Turning 40 – Page 2 – Mediocre Mum

Genuine Dermaroller and Snail Slime!

On Friday I went for my second round of Genuine Dermaroller. For those of you who don’t know what it is, it’s an anti ageing treatment that involves sticking hundreds of tiny needles into your face to stimulate collagen growth in the hope of making me look younger.

Honest it doesn’t hurt

It’s been very difficult to convince you guys that it doesn’t in fact hurt, as they freeze your face first, so I thought I’d take a little video to prove it to you.

See it’s not that bad. Too be honest, I haven’t noticed a huge change yet but I’m not expecting to for a month or so.

Poor Carolina, the owner and therapist at the Anti Ageing Clinic has her work cut out for her. After years of bad habits, too much sun and a non-existent skin regime she has had to up the ante. In addition, to the treatment she has also supplied me a plethora of face creams.

Snail Slime!

I’m completely fascinated by the Endocare Range as they are made from ‘the natural secretions of the mollusc Cryptomphallus aspersa’, in laymans terms, snail slime! Don’t worry it’s been processed and is not just a box of snails.

As instructed, I have been applying the cream to my face day and night. However, this morning my eye-lids were unusually puffy so I dropped her a message on Twitter.

Her first response was…..

’you didn’t put the cream on your eyelids did you?’

(As they’re part of my face)

‘yes, I did’

She did her best to be professional and not to laugh at me, but apparently, eye-cream is different than face cream and this would explain the puffiness! Well who would’ve known? At least she now knows who she is working with!

I’ll keep you posted.

If you missed my first visit, you can see it here.

All in the name of beauty!

I never thought I’d contemplate cosmetic surgery, however, now that I’m 40 I’m starting to notice the lines on my forehead, around my eyes and my mouth. I know they’re marks of a good life/wisdom. Nevertheless, as a mum I would never put myself at risk of a general anaesthetic for vanity. So, when I was offered a course of Genuine Dermaroller treatment at The Anti Ageing Clinic I jumped at the chance.

What is it?

It’s a non-surgical treatment that involves rolling a roller with hundreds of superfine needles over your face, traumatizing your face so that it starts to produce collagen. I will need a course of 3 treatments with six weeks between. Don’t worry they freeze your face first. I had a chance to have a look at some before and after pictures and saw some amazing results for acne scars, stretch marks and wrinkles.

I don’t expect any results for at least 2-3 weeks.

The Procedure

The procedure takes about an hour and a half. The longest part is when they apply the cream that numbs your face, which takes about 40 minutes. However, time flew by as we had a chat and a cup of tea.

The actual rolling only takes about 10 minutes and for the most part was pain free. The top lip was a bit painful but she was in and out quickly.

If you have the treatment done at a doctors, at this point they would just clean you up, apply some lotion and chuck you out but luckily Carolina has some amazing Caci cooling masks. She was also kind enough to wrap it up so I could take it home and put it in the fridge if I needed it again. I was also given some Chiroxy (pre-surgery skincare) cream to apply twice a day for the next while.

Throughout the entire procedure she kept me fully informed. I was warned that after the procedure I would look as though I had a mild sunburn and as you can see I did. My face did feel a bit hot last night.

This morning I have woken up completely pain free. I have a couple of track marks on my forehead but this was expected.

I’m really looking forward to posting some before and after photos in a couple of weeks time.

Disclosure: the course of treatments (£250 each) were courtesy of Dermaroller

Wrinkles, blackheads and dead skin cells!

So, what did you do on your 40^th? Um, err, I thought it would be fitting to head into the heart of Plastic Surgery in London to have some non-invasive treatments at the Cavendish Clinic. It seemed like a great way to mark the occasion.

Originally, I was going to have some Zeltiq, which promises to freeze fat away with a Dalek-looking machine. It’s not designed for people who have a lot of weight to lose, but for those annoying pockets of flab that you can’t shift, in my case a muffin top and lower back sag. However, for a number of reasons we decided this treatment wasn’t for me at this time so we opted for a facial with microdermabrasion and a light chemical peel. Microdermabrasion is like a mini-hoover that sucks up all the dead skin cells.

The clinic shares its waiting room with the plastic surgery hospital on the ground floor. I must admit I’ve never been so curious, I kept taking sneaky peaks at the others wondering why they were there. There were some obvious candidates for liposuction, breast enlargements and Botox. However, there was a woman in the corner with dark glasses and a sombrero sized floppy hat that really intrigued me. I can’t help thinking she was someone famous.

I must admit whilst walking to the clinic I started wondering what the h*ll was I doing. It’s my face and if something goes wrong, I could be permanently damaged. But as soon as I met the beautiful Madja, she put me at ease immediately. She kept me fully informed throughout the entire procedure, telling me what to expect, whether I should feel anything or not. She even removed my black heads around my nose which I didn’t realise I had.

Too be honest, I slightly panicked when she put the chemical peel on as it had a slight burning/tingling sensation but she’d warned me about this and it wasn’t uncomfortable really. Prior to the chemical peel she did the microdermabrasion. After she’d done half my face she stopped to let me feel the difference and oh my goodness was there a difference. It was so smooth!

I don’t look any different but my skin feels amazing. Unfortunately, as a family, I can’t afford to do it on a more regular basis as it costs £160. However, they do have some introductory offers.

I’ll probably have to wait till my next big birthday for my next treatment and depending on how life treats me you may find me downstairs having a facelift!

Disclosure: The treatment was complimentary in return for this post

Turning 40!

OMG! I’m 40! How on earth did that happen? I remember being 19 and my mate was 25 and I thought she was ancient! I’m not panicking about being 40, I enjoy birthdays and stretch them out as long as I can, as I love the attention. However, it’s heading towards 50 that freaks me out.

I’m happily married, even though I moan about him a lot, I have a gorgeous daughter, I’ve done loads of travelling, have great friends, supportive and slightly bonkers family and run a successful business so I really don’t have any reason to go into melt down and I’m more thankful than anything.

In fact, I’m really looking forward to my 40s. Apparently life starts at 40 and I’ve been promised that these are going to be some of the best years of my life. You guys better not be lying! I have no intention of setting any wild bucket lists or lists of things to do before I’m 50. I’m just going to sit back, have a glass of wine, enjoy being in this élite club and carry on laughing as much as I do!

Bring it on!