Before & During

I thought it might be interesting to post before & afters of my services each week. see if you notice any changes.

LED Treatment (2nd one) $85ea or $395 for 6 sessions

This week was my 2nd LED treatment at Misbehaven Spa & Salon. I anticipated having messy hair this time, so i wore my hair in a pony tail. i took a photo of my face right before my treatment. you will notice that i am a bit puffy after each treatment, and because of the masque that has paprika in it, i am also a bit rosy red. rest assured, the puffiness and redness goes away after an hour or so.

Today's treatment was with Megan. She started with a cleanser, then massaged the Blueberry Soy Repair Masque into my skin. It is a puree of whole fruit blueberries blended with soy yoghurt. it plumps and soothes with calendula petal oil, shea butter and a combo of vitamins A, C, E, coenzyme Q10 and evening primrose oil. Megan also added a booster that had paprika in it. the masque did sting a little, but like i mentioned in my earlier post, i like the pain. it makes me feel like something is happening, and i am not just doing this all in vain.

Megan mentioned before the treatment, that my skin felt dehydrated. it's true, i had not had any water that day. and on top of all that, i had been gone for the weekend, and when i road trip, i drink a LOT of caffeine. i drink a lot of caffeine even when i am home, but when traveling, i double it. She said that for every cup of coffee i had, i should have 4 glasses of water. hmmm, let me do the math...i should have had anywhere from 16-26 glasses of water. no wonder i was dehydrated. i have been drinking a ton of water ever since. i went to the grocery store and bought a case of water, and have been drinking water often throughout my day. i'm sipping on one now! She also mentioned that there are a lot of toxins in coffee. Since i stopped drinking alcohol almost 18 months ago, my coffee consumption has greatly increased. i know i need to settle down and today i made an effort to drink tea every time i wanted a treat. i ended up with just 1 cup of coffee. i think the worst thing about my coffee consumption is the 3 packets of sugar and cream that i put in each cup.

now that i've just spilled all my unhealthy drink secrets, i think i will try and cut my coffee consumption down. i am not going to commit to how much, but i will let you know how it goes! i'm kind of an "all or nothing" and i am not sure i am ready to cut it out altogether quite yet.

back to my treatment. the LED treatment was 40 minutes and i had a nice time visiting with Megan. i prefer to visit rather than laying there in silence. the time goes by much quicker too! i told her that i was using the masque at least twice a week and keeping my face moist while it is on. i have been applying it and then going in the steam bath at "the spa". she gave me a booster to put in it for this week. i think i'll try it tomorrow.

i have not been happy with my appearance lately, skin, hair, body, face, etc., and have just resorted to spending the next couple of months pampering myself and getting back to normal. yoga pants and pony tails, here i come!! funny how quickly i can fall off the healthy bandwagon, and next thing i know, i feel like a gremlin. enough of that, and ENOUGH complaining about it. any one around me on a regular basis can attest to the fact that i am not happy with "me". i'll let you know how that goes too!

Next week i am having my legs and upper lip waxed. i don't need to wax my lip, but this will let me know what it feels like, and who knows, maybe i will like not even having the baby blonde peach fuzz on my upper lip. Ciara reassured me it would not come back course or black! i'm also having my 3rd LED treatment with a Mini Facial before the treatment.

thanks for reading my blab, i mean blog.

Eyelash/Brow Tint $20 each

Just returned from having my eyelashes and brows tinted with Ciara at Misbehaven Spa & Salon. I was a few minutes late for my appointment which is sooo embarrassing. just as i was about to leave the house i remembered to remove my eye makeup, so i could do the before and after shot. it's not unheard of for me to go out of the house without mascara or having shaded in my brows, but i do acknowledge that i look so much healthier when i have a little color, or contrast. my lashes are so fair that without any mascara, i look (shoot, i can't think of a nice word to describe it)...let's just say "unfinished".

