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The latest influx of ‘daily deals’ made available online to us beauty lovers can make you go a bit crazy. All those deals! All those bargains! You would be forgiven for thinking you were one of those guys on Wall Street standing in the pit in a brightly coloured jacket waving your arms around, yelling ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ like a maniac, before regaining consciousness and wondering what the hell you had just bought.

But it’s a good deal right? For a procedure that you know and that you like? So where’s the harm. I know what you’re thinking; calm down Adriane, why do you have to hate like that? OK, allow me to share a story. Let’s call it ‘A Story of Caution’.

Recently, thanks to one of those daily emails offering you deals on practically anything, I bought a voucher for IPL. I really like IPL and have had some great results from all four of the salons that I have been to before…well, before this time (see where I’m going here?) Yes.

Now, I would first and foremost like to say that I wont name where I went this time because I really do not believe it was entirely the technician’s fault and she was nice and I don’t want to be mean here. What I will say though is that the plain facts; she was a retired beautician working from home – evidently she had purchased a machine some years ago and was now treating people from there. A little alarm bell went off for me here, it made me feel uncomfortable that the machine was old and although sometimes the paperwork that you have to fill out in a normal salon is annoying it is also there to protect you and protect the business from any damage to either party that may occur as a result of a miscommunication. So when there was no paperwork, I was feeling apprehensive.

Not my burns, but an example of what can happen under a non-qualified technician.

Then the treatment started, Oh. Dear. Me. I had opted for my legs to be done and your legs are pretty tough so don’t any one of you start thinking I’m a big ol’ baby, ok? To say that it ‘hurt’ would be an understatement. It KILLED. It hurt so much that half way through I wanted to say ‘actually you know what, don’t worry about it’. I was actually jolting after every time she administered the pulse of light. She was trying to have a conversation with me and I was trying to speak around the light pulses so that I didn’t sound like I was having an electric shock. That’s harder than it sounds. So why did I let her finish? Because I am an A grade idiot. Because I thought that if I told her I was incredibly uncomfortable and in pain that she would think I was weak, or a complainer, or being difficult. I didn’t want to look stupid.

So fast forward to when I left her house. I got into my car and my skin felt like it was burning underneath my jeans, my hands were shaking (from some kind of shock maybe? Oh who knows) and I drove home, ran a cold bath and stuck my legs in there. What did I see? Burns all over my legs, burns burns burns. I looked like I had been run over by a tractor tyre. The pain subsided but the burns took three weeks to heal. Who looked stupid then (clue: ME)! Luckily I don’t have any scarring or pigmentation damage but why oh why did I not tell her that it was hurting? She could’ve turned down the intensity of the machine or done some other magical thing that would have made it feel like oh-I-don’t-know-I’ll-take-a-stab-in-the-dark-here my skin wasn’t burning.

My burns.

Most of all I’m angry at myself because I had this procedure before and experienced no pain (yeah I thought I was a pretty tough son of a gun after those times) and yet having the exact same thing done this time made me feel like I was being tortured for information. The moral of the story is: please, be careful. The deals are great, no question, but don’t let cheapness make your guard drop. Always speak up. If you are uncomfortable in ANY way, physical, psychologically, emotionally, tell the technician. It’s your money that is paying for their skill and their time so don’t be one of the guys in the Wall Street pit running around like a maniac, be the guy at the beginning who coolly and calmly gets to ring the big bell or something. Bad analogy, but you know what I’m saying- speak up. Don’t look like me. The tyre marks were not good. Be safe!

Article by Adriane Daff, deals-wary dame & current Parisian correspondent.

Be well (and safe!),

xoxo