Forgive me, I forgot to take pictures for this post!

I've recently been trying to take better care of my skin. It is my belief that the better you take care of our skin today, the better it will be years from now. One of the products I recently decided to try was the Neutrogena Microdermabrasion kit. When I was going through Cosmetology Microdermabrasion was a big new spa treatment where crystals basically took off  layers of dead skin, if felt like a cats tongue and it was applied by a little tube being slowly run over your face. I was a wee bit hesitant to try it but when I came across a $3 coupon I decided to give it a go.

The kit includes 12 "rejuvenating" puffs, 2 AA batteries, attachment head and of course the applicator. Mine came with a bonus refill pack of puffs. The applicator is a little handheld, very similar to the Olay Pro-X. It's just a white little handle that fits well in your hand with a "pad" at the top and a switch on the back. It has a waterproofed battery compartment (that is quite difficult to open) despite a warning on the box saying not to even hold it under running water. It has 2 speeds which vary only slightly. The attachment head clips on to the top "pad" of the thing and has this weird almost velcro like texture to it which is meant for the puffs to cling to which works better than I expected. The puffs are kind of like cotton rounds and one side is coated with rough little blue "crystals". They also have a floral scent to them which I could do without (scent = unneccassery chance of irritation in my opinion).

Now, I had thought the thing was going to spin or something but what it does is just vibrates, quite hard. The instructions on the box are quite vague: "Massage 1 to 2 minutes per facial area. Rinse and discard puff." No, there are no other instructions in the box. Okay Neutrogena, game on. First off, what exactly is the definition of a "facial area"? Second, am I supposed to massage slow or fast? Soft or hard? In circles or strokes? Not even a warning about the eye area either? For a product designed to be kind of rough on the skin they really don't go into great enough detail in my opinion.

You know what is on the box though? Claims, and lots of them:
Today: pre-dosed puffs deliver the perfect degree of gentle exfoliation with ultra-fine crystals and mild purifiers.
Tomorrow: Massaging micro-vibrations boose surface cell turnover for firmer, younger- looking skin.
Instantly: 91% had smoother, more luminous skin.
1 week: 88% had visible improvement in the look of fine lines.
4 weeks: 88% had siginificantly reduced appearance of wrinkles or age spots.
8 weeks: 72% had substantally firmer- looking skin.

In purchasing this product I was looking to minimize my pores, exfoliate my horribly dry skin and get rid of the dead skin cells giving my skin it's dull and uneven appearance. They do mention it being used for pores elsewhere on the box but not in the claims on the back.

So here are my thoughts on how it worked...A pulsing and vibrating disc pressed against my skull does not feel good or gentle. The crystals are rough on the skin, especially if used 1 to 2 minutes per "facial area", yet somehow it didn't manage to exfoliate my dead skin away anywhere near as well as a standard scrub does. The puffs do produce a nice lathery foam that I did like. I used it for 1 week and saw no improvement in my skin at all. After the first use my skin certainly did not feel smoother, if anything it felt more dry than it began. I suggest skipping the Neutrogena Microdermabrasion Kit, $21.99 and opting for a standard facial scrub and leaving the microdermabrasion to the professionals.