Ciara took me back to the room which is fast becoming my home away from home. it's the same room i had my facials and my LED treatment, which is perfectly fine with me, as the rooms are very serene. relaxing music playing, low lights, and the smell of "Beauty" is everywhere. one thing i have loved is all the scents that have been used on me. Ciara put an eye gel on my face below my lower lashes, then placed a pad on them. she then tinted my lashes with a vegetable derivative, that she said might sting if it got in my eye, but would not harm it. she did not get any in my eye, so i can not verify whether or not it stings (thanks! Ciara). Then she tinted my brows.

during all this i was snapping photos, with my eyes closed of course. i've included a before and after shot.

having my lashes and brows tinted is a TREAT. i will probably not be wearing mascara for at least 3 weeks. one thing i will for sure do, is have them tinted whenever i go on a trip, so that i will not have to worry about toting around mascara or brow pencil. it's just one less thing i have to do in the mornings to get ready. (i sound lazy...but the fact of the matter is, i JUST don't like spending time on make-up and hair. i'm not lazy)

Never had your brows or lashes tinted? it's SO worth it! it just makes my eyes pop a little.

tomorrow i have my 2nd LED treatment. on the road to wrinkle recovery! AND!!! this is exciting news!!!...i get my entire legs waxed soon! i have NEVER had that done. HAVING them waxed isn't the exciting part, NOT shaving them is! (:

Haircolor Base color/Full Foil $110

i went to Misbehaven Spa & Salon today to have my hair colored. I didn't know exactly what i wanted. i did know i wanted my blingy (sprinkles of gray) roots to match my ends, my ends to be a little more vibrant, and to have some caramel highlights. i took in a photo of Ashlee Simpson with copper/caramel hair color. Keeah pointed out that it was pretty much the same color i had. The last time i had seen Keeah, she had her natural color of red with blonde highlights. i loved it, and also had that in mind as a potential color. Her hair was a deeper red this time, so i told her i would like something a little bolder than what i had and a little lighter than the shade she had. i have been thinking lately that as i mature, i need to soften my color and go a little lighter, so the idea of going more of my natural strawberry blonde was appealing. Kaci and Keeah thumbed through my hair, asked me lots of questions such as "How are you going to feel about having to maintain any grow out?" (maybe not in those exact words). my response was "oh, i don't want to have to maintain! you know me, i go in to the salon 1 maybe 2 times a year. I'll end up with "grow out"." so that was how we came to the conclusion that we should keep a lot of my natural color, add some copper highlights, some golden caramel hightlights, and add a base color to my roots to cover the grey. the two of them spent about 20 minutes asking me questions and looking through my hair. when we started the consultation, i felt like i was all over the board, confusing them with my choice of words, changing my mind in mid stream, etc. by the time we were done, i was 100% confident that what they described was JUST what i wanted. now i was just hoping my vision was the same as theirs!

Keeah started by putting a red base (not actually called red, but that was the visual color of it), then did a full foil rotating golden highlights, with a copper color. it was a busy afternoon in the salon. at one point i looked off to the side and saw 4 maybe 5 girls sitting in a row with foil in their hair looking at magazines. i wanted so badly to take a photo of them, but i refrained. i know how awkward it was having to take my own photo looking like a martian. while my hair was processing, i walked around the salon, visited with a few people and before i knew it it was time to rinse. after rinsing my hair, Keeah put a toner in my hair and i relaxed in the shampoo bowl for a few minutes.

now remember, i am a pessimist, so when Keeah said "i'll be right back. i'm going to go mix a toner for your hair", the first thing i thought was "hmmmm....i wonder if the color turned out ok....i wonder if she's in the back room quickly mixing up a toner to cover my baby chik yellow highlights." i was running the scenarios through my head of what could have gone wrong, all the "what if?'s" and reminding my self that it was JUST hair. it would grow back if i had to cut it, or i could wear hats.

she rinsed the toner, shampooed, conditioned, and gave me a very relaxing, much needed neck massage. i am not quite tall enough for the shampoo chair and i was starting to get an ache in my back. the neck massage relaxed my muscles right away. we then went back to the station for the "REVEAL". the towel came off. all my hair was there. the color looked the same. granted, it was wet, and we had decided to keep it close to real anyhow. she put product in my hair. as she began to blow it out, i could see the caramel highlights. once it was dry, she took a barrel curling iron and put waves in my hair.

i don't think i have really ever left a salon loving my hair. i like familiarity when it comes to my looks, so if they blow my hair straight, i feel lost. when i get my hair styled curly, it always feels silly, too crunchy or frizzy. Today when i left the salon, i LOVED my hair. i love the color and surprisingly i love the way she styled it!

i've gone into the bathroom twice now since i got home, to check and make sure i still like it. and i DO!! i keep thinking i'll go look at it and see something i didn't notice, but Keeah did a fabulous job. i have to say this is the prettiest color i have ever had.

it's not dramatically different. just a little more punch in the reds, with some very subtle warm highlights. it also looks very shiny and healthy. i love it!

