Winterproof your skin with a luxury cryotherapy facial

I tried the luxury cryotherapy facial to look after my skin

The winter months are tough. Pandemic aside, we’ve also had to do our best to dodge bugs & viruses, our mental health takes an absolute battering, evenings are dark and the weather is COLD.

I’m not a vain person, but I do like to take care of myself and my appearance. Winter does not help this. When I visited my hairdresser in November (as the season was starting to shift from Autumn to Winter), she commented that there was a change in the way my hair felt.

And skincare is a whole other thing. I wouldn’t say I have particularly sensitive skin but even I noticed that my skin was starting to look dull and undernourished. Even though I was still packing in my 5 veggies a day.

It’s winter, it affects everything.

What happens to your skin in winter?

I’m proud to say that I take notice when things change in my body. And given the fact that our skin is the largest organ in our body (accounting for up to 15% of our body weight) – when I notice a change, I sit up and take note.

Tough but delicate, our skin is sensitive to picking up changes in our environment and winter is a harsh time:

Dry skin: Moving from chilly winter winds into dry indoor heating wreaks havoc and is harsh on the skin.

Low humidity: Low humidity zaps the moisture from our skin causing it to dry out, flake, possibly become irritated and even cause more wrinkles.

Lifestyle: December is the party season, which means lots of late nights, alcohol, poor diet, and forgetting to take make-up off (the gravest of sins). None of this is good for our skin.

I took the plunge and tried cryotherapy

Having worked in the wellness industry for over 5 years, I’ve been a huge fan of cryotherapy, from a distance. Although I hadn’t tried it for myself, I didn’t really need convincing of its benefits. For those of you who may not be familiar with cryotherapy, this is broadly what it involves: “exposing individuals to extremely cold dry air (temperatures between -85°C to -120 °C) for 2-5 minutes. The Cryo-Chamber is a high-tech solution for kick-starting the body’s natural healing processes.”

Some of the benefits you might expect to see are:

After a session, you can burn between 500-800 calories⁠
Faster recovery from exercise⁠
Improved performance &Injury prevention⁠
Better quality sleep⁠
Brightens and tones skin⁠
Boosts metabolism⁠
Increases energy levels⁠
Decreases stress hormone⁠
Relief from aches & pains⁠

Plus there are many conditions that cryotherapy can help to alleviate the symptoms of skin conditions: auto-immune diseases, anxiety and depression, hormone imbalances.

Knowing all this, I surmised that introducing cryotherapy into a facial could only have incredible benefits. I selected the Luxury Cryo Facial with Algae because it felt like such a unique offering and, outside the bubble of central London, cryotherapy is still pretty hard to come across. It’s a treatment that is loved by celebrities and I figured, with all their money and teams of experts, they must be on to something. What follows is going to be my full review of the treatment, from start to finish.

About Cryojuvenate

Founded by owner, Ruth, who leads her team of superstars to deliver top-class wellness services using cutting-edge technology, Cryojuvenate is a gem that you’ll find on the High Street in leafy Sevenoaks. The clinic turns 5 this year and is a key player in the vibrant local business community. Serving clients from all kinds of backgrounds, professions, and with all different reasons to visit.

I truly believe that it’s really important to support small and local businesses and I’m especially keen to support female-owned businesses too (women in business have a much harder time). So this visit ticks a lot of boxes!

Here comes the review……….

To provide a full and honest review, I’ve broken this down into the 4 factors that I, personally, believe are the dealbreakers that I consider before I book any kind of procedure; facility, staff, treatment, pricepoint.

The facility

Really easy to find, Cryojuvenate is located on Sevenoaks High Street, a buzzing hub of commerce. So it’s pretty well connected if you’re traveling by public transport – just a 10-15 minute walk from Sevenoaks Train Station and around 300 yards from Sevenoaks Bus Station. Whilst parking on the street can be tricky at certain times (like any high street), there are plenty of car parks around – Sevenoaks Town Car Park, Suffolk Way Car Park, Bligh’s Meadow Car Park – none of which are more than a 5 minute walk away.

Inside Cryojuvenate, the clinic itself is very clean – very important! – and there’s lots to look at – leaflets with information about the treatments (I pocketed a few so I could look at them in my own time), products on neat little shelves and a TV screen displaying clips from their social media, testimonials, videos of the treatments, etc. I thought this was a really nice touch to get across the vibrant personality of the business. There’s a toilet on site, which again, was very clean and well looked after.

Plus, I was offered a cuppa on arrival – as an avid tea-drinker, this was an instant win!

The team

When I arrived at Cryojuvenate, I was greeted by Claire who was to be my therapist. Well, what a lovely person she is. I’m one of those annoying (I like to say ‘inquisitive’) customers who have a million questions. Claire was really knowledgeable and had an answer for everything I asked. Straight away I felt totally at ease.

