our 30’s and 40’s. We’ve been told that it’s a downward spiral to pension-ville from there.
I have found that by fixing the problems INSIDE, you can really start to shine up the outside. Like a sexy Porsche, put the wrong fuel in it’s engine and you might as well write it off. Neglect maintenance and it will rust. Just in the same way if you feed yourself acidic foods, if you drink alcohol, smoke or don’t live a healthy lifestyle, your skin will suffer and you’ll end up looking like the cracked, rusty, broken down car in the scrap yard.
But a healthy lifestyle can only take you so far and there is no denying that a helping hand goes a long way. Millions of women have literally decided to freeze themselves in time, injecting poison into their faces. I don’t care what anyone says – wrinkles may “tell the story of my life” but they make me feel haggard! So, in an age where the poison needle is rampant in foreheads everywhere leaving millions expressionless, I set out on a mission to discover the anti-botox. I found the skin specialists who are changing the face (literally) of anti-ageing. It’s a new age (or anti-age if you will) and I’m calling it NO-TOX! Meet the therapists and their latest treatments who are blowing BOTOX out of the wrinkly water – leaving you with the ability to frown without a drop of poison in sight. These are the botox-free face changers of the future…
The naturopathic doctor: Dr Nigma Talib
When a book called ‘Reverse The Signs of Ageing’ hits the stands, your first instinct is to take one look at the author. It’s human nature to form opinions about the message, based on the aesthetics of the messenger. ‘Practice what you preach’ and all that. Take one look at 43 year old Dr Nigma Talibs face smiling at you from the cover of her acclaimed book and the cynics amongst you may think “photoshop”. But meet her in the flesh and those thoughts get banished back in their cynical little box. It’s no fluke that Dr Nigma belies her 43 years. In this utterly beautiful and ageless naturopathic doctor’s office, the word Botox is banned. Her philosophy is to start with the inside and work out. She practically interrogates you on your daily routine, diet and lifestyle, and you can’t help but tell her the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. You want her to be your pretty NBF. You are prepared to listen to everything she tells you, because quite frankly, you want to look THAT good. You want the fountain of youth she has clearly been drinking from. Of course eating well is a huge part of her philosophy. She describes different blemishes/issues being the cause of different diets: sugar face, dairy face, etc. But where Dr Nigma also stands out is her incredible array of facial procedures that she has created having seen numerous skin types over the years. These include A-list celebrities, such as Penelope Cruz, Rosie Huntington Whiteley, Sienna Miller and Kate Bosworth. Not a bad CV eh?
It is Dr Nigma’s radio Frequency Elite face treatment which gets me excited, and also gets me looking younger than ever before. The technology is based on safe and effective state of the art radio frequency energy . It uses multiple Radio Frequency sources and sophisticated software to effectively control the phase of the energy flowing between the hand piece electrodes. This energy treatment method enables the delivery of controlled heat deep into the skin, while preserving the overlying epidermis. 3DEEP eliminates concerns about any potential side effects and the need for cooling. The treatment stimulates your body’s natural collagen renewal process leading to skin tightening and a reduction in the appearance of wrinkles.
First you get a mini facial, cleansing your skin of the day you’ve just had and an ode to saying goodbye to the past decade of saggy skin. Next a cooling gel is applied, which feels gooey and cold. This is followed by the radio frequency elite technology, which is a machine that consists of an array of electrodes. The multiple electrical fields created repel each other, leading to the ideal combination of energy directed to a deeper skin layer. A sensation of burning may occur, but rest assured you won’t burn due to a sophisticated software which effectively controls the phase of the energy flowing between the hand piece electrodes. This energy treatment method enables the delivery of controlled heat deep into the skin, while preserving the overlying epidermis.
Never before have I experienced technology that made my skin look tighter and years younger after just one treatment. This is due to the immediate effect on the collagen structure via neocollagenesis (that’s the stimulation of new collagen to you and I!) A course of 6 is recommended and trust me you’ll be banging Dr Nigma’s door down for more!