My next appointment will be with Ciara. I'm having my eyebrows and lashes tinted. What a joy it will be to not have to apply mascara every day! that means I'll only have to apply lip gloss and GO!

LED treatment $85 or $395 for 6 sessions

Yesterday was my first LED treatment with Kael at Misbehaven. I scheduled it in the evening, because i was anticipating my face might be red, swollen, splotchy, burned...who knows! i really had NO clue what i was going to have done, and didn't even know what LED (Light Emitting Diode) stood for before yesterday. I imagined that the light would slightly burn the superficial layer of my skin, and then it would heal, peal, and i would have knew skin. HA! i was soooo wrong! there is NO burning of the skin, just cell rejuvenation! What i learned, was that apparently the red light that she used was for aged skin and the light stimulates the cells growth, without the harmful rays that natural sunlight emits.

Kael took me back to the treatment room and told me to lay down on the treatment bed. i did not put on a terry cloth robe for this treatment, she just draped a towel over my chest and neck. she started with a Dermalogica Pre-Cleanse, and followed up with the Dermalogica Chroma White Tri Active Cleanse, an Eminence Yam & Pumpkin Enzyme Peel with Licorice Root Lightening Booster, which she described as little pac-men chomping away at the dead skin cells on my face. the peel had a stinging affect, that i rather liked because when it comes to dramatic changes, i like to FEEL them taking place. i imagined my new baby face skin would be revealed when the pac-men were finished!

the LED red light treatment was 40 minutes. while Kael was working around my eyes, i could see the bright light, even through the eye pads and goggles, but as she moved away from my eyes, it was perfectly black. Had i not been asking so many questions, and visiting with Kael, i might have fallen asleep, as it was a completely painless, rather therapeutic in fact, treatment. she moved the light inch by inch, slowly over my entire face, over and over, until the timer went off.

the last part of the treatment was Eminence Guave & Bamboo Moisturizer, Dermalogica Age Reveral Eye Complex, and Lastly Dermalogica multivitamin power firm, around my lips.

since an LED treatment does not include a scalp massage, i did not end up with crazy hair. well, i mean it was crazy when i went in and it looked the same crazy when i left. my skin felt wonderful, and i FELT as tho i had a glow. i have included a before and an after photo of my skin, as well as some photos of the procedures in between.

Listening to Kael explain all the products and the procedures gave me a new found interest. in my next career, i think i'd like to go into skin care! i found it all so interesting and exciting.

i am going to be doing the 6 treatments, and Kael said that i would start to notice the difference in my fine lines and wrinkles early in the treatments, and then the fading of the age spots near the last sessions. i have to be honest, every time i say "age spot" i feel old, so i am going to start calling them something else. from here on out they are going to be "fun in the sun" spots.

my skin feels wonderful lately. like i mentioned in my earlier blog, it doesn't feel as crepey and definitely looks more hydrated.

Next week i'm getting my 2nd LED treatment. tomorrow i am going to be meeting with Keeah, and having my hair colored! i chose her because her hair is such a gorgeous shade of red, i might just ask her to make mine the same shade as hers! we'll wait and see what she thinks about that.

LED treatment

Tomorrow!!! my first LED treatment! can't wait to see what it's about. AND by the way, today at the gym, which i like to call "the spa", a friend commented to me "I keep meaning to tell you, your skin looks really good! i noticed it the other day when we were outside and meant to say something." I'm blaming the facial i had with Megan and the products that she sent home with me to follow up with.