Ruth, the founding owner of the business, was there too. Bubbly and full of life, I instantly felt MORE excited for the treatment to come, just because of her enthusiasm. You could really see how much she cares about every treatment she puts on the menu and every customer who walks through the door, to make sure they leave with their expectations surpassed.

No detail was overlooked and in the reception area, other customers joined us, full of chatter or walked past the window waving inside – which I think really demonstrates the positive impact this small business has had on its local community. It was great to see.

The treatment

Once I was in the treatment room, everything smelled amazing and the atmosphere felt very calming. I got cosy under a towel and stretched out on the comfy therapy bed.

Step 1 – Cleanse and Tone

Once comfortable, Claire asked me questions about my skin, my normal skincare routine, any skin complaints, etc. And inspected my skin to work out my skin type so she could use the most suitable products.

Then she got straight to work in preparing my skin for the treatment. This included a double-cleanse to remove make-up and any excess oil, dirt, and old skin cells (yum!) from my skin. This was followed by applying a toner to soothe and nourish the skin and, mainly, to restore the delicate pH balance on our face (a very important step as cleansing does its job to strip the skin of impurities).

Step 2 – Localised Cryotherapy

I was very excited about this part! Localised Cryotherapy is a targeted cold therapy using a handheld jet. In other treatments, it’s used for treating acute injuries and chronic pain right at the source. However, the skin on the face is very delicate, Claire was a master at adjusting the settings on the device to account for this.

The benefit of including local cryo in the facial is to stimulate the blood vessels in the face and neck, which improves the blood and oxygen supply to this area. Which, in turn, brightens the complexion – very high tech!

The cold air was -40C!

I wasn’t sure what to expect at that temperature, was it going to be uncomfortable? Actually, it was the complete opposite. Claire used sweeping movements across my face and neck and it just felt wonderful! Really, really relaxing.

Step 3 – Algae Face Mask

Whilst I lay there, eyes closed and in a state of pure bliss after the local cryo, Claire mixed up the ingredients to make the algae face mask. My first thoughts? It smelled DELICIOUS!

Dubbed as a ‘miracle ingredient’, algae is a superfood and antioxidant. A natural ingredient that is packed with Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, proteins, and other essential amino acids. Basically, this is the food for your skin that it’s been waiting for.

To name just a few benefits that algae can have on your skin – hydration, improved skin texture, protection against cell damage, smoothing of fine lines, reducing redness, detoxing & nourishing, reducing pigmentation, and brightening dark spots…. And so on!

Step 4 – Head Massage

Leaving the mask on to do its good work, I was treated to a luxurious scalp massage. Even without the benefits to your hair through massage, it is simply just a treat to close your eyes, forget all the stress and chaos of daily life, and be pampered.

Step 5 – Recovery Cream

Feeling even more euphoric (and a little bit sleepy!), it was time to remove the mask and apply a recovery cream. The product Claire used is from the DERMO28 range. The Recovery Cream is free of fragrances, preservatives, solvents, and common allergens which guarantees nourishment and hydration to the most sensitive and reactive types of skin. Like all the products in this treatment, it felt gorgeous and I really liked how quickly it absorbed into my skin – not sticky or greasy. My skin felt so soft, smooth, and positively glowing!

The pricepoint

Like the McDonalds Saver campaign “like getting your money’s worth?” Yes, I do! Like everyone, I work hard for my £££’s so I like to invest wisely. The treatment is 60 minutes long and costs £70 (with options to take a course of 3 as a package)

A lot of places will charge anywhere between £35 and £55 for a 30-minute facial. So when you consider that this treatment is a full hour PLUS you get the unique (and hard to find anywhere else) addition of the localised cryotherapy for 7 minutes on each side of the face and neck. It’s actually a very fair and reasonable cost. For me personally, if it works (and for me, it really did) you can’t really put a price on the health of your skin.

Pssst. I’m told that there are ways to save money too – signing up to the newsletter or downloading their app will get you 15% off and members get a sweet deal too.

Who would I recommend this to?

I’m no skin expert but I can’t really see who wouldn’t benefit from this. Especially when it’s suitable for most skin conditions, such as congested or polluted skin, rosacea, psoriasis, eczema, acne, etc. learn more here

I’m only 30 years old so aging hadn’t really been something I’d thought too long and hard about until recently. I do know, however, that prevention is better than a cure when it comes to anti-aging and, with the cooling treatment, vitamin-boosting products, and cold therapy, the luxury cryo facial is pretty much geared up to take this on. So, if that is a concern of yours, this treatment is definitely one to keep in mind.

And you know what else? Life is chaotic and self-care is important so why shouldn’t you book yourself in for a pampering session, just because? I felt really invigorated afterward and all my troubles seemed to melt away – it was the pick-me-up I needed.

With that in mind, this treatment has the perfect amount of luxury to make it a really special gift for somebody you love.

Now I’ve experienced the ‘power of cold’, I will 100% be coming back to try out some of the other treatments on the menu…..and if you would like to see more of my visit I’ve collated a short YouTube video which you can watch here?