For licensed skincare professionals
Gentle resurfacing for reactive skin
40 minutes. Every 10 to 14 days, four to six sessions.
The alternative route to a smoother-looking surface for skin that should not be given an acid dwell time. Slower, more sessions, and far less to go wrong.
Who this is for
This protocol and the professional resurfacing peel, PROT-BS-010, address the same appearance concern by different routes. Deciding which client belongs where is the whole of the consultation.
PROT-BS-010 is for intact, calm, non-reactive skin that passes a 48 hour patch test with no response at all.
This protocol is for everything else that still wants a resurfacing result: skin that flushes readily, stings on plain water, has reacted to home actives, has visible surface vessels, or produced any response at all on the PROT-BS-010 patch test. A patch test that you would describe as "only a bit pink" is a fail, and a fail routes the client here.
When in doubt, start here. A client can be moved up to PROT-BS-010 at a later course if the skin proves comfortable. A client moved down after a reaction takes months to get back.
Who this is not for
- Active irritation, broken skin, or any open lesion in the treatment area.
- A cold sore anywhere on the face.
- Any professional resurfacing or stimulation treatment within the last 14 days.
- Sunburn, windburn or sunbed use within the last 72 hours.
- Home retinoid or home acid use within the last 3 days.
- Known sensitivity to any ingredient used. Check the full INCI, not the front of the bottle.
- Skin that is reacting today. Reactive is a history. Reacting is a state, and it is a rebooking.
Before you begin
Take the history by product, not by category. Ask about scrubs, cleansing cloths, cleansing brushes and hot water specifically. None of these register with clients as actives, and all of them change how the session behaves. Keep the room cool. There is no steam step here, and adding one is not a small change.
The protocol
| Step | Product | Amount | Dwell | Technique |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Resurfacing Cleansing Peel, cleansing pass | 3 ml | 30 sec | On dry skin, fingertips only, slow and light. No brush, no gauze, no mitt. Remove with cool damp cotton. |
| 2 | Bio-Ferment Essence Toner | Saturate 2 cotton rounds | Leave damp | Press over the face and neck. Do not wipe. The skin must still be visibly damp going into step 3. |
| 3 | Resurfacing Cleansing Peel, treatment pass | 5 ml | 5 min maximum, first session | Lay an even layer onto damp skin with flat fingertips. Keep 1 cm clear of the orbital rim and the lip margin. Then take your hands off. No circling, no massage, no lifting the edge to check. |
| 4 | Bio-Ferment Essence Toner, if the layer starts to dry | 1 saturated round | Within the dwell | Press, do not wipe. A layer that dries out stops working and starts pulling. |
| 5 | Removal | Cool water on cotton | 60 sec | Compress first, then lift. Minimum four changes of cotton. No wiping stroke at any point, no gauze, no sponges, no warm towel. |
| 6 | Soothing Recovery Gel | Thin layer, cool | 5 min | Lay on. Do not work it in. Leave the residue in place. |
| 7 | Vital Recovery Serum | 4 to 5 drops | 2 min | Press in with flat palms while the skin is still tacky from step 6. |
| 8 | AquaCell Moisturizer | Pea-sized | Leave on | Press and roll. Sun protection over it before the client leaves. |
The one thing that determines whether this protocol works: nothing mechanical touches the skin. No brush, no gauze, no fingertip circling during the dwell, no wiping stroke on removal, no warm towel. Every operator instinct to help it along converts a gentle protocol into an aggressive one, on exactly the skin that cannot absorb the difference. Friction is what these clients have already been given elsewhere, and it is why they are in your chair.
Dwell time is a maximum and not a target. Five minutes at the first session, extended in 60 second increments across the course to a maximum of 8 minutes, and only where the previous session was uneventful. Never stack this with any other resurfacing step in the same visit.
Frequency and course
Every 10 to 14 days, four to six sessions. Closer than 10 days gives the skin nothing to recover with, and this protocol depends on recovery between sessions rather than intensity within them.
Reassess at session four. Skin that has been comfortable throughout can be considered for PROT-BS-010 at a later course, subject to a patch test. Skin still reacting at session four stays here, at the shorter dwell.
Aftercare
- No actives for 72 hours: no acid, no retinoid, no vitamin C, no scrub, no cleansing brush.
- Daily broad-spectrum sun protection, from any brand. Vegalab does not sell an SPF product.
- Lukewarm water only for 5 days. No sauna, steam room or hot shower on the face for 48 hours.
- Soothing Recovery Gel at home for any warmth or pink coloring in the first 48 hours.
- No new product introduced for a week. If something reacts, you need to know what it was.
What to expect, and when
Immediately after: skin looks brighter and feels smooth, with light pink coloring that settles within an hour or two. Some clients show no color at all, which is not a failure.
Days 1 to 3: the surface looks more even and makeup sits flatter. Flaking is uncommon on this route and its absence is not a sign the session did nothing.
By session six: cumulative improvement in the look of surface texture and evenness of tone, judged against the first session photograph. The result is comparable to a shorter acid course, reached more slowly and with far less recovery time in between.
Scope: this protocol addresses the look and feel of the skin surface. Reactivity is a characteristic to work with here, and it will still be there at the end of the course.
Home maintenance
Morning: cleanse, press in Bio-Ferment Essence Toner, AquaCell Moisturizer, sun protection.
Evening: cleanse, tone, Vital Recovery Serum onto damp skin, AquaCell Moisturizer.
From session three, if the course has been uneventful: Resurfacing Cleansing Peel at home once weekly as a 30 second short-contact cleanse, removed with cool water. Not on a treatment day, not on consecutive days, not alongside anything else active. Demonstrate the 30 seconds with a timer in the treatment room, once. Clients left to judge it themselves leave it on for two minutes and arrive at the next session reacting.
Soothing Recovery Gel stays in the client's bathroom cabinet as the answer to any flare, which keeps them from reaching for whatever else is in there.
When to refer
Refer to a physician, and do not continue the protocol, if:
- Redness, heat or swelling has not settled by 24 hours after a session.
- The skin reacts with pain, itching or wheals rather than with brief warmth.
- Flushing is triggered by heat, food or alcohol and is part of the presenting picture.
- Reactivity started suddenly, with no change in routine, climate or season.
- The client has started a new oral medication and the reactivity followed it.
- There is any lesion, plaque, or area of scaling with a defined border.
- Nothing has changed after six sessions with consistent home care.
Reactive skin with an inflammatory pattern is a clinical question. Clients are usually relieved to be told so rather than sold a seventh session.
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