Dermalogica ~Eminence Organic 1 hr Classic Facial starting at $60

Yesterday I went to the Salon/Spa and had my 1 hour facial. It started off with me checking in and being offered something to drink. I declined. I love the fact that they offer, but i have a personal hang up with accepting complimentary food or drinks when i am working. even though this facial was going to be a treat for me, i know if i were to accept the drink, the moment i started to take a sip, the Facial Therapist would come around the corner and greet me, and i would be "treating myself" rather than being "ready". i know, it's weird. i'm the same way at weddings. i have only shot one wedding that i wasn't offered to take a break and eat. one time i did accept, after having my arm twisted, (and i have to explain) i had been shooting all day, 8+ hours and forgot to bring a snack, so i took them up on it. no kidding the minute i put food in my mouth, a guest pipes up "wheres the photographer? She should get a shot of THAT!". ugh. dreadfully embarrassing. so i always decline and say "no thank you, i'm perfectly content", even though you and i both know the food looks so incredibly tasty! i will confess at the last wedding i shot, it was a Southern wedding, and after being asked over and over "pleaaase try some of the food, we insist", i did grab a plate and sampled the amazing goods catered by T. Maccarone's, but i did feel overly awkward.

At my facial yesterday, Megan came and led me to the facial room where a tube top style terry cloth robe and Eminence chocolate awaited me. I put the chocolate in my purse for later. I slipped into the robe and climbed up on the bed and got under the covers. shortly after, megan came in and we laughed about how awkward i felt laying there half dressed, vulnerable. she made me feel so very comfortable and assured me my feelings were common.

After pulling my hair back with a terry cloth band, she started off with a pre-cleanse, tri-active derm cleanser. it definitely left my skin feeling less taught then the Jergen's soap bar i had used that morning. when i told her i used the bar of soap, she gasped. i know better. she followed up the cleanse with a Mimosa Champagne Tonique. (i KNEW it...when she spritzed me, i thought "that smelled like wine"). next came the Strawberry Rhubarb Dermafoliant Detox. I think it was then that she used a Sonic type handheld on my face. she said it would cleanse and stimulate my pores. then came the Pro Blueberry Firming Detox, the Wild Plum eye cream and Raspberry Eye Masque for hydrating my skin. Then another masque. the Stone Crop Masque with Licorice booster and Eight Greens Phyto Masque, all mixed together. while she put the masque on, she was doing these Hungarian hand movements on my face and neck, which she said would also stimulate my cells. (correct me if i am wrong, Megan). the masque felt so silky and wonderful.

At sometime during all that, she looked at my skin with a special head lamp. then she asked me if i use sun screen daily or wear hats in the sun. she explained that she could see lots of sun damage. i told her about my summers consisting of sun blisters all over my body, and my nose looking like a scab by the end of the summer. she also told me that spf in moisturizer lasts for only several hours, and that i should be using a face makeup that has spf that works as a blocker. i do not wear face makeup, but i am going to invest in that. i thought i was doing all i could by wearing spf in my moisturizer.

I also got a Firm Skin Acai Masque with a booster. during one of the masques, she gave me a full arm, hand, chest and back massage with Apricot Body Oil and Stone Crop Body Lotion. i almost fell asleep during that! she finished the facial with a hot cloth, a spritz, a Strawberry Rhubarb Hyaluronic Serum, a Grean Tea & Guava Fortifying Serum, Eight Green Youth Serum and finally a Guava Bamboo Age-Defying Moisturizer.

WoW. i felt like a princess. the facial was so relaxing and interesting. i'm sure most people just lay there and relax, but i was full of questions! i was also trying to take photos of several of the stages. since i had my eyes closed, i really had no idea if i was aiming at my face or not. hence, only a few photos turned out. this was definitely a time where i wished i had a full time assistant that could have come along and captured some photos of the facial.

Megan recommended i come every 3 weeks for a while, start LED facial treatments (6) for the sun spot damage and then taper off to 1 facial every month for the rest of my life. oooooh, wouldn't that be a treat.

When i stood up and looked in the mirror, i was caught off guard by the puffiness in my face. Megan said that was from all the blood stimulation, and products, and that it would go away. she also said that the next day is when i will notice the most. the redness will be gone and the puffiness subsided.

Something else i learned. Schedule your facial near the end of the day, and on a day that you don't have to have lovely hair. included in that incredible facial was a neck and head massage, which felt so wonderful, having bad hair all day was worth it. i had this facial on a day i was a guest at a women's luncheon at the country club and it wasn't until i got home that i realized i still had green masque on my jawbone, some sort of fruit extract in my ear and little clumps of masque on my neck. but the truth of the matter was, the facial felt so good, that i would do it all over again!

