asking for a friend… but what’s a girl to do when an attempt to beautify backfires? (Especially when that attempt takes place on our face.)

That question arose a few weeks back after a natural glycolic acid peel gone wrong.  Despite being a pretty safe treatment, a facial peel with glycolic acid can lead to post-treatment pigmentation for some. Expecting a clearer, more even skin tone and realizing we’d ended up with anything but, we called on the pros who know best.

We asked a few skincare gurus to lay their best skin rehab knowledge on us, and we’re sharing a few notes from our conversations below. Whether you are post-treatment yourself, or simply planning on a sun-drenched summer, this advice is great for sunburns and other skin sensitivity issues too…

Soothe with yogurt. Right after a strong reaction, it’s risky to predict what may trigger more inflammation in already compromised skin. I’d suggest yogurt cleansing only for a month, with maybe Barrier Restore Serum and Soothing B3 Serum to calm inflammation. Start with a vitamin C serum after one month, and then after another month add gentle retinol.  This will help speed up the cell renormalization process.
— Marie Veronique

Nourish Internally. Take antioxidants and good polyphenols everyday! Drink green tea instead of coffee, and be sure to hydrate with lots of water. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet and keep stress at bay. This is truly the best advice!
–Madison DeClercq of Skin Worship

Shun The Sun. It’s very important to keep out of the sun at this point. If you can’t avoid it all together, wear a good sunscreen and reapply every two hours. Wearing a hat is also useful (and there are so many cute ones to chose from!)
–Leslie Kritzer of Skin Worship

Hydrate + Heal. Aloe is at the center of healing. Our Deep Hydration Masque is aloe-based and loaded with amazing oils and hyaluronic acid. This will have a triple effect — soothe, repair the skin barrier and hydrate. Use this as a masque or as a rich night cream. As a masque, I like to mix in some spirulina, which is both healing and brightening to the skin.
— Valerie Grandury of Odacite

Lighten Up (Safely). If a peel results in hyper-pigmentation, and — in spite of gentler efforts — the spots remain dark even after a few days, and it drives you crazy, you may want to consider some lightening treatments. Avoid hydroquinone, which is not good for you. Instead, look for ingredients like kojic acid, licorice root, bearberry, and of course vitamin C and green tea!
–Madison DeClercq of Skin Worship

Papaya Power. Papaya enzyme helps fade hyper-pigmentation. An oil-based serum, like our Papaya Geranium Concentrate, will not have any of the negative affects that other papaya-powered brightening products might. The lemon oil present in the formulation is steam distilled so will not have any photosensitive effect, but will support the enzymes in their brightening effect.
— Valerie Grandury of Odacite