Original Article: Ask Men – By Nick Rego
With temperatures still peaking in the 40’s it’s always nice when you get a moment to cool off. Whether that means staying in your car with the air con at full blast, or drinking your fifth ice latte of the morning. So naturally when I had the opportunity to try out a facial where I would quite literally freeze my face, I threw all caution to the wind.
The treatment is administered by the folks at Cryo Health, who’ve been operating just over a year now. They specialize in cryotherapy treatments, which they say are all the rave for celebrities like David Beckham and Christiano Ronaldo. There are a number of treatments that you can get which can target your face, a specific body part, or your entire body. Not feeling courageous enough to get my whole body frozen, I opted for the Beauty Angel Professional (BAP) using Enhanced Light Technology (ELT) treatment followed by a CRYO Glow Facial. Yeap, that’s a mouthful allright.
The facial started as most regular ones do with a simple cleansing of my skin and a mild organic face scrub, followed by an anti-aging face mask. While the mask was on, a special (and massive) device was wheeled over and positioned over my face, which looked like two large flashlights made up of smaller LEDs. I was instructed to keep my eyes shut while special dark goggles were placed over them, and the ELT device was turned on. At first the light was just barely visible through the goggles, even though my eyes were shut. But after warming itself up, the machine cranked up the brightness to insane levels – the same can be experienced if you were to look at the sun directly with your eyes closed. The sensation wasn’t uncomfortable at all, and there’s no heat emanating from the bulbs, but the intense light helps to rejuvenate the skin and stimulate collagen production.
After this was over it was time to break out the big guns – the cryotherapy. Now when I say that your face gets frozen, I mean that quite literally. After a light moisturizer is applied to your face, a jet of air with a temperature of -140C is gently moved around parts of your face. After the first minute or so it’s quite cooling and relaxing, but as parts of your skin and face start to get colder, it becomes just a little bit uncomfortable to bear. Thankfully the air is never held in one place for too long, and after a few minutes it’s all over and done with. The sensation post-cryotherapy is akin to wearing a face mask – your skin is cold but taught, and even after your face has warmed up your skin will retain its tightness for a good number of hours. Regular treatments also helps to smoothen the skin and reduce fine lines (if you’re paranoid about those kind of things).
For more information and to give it a shot, visit cryo-health.com