http://www.healthydoc.com/
11 Lambton Place, Notting Hill, London, W11 2SH. +44 (0)20 7792 8073
The facialist and skincare creator: Linda Meredith
Linda Meredith is a name you have probably already heard when it comes to leading skincare professionals, and if you haven’t yet… you will. It is no coincidence that Linda has worked on the beautiful faces of Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Moss, Stella McCartney and Kate Beckinsale. She has been an expert in skincare for more than 40 years. Her philosophy is based around the knowledge that “staying young and beautiful for as long as possible is on every woman’s wish list”. Aside from her comprehensive list of incredible skincare for day, night, eyes et al, her mission was to develop her own skincare range with an effective alternative to Botox. She took into consideration her clients who were Botox fans, but who were now pregnant or breastfeeding. Linda’s winning alternative is her V-TOX cream, which uses algae derivatives to relax the skin. It also contains neuropeptides, and together with the algae, it surrounds the muscles with proteins to stop the skin contracting. In short, it’s a poison and toxin-free treatment which lasts. The VTOX cream works, by helping the skin avoid conforming to expression lines when the muscles contract. To take this one step further, Linda created the ultimate V-TOX facial. This begins with the usual cleansing and steaming steps which precede lashings of VTOX cream, followed by pure oxygen blasts which help the product to infuse into the skin. The effects are quite astounding, and with continued use I imagine Botox lovers would convert in no time!
Another brilliant facial to beat the ticking age clock, is Linda’s HYALURONIC ACID TREATMENT. Hyaluronic Acid was once labelled ” the key to the fountain of youth”. And no wonder – a naturally occurring polysaccharide found in skin tissue – which surrounds collagen to keep it nourished and hydrated. As with collagen, it slows in production as we age (deep sigh) which in turn like a domino effect, affects collagen and elastin (double deep sigh). So Linda created a brilliant hyaluronic mask which helps to restore that plumped, young looking skin, by building up moisture levels beneath the surface. The mask is made up of a network of pure collagen fibres that resembles our skin’s structure, which is kinda sci-fi cool, especially given that the masks are are developed under strict scientific criteria, being considered “Active” once the correct levels of HA are added. At Linda’s salon it is possible to incorporate the HA mask into a CACI session (a device which stimulates the facial muscles to tone the skin) This combination is a sure fire way to look like you have had a facelift in your lunch break, without a knife or a needle in sight!
See Stephanie at Linda’s salon. She has wands for hands!
http://www.lindameredith.com/
36 Beauchamp Place, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1NU.
+44 0207 225 2755
Appointments@lindameredith.com
The facial acupuncturist: Brian Condon
All over London in small spaces, big things are happening. Brian Condon who hails from Ireland operates out of a little room just off the Kings Road in Chelsea, and it’s where some BIG magic happens. Upon meeting Brian you immediately feel at ease listening to his soft dulcet Irish tones. First impressions last, and as he explained his philosophy and treatments, you realise this cat knows his stuff. Brian’s wealth knowledge expands beyond facial care, as he chats about nutrition and overall wellbeing. His forte is a natural holistic approach to facial rejuvenation and anti-ageing and he focuses on going deep deep down to a cellular level.
Brian is a qualified facial acupuncturist (you would hope so, given he is about to stick a bunch of needles in your face!) It’s a non-invasive, nonsurgical approach healthy skin, wrinkle reduction, and facial resculpting. I really didn’t feel a thing as his hands move like the speed of light, more like wands than hands! The acupuncture works by promoting circulation of blood in the facial tissues, which in turn reduces any inflammation, and more importantly it revs up the production of collagen and elastin – the two things responsible for younger looking skin. A wake up call for these two is just what the doctor ordered! I also found that my fine lines and wrinkles were reduced, which is always welcome! In contrast BOTOX only improves certain areas of the face where the poison is injected, whereas facial acupuncture improves the appearance of the entire face, not to mention avoids the neurological risks of pumping poison into your face!
Brian also performs Auricular Acupuncture which involves teeny tiny needles in 5 certain points of the ear, which help to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, excessive sensitivity, aggressiveness, compulsive behaviour, relaxation and general wellbeing. And just when you think you couldn’t relax any more, Brian brings out the tuning forks. I had an almost out of body experience which made sense when I learned that there is a link between acoustic vibrations and physical health. The healthy cells in our bodies vibrate at a different frequency to unhealthy ones, meaning that tuning forks help them to see eye to eye and kick them back to their healthy setting! Brian combines this with essential oils and jade-rollering, which is perfect for facial rejuvenation.
Coming out of my trance (only because of Brian’s soft voice, otherwise I would still be there) I felt completely rejuvenated, physically, cosmetically and spiritually! My face had improved in texture and definition and miraculously the dark circles under my eyes had dissipated. After 3 sessions, I can safely say that Brian is nothing short of a miracle worker!
London:
http://dynamicskintherapy.com/
Dublin:
29 Wicklow Street,
Dublin, 2
