Let your face glow with LED light!

I really love non-invasive skin care treatments like microcurrent. LED light is another treatment that gives your skin new energy and promotes cell renewal.

Receiving LED light treatment is a great add on to a facial at Munjoyous...Your Neighborhood Oasis. It's a simple process involving shining patches of light on sections of your face It's painless, but profoundly effective. I brought my light along with me when we were traveling in the car and gave myself daily treatments. I miss those days! My skin was looking awesome.

It's not laser treatments. LED light uses lower energy and the rays are diffused and unfocused. It's not sun light. LED light does not have the damaging UV rays that come from sun. LED light works by triggering a cellular response in your skin cells. It's especially helpful for improving fine lines and sagging that occurs with aging due to the slowed reproduction of elastin and collagen. Did you know that every year after 30, 1% of our elastin and collagen reproduction is diminished?  LED red and amber light triggers cell energy that creates elastin and collagen,

Inflammation! There I said it. It's a chronic problem for us. From eating sugar, exposure to toxins, alcohol, stress...you name it and it probably causes inflammation.  Inflammation influences the aging process and skin is affected in several ways by inflammation. But LED light therapy reduces inflammation. Yahoo!

There are some other benefits too.. In addition to reduced inflammation there is improved circulation, which pulls toxins away from the skin and flushes them out in the blood. Accelerated healing too. Blue LED light is antibacterial and is used effectively to treat acne. Red and Amber LED light minimizes the appearance of pores, fine lines and wrinkles immediately by causing a plumping effect in the skin. It also helps to prevent environmental damage and gives your skin radiant glow, Glow is good.

There are lots of things we can do for our complexions that don't involve painful invasive medical treatments. LED light is a great option in a facial. Call Munjoyous...Your Neighborhood Oasis today and schedule your LED light treatment. Say you read it here and you get 10% off your first treatm Call 207-956-7780
 

Do I Really Need Toner?

 So let's talk about your acid mantle. Oh, be still my heart! The acid mantle is the thin layer of sebaceous oil on the surface of the skin. It is there to protect your skin from bacteria and other nasty germs trying to break through the barrier. When we wash our faces, we remove lots of dirt and germs, but we also compromise the acid mantle. The PH of the skin should be between 4.5 and 6.2. If it's compromised, we are vulnerable to germs and also vulnerable to dryness, because the acid mantle also works to keep moisture in.

Enter...toner! Toner is the spritz that restores the PH of your acid mantle. It keeps moisture from leaving and germs from entering. I like to just spray it right on my face. It's so easy and yep, worth it. In fact, if you use a scented toner like the Neroli Toner from Munjoyous, you also get the benefits of the calming properties Egyptian Neroli essential oil and organic Bulgarian rosewater.

I suppose you don't REALLY need to use a toner, but it sure helps you to keep moisture in and germs out. And...it's only $15 at Munjoyous...Your Neighborhood Oasis.

Polarity Facial

Recently a client said, "I can't decide whether I want a facial or a polarity session". So, we made lemonade and thus the polarity facial was born at Munjoyous...Your Neighborhood Oasis.

Polarity therapy is a subtle type of energy work done fully clothed. It involves some light massage and lots of powerful energy clearing. By touching different parts of your body with energetic intention, the therapist clears and aligns your subtle energy pathways. Some of the work is done off the body, using crystals and sound. Clients frequently report that they feel greater ease, that life just seems to flow more smoothly, that negative patterns in their life seem to have less pull.
For a longer description of polarity, check out this link.

My Polarity Facial has all the benefits of a facial which includes a deep cleanse, a peel, a face massage with a therapeutic serum and a customized mask. Before the first hot towel, I perform a series of opening polarity moves that include some light neck and scalp massage. After the cleanse, while you are under the steam with your peel, I will test and align your energy pathways starting on your feet and working up to your head. The face massage will include particular attention to acupressure points that help to stimulate skin rejuvenation and radiance. Finally, while you relax with your customized mask, I will do a full energetic clearing with crystals. After your mask I will do some very subtle cranial polarity moves that will leave you deeply relaxed.

I'm really excited to integrate polarity and a facial. So often my clients are intrigued with polarity and would like to try it, but don't want to give up the benefits of a facial. I also believe that polarity is a wonderful way to find your true radiant beauty from within. It's like a "very" deep cleanse. Come try the Polarity Facial at Munjoyous.. Your Neighborhood Oasis. I'd love your feedback.

Tough Research

As some of you may know, John and I have taken a few weeks off from Munjoyous and are traveling around the country. We decided to incorporate some business research into our travels and our first project started today at Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Hot Springs got it's name from the many deep springs of mineral rich hot water beneath the earth there. In Hot Springs there are a row of turn-of-the-century bath houses. We toured one which was part of the Hot Springs National Park and we actually "took in the waters" at the Buckstaff Bath House.
It was a really interesting experience. They have kept the same routine with the same tubs, sitz baths and steam cabinets for all these years. I felt like a character in Downton Abbey. We were separated by gender and then ushered into the undressing rooms. After undressing, I was wrapped in a sheet (yes, Roman style) and delivered to a huge bathtub room where I sat and luxuriated in the hot, mineral rich, spring water for about a half hour. After that I lay on a table and received hot packs on my shoulders and hips and a cool pack on my forehead. Then I climbed into the steam cabinet for a few minutes. Lastly, I sat in a sitz bath for another few minutes. It all ended with a "needle shower". Although it seems like a lot of hoops to jump through, it was definitely worth it. I felt great at the end and my aches and pains were greatly reduced.
It got me thinking about similar spa treatments that we could do at Munjoyous. I tend to forget how valuable heat is for softening the muscles and easing the joints out of their frozen stiffness. And the mineral rich water had a greater effect by relieving pain. According to "Live Strong.com", the calcium and sodium bicarbonate absorbed in hot spring waters increases your hydrostatic pressure and ultimately adds oxygen to your circulatory system. Hot spring waters reduce stress and promote sleep naturally. Being submerged in hot water reduces pain not only through the mineral absorption, but also through the support our joints get through the buoyancy of the water. Finally, the mineral rich waters soften the skin.
Although the research was exhausting and I don't know how I managed to do it, I'm excited to bring a little bit of this part of my vacation back to Munjoyous...Your Neighborhood Oasis.

