My Skin Journey – Baring It All
Aging isn’t easy. I always knew that I would eventually start seeing and feeling the signs of aging but I never expected it to make me feel the way that it has. Looking back now, there were a million things I could have done in my early twenties to start preventing the aging process but I was too caught up basking in my youthful glow to worry about it. At 33 years old, I realized that it was time to take action because those night creams that “claim to do it all” weren’t cutting it. I needed something more.
Let’s start at the beginning, how I got to this point. I am naturally pretty fair but tan and BURN easily. I love the way my skin looks when it’s tan and always have, so when I discovered tanning beds in my high school years I immediately bought myself a membership. From my junior year in high school until I was around 25, I was going to the tanning bed regularly (at least a few times per month). That’s 10 years of consistent tanning! I loved how the warm beds made me feel and how golden brown my skin would look when I kept up with it. Little did I know that I was killing my poor skin and that I would have to deal with the consequences later.
I realized at a certain point that my beloved tanning beds were starting to do more harm than good. More freckles and moles were coming in and tiny fine lines were starting to appear. That’s when I quit tanning, cold turkey. I saw what tanning was doing to my skin and I had to stop before it went too far plus I discovered spray tans and that helped a lot. The years of bed tanning and beach trips where I had used tanning oil with hardly any SPF had taken its toll. God was I dumb. And yes my mother warned me, everyone did! But I can be pretty stubborn…
So here I am with more freckles than I had when I was a kid, dark spots galore, a few less moles because of pre-cancerous growths that had to be removed and skin that is starting to crack. I was starting to dread looking at my own reflection in the mirror and tried to wear more makeup to cover my imperfections, but the more I put on, the more flaws I could see. I was screaming for HELP!
I know that from the outside, my skin probably doesn’t look that bad and that’s probably because we are always harder on ourselves. In my business, I am photographed all the time so my imperfections stand out even more to me and I am reminded of them constantly. In the last few years I have tried all the creams under the sun and while some of them helped make my skin look more hydrated or brighter, I know the damage that has been done and no cream is going to fix that.
That’s when I reached out to Sandra Oulmas in Tysons, VA. As a blogger and a woman for that matter, I am always curious about new treatments to help with anti-aging and when I saw that a friend of mine was using lasers with Sandra to fight back, I was super intrigued. After researching Sandra Oulmas and seeing her beautiful skin transformations, I learned that she was an award-winning French Medical Aesthetician, an expert with lasers and that she was the lady for me. I immediately reached out to Sandra to see if we could work together because I wanted to try out her laser treatments to help with my sun spots and fine lines, and in exchange for her services, I would tell you my honest opinions. So here I am, ready to share it all with you. The good, the bad and the ugly. My hope is that if you too are struggling with the aging process and are looking for something more than a night cream, that my story might help you.
Perfection isn’t my goal, confidence is. Aging is inevitable but there are ways to fight back without taking drastic measures and I’m ready to give them a try. Over the next few months, I will be sharing my new skincare regimen, my series of laser treatments with Sandra and I will be giving you updates on it all right here. I also will be sharing everything from live videos of my treatments to post-treatment updates after on our IG Stories. So be sure to follow along and ask me any questions along the way!
Let’s put our best face forward in 2018!
Disclosure: Photos in the post were taken before I started my skincare regimen and treatments with Sandra Oulmas. These photos have not been airbrushed.
xo
Sarah
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