I just remembered. one of the products that Megan put on me had Blueberry and Paprika, which made my face, neck and chest warm and tingly. she also did this hot/cold facial where one of her hands was hot, the other was icy cold and she manipulated my skin interchanging the hot/cold. what a cool (no pun intended) experience!

I've included photos from my experience, including a shot of what my hair looked like afterwards.

Last night i did the routine that was recommended and my skin definitely looks more hydrated and less crepey today.

Next week i am starting the LED treatments. i think those are to help reduce the age spots due to sun damage.

More next week!

Let me explain

Well for starters, you need to know that punctuation is not my thing. talking and taking pictures is.

is there such a thing as karma? i hope so! i've been blaming karma on a lot of things and attributing it to many instances lately. i went to a local business the other day and was quite frankly treated VERY rudely. i said to the girl behind the counter "you know, i'd just as soon work with someone other than yourself if you are going to act this way." i have been known to speak my mind but this statement was a stretch for me. had i been printing something for my own home, i probably wouldn't have been so assertive, but this particular project was for a client, so i expect the best. Reader's Digest version: two hours later, she and i made fast friends, were laughing and visiting and quoting ourselves from our initial interaction. at the end of the transaction, she printed my receipt and on the receipt was a "YOU'VE BEEN CHOSEN" clause to call in and rate my service with this girl. when she read that to me we both just bust out laughing! "Karma" i said. she and i started off on a bad note, but soon got all the misunderstandings figured out, and to be honest, the next time i do business there, i'll definitely ask for her.

where was i? Jeanese Lefore and i sat down the other day and talked about our vision for this blog. I am going to have all of the services that the salon offers. i am going to try the products, bask in the pleasures, and be very frank about all of my services. Jeanese thought this was a great idea as well, and a good way to see where improvements could be made and to get an honest opinion from a client. I asked her "what will i say if i get something done that i don't like?" her reply was "blog it!"

my mom is a cosmetologist, and i started hanging out in the salon with her right from the start! i'll have to ask her just how old i was when she first started practicing on me. i spent many summer days taking out curlers from the little ladies hair, shampooing my friends hair, bleaching my own, answering the phones, and cleaning the salon (sidenote: thank you to all my friends who, when wanting me to come play with them, would come help me clean so that i COULD play). i loved talking to the ladies and still to this day like to peak in on my lunch hours and sit in the swivel chairs, trying out new products, looking through the magazines, looking in the snack cupboards, etc.

even though i knew how to give a perm, color or haircut before i even started school, i decided to go to beauty school and follow in my mom's footsteps. i graduated in 1993 with a degree in cosmetology. i practiced for a couple years, but i really did not enjoy it. after about 10 years i let my license expire. i still occasionally give my boys a haircut, snip on my own hair, color my own, etc.

i tend to be very frugal when it comes to beauty. that probably stems from having been given free product and service all my life from my mom. you'd think having all that at my finger tips would make me the opposite. i remember being a teenager and telling my friends that they should be using professional hair products rather than store boughten, diluted, knock offs. i guess in the end i am just a simple girl (not a ma'am) and don't really like to take much time with my looks. as an adult, the thought of paying full price for any of it is an atrocity. i know. i was spoiled. i still to this day call up my mom and have her order the big salon size jugs of shampoo and conditioner and get them at cost. i know i need to grow up, i just can't bear the thought of paying retail price.

i digress. that's a little background of mine, where i come from, and how i see the world of Salon/Spa's. kinda pessimistic, and very frugal.

what makes me think anyone besides Jeanese would even care to read my blog about my personal road to beauty? nothing. that's half the reason why i decided to do this. do i really want the world to see my sun spots? know i used Jergens body soap on my face today? that i look at having a facial today as a perfect excuse not to do my hair? (it will just get messed up in that terry cloth band anyhow). no. but this wont be the first time in my life i have made myself look silly and vulnerable, just to make someone else laugh. it occurred to me the other day, that people don't have an expectation of what they want me to look like. it's MY expectations that fail me. this humbling journey will hopefully help not only me, but give true honest feedback to Misbehaven Spa & Salon, and also give some light on some services that maybe a reader has always been curious about.

i hope you follow me on this journey. it's going to be a long one! have you seen their menu????? holy cow!! they have over 50 different services available!

Today is my first appointment. i am going to get a 1 hour facial. i'm ready to go! i'll tell you all about it in the next blog!