Want a lift?

I like micro current.
I like it because it's a facial treatment that's packed with good, healthy stuff that's high benefit and low risk.

What is it? 

It's a mild electrical current that simulates the body's natural cellular current. It's measured in micro amps which are one millionth of an amp. No pain...all gain!

This energy triggers cellular activity and restores normal frequencies within damaged cells. And new cell growth is what skin care is all about. But also, it feels good. After a micro current session, my face feels vital, rejuvenated, alive!

What is it good for? 

There are four major benefits to a micro current session. 

1. It stimulates the muscles in the skin. The face is the only place on the body where the muscles are attached to the skin. The micro current stimulation tightens those muscles. I usually notice that tightness on my forehead and around my eyes. No, it's not "like wow, a major transformation", but it's noticeable and it has other benefits, too.

2. Micro current aids in product penetration. Iontophoresis is the professional term, but basically it pushes the product you use deeper into the skin because positive repels positive (only in electricity, thank God). If your product is water-based with positive ions, those ions repel the charge of the micro current and voila, penetration! I like to use a vitamin C serum or a hyaluronic acid serum in my treatment. And there's more...

3. It increases circulation in the skin. Circulation brings blood to the face, which snags the toxins and waste products in our face and takes it away. This same wonderful blood is also delivering yummy nutrients to your skin. Yay! Yep...still more.

4. Micro current triggers ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is a molecule produced in the mitochondria of the cell. It is required for all cellular reactions in our bodies. After a micro current session, I can see better tone in my skin. I can also feel the warmth and glow from all that activity going on under the surface. So there it is again... new cell growth. 

Next time you want to give your face a workout, check us out at munjoyous.com/services.

*Special thanks to Rachel Vicknair at NuFace and ASCP Skincare for educating me.

Wonderful Product

Oh products! When I started practicing aesthetics, I was bombarded with products.  The first aesthetics show I went to was saturated with hundreds of different products, all promising to perform miracles. I was seduced a few times by expensive products, but I remembered what one of my favorite teachers told me. She said that half of the expense for some of the popular products we see is spent on all the promotional rigging that gets it out there and sells it. I asked her about a particular popular product I had seen at the malls.  She said, "You know, what you're really paying for is all those displays you see!" This got me thinking about packaging.
Then I started selling products and I saw my clients sink a little when they learned the price of a product I recommended to them. I get it. It's hard when you've finally made the decision to take care of your skin and you're ready to invest in your face, but the cost is so prohibitive that it is discouraging. Going home with an ounce of moisturizer that cost you $75 is a tough way to start your new relationship with your face.

I've also had some insights about products too. I knew that artificial scents and additives are a no-no and I'm growing to understand words like peptide, stem cell, botanical and antioxidant. Although, I still call my sister the chemist to explain them to me. 

When we started "Munjoyous...Your Neighborhood Oasis" in our little Portland neighborhood in Maine, I wanted to find a product that wasn't crazy expensive, but had quality ingredients and good science behind it.
So I'm really excited about our new product. Prima Fleur is the name of the company that makes it and they have a wonderful philosophy and history. They have been around for 20 years and they are sincerely concerned about the environment. All of their products are naturally scented with essential oils and hydrosols. I love the Calendula Hydro Boost moisturizer that we now carry and the ever so gentle exfoliating Combava Scrub is delightful. I can keep the price down by packaging it myself too. So you aren't paying for the package, just the product.

Check out their great website (http://www.primafleur.com/about.php) and see if their philosophy resonates with yours. It did with mine...and the prices did too.

Privacy Please

One of my pet peeves about visiting a spa is that I'm always exhausted when I leave. I mean, yeah, I'm supposed to go there to relax and feel good, but I hate the process of getting there and leaving. Some folks look great after a massage or facial. They have that perfect hair that looks a little sexy when it's mussed up. But I have the kind of hair that turns to a Brillo pad after an hour or so on the table. And after that awesome head massage...bam...the only glam star I resemble is Side Show Bob from "The Simpsons".

I hate the fact that right around the foot massage (my favorite part) I'm distracted by the fact that I'm still trying to plot out my escape route past the product display and the waiting room filled with perfectly un-mussed clients. 

Going to a spa should be a perfectly relaxed experience. I don't want to run through the spa beauty gauntlet. I want to enter privately and leave even more privately. I want the experience to be between me and my trusted esthetician and perhaps a supportive friend. This was what I envisioned when we were starting "Munjoyous...Your Neighborhood Oasis". Folks can show up just as they are and have a comfortable experience with just plain old me.