A bit of pain, lots of effectivity – A facial, that brings me to tears

dmk enzyme mask

kosmetologi kamppi

Collaboration

I’ve tried several different facials, but few of them are as rememberable as DMK’s enzyme therapy facials. While those usual relaxing treatments lovely and I enjoy for example face massage – it’s a totally different thing to leave from your facial, so that you don’t only feel the effect, but actually see it clearly. Who wouldn’t want to see results right away?

Today I’m going to tell you about a very effective facial and brand called DMK. DMK is quite different from other professional skincare brands. The facials are really different as well, because they don’t contain for example massage and the treatment can actually hurt a little. Yes, it’s a bit painful at times. I should also mention the mask, that tightens on your face and does it’s magic for forty-five minutes. You can’t really move your face during that time, but the mask does that for you – it works your muscles and it feels as if your face was at the gym.

Still it’s one of the most effective facials I’ve ever tried (this wasn’t the only time I’ve tried it) – and I’m excited, that I can tell you more about it through this collaboration with my cosmetologist.

dmk kasvohoito kosmetologi anu
Red as a lobster. And that’s all part of the DMK plan!

dmk skincare

DMK skincare brand

DMK is an american brand, which ideology is to bring balance to the skin with products and treatments, that work together with your skin, not against it. The products contain mostly natural, plant-based ingredients. The ingredients are categorized pharmaceutical, so they contain more active ingredients compared to base ingredients.

What is my own experience with DMK skincare line?

I think it’s a quality brand and I wouldn’t put in on the same line with many brands. The products look a bit boring, because the idea is to make the products awesome – not to use money on it’s packaging. At the same time when I look at the products they seem medical to me – just as the treatments and the education manual (I once went through the education for work). Cosmetics isn’t supposed to absorb that deep in the skin, but with these products it’s said, that they affect the skin on cell level. In my experience they are effective.

So you do get your money’s worth with these, even though the price seems a bit salty at first. The consistencies of the products are nice and there are no additional scents used in the products.

dmk kasvohoito
Plasmatic effect (see those veins on my shoulder?).

DMK Enzyme Therapy facials

Enzyme facial is one of my favorite treatments. It makes my skin glow from within and every time I leave the appointment I feel as if I’ve gotten a little younger. It makes my skin feel soft, plump and clean – and the effects lasts for at least a week. My skin just feels and looks lovely.

Enzyme therapy creates a plasmatic effect by dilating capillaries.  You can clearly see your veins after the mask, as you can see from the photos as well. It increases blood and lymph flow to the skin, which you can feel as the mask tightens on your skin and pulsates (as I said, it feels as if your face was working out). This makes oxygen to rush to the dilated capillaries.

DMK enzyme therapy effects:

  • removes dead skin cells
  • stimulates circulatory system
  • stimulates lymphatic flow (so it removes puffiness from your face!)
  • brings oxygen to skin
  • stimulates collagen production
  • strengthens your face muscles
effective facial dmk
Enzyme mask.

The treatment is quite simple, but every single step has an important task.

Before the enzyme mask, your skin is cleaned and wiped with detoxifying tonic, that evaporates toxins from the skin. It’s designed especially for acne-prone skin and to them, whose skin is exposed to lots of toxins (for example air pollutants). The substance transforms toxins into gas, and that can sometimes cause unpleasant smells. In my treatment I could smell a weird scent, but it wasn’t that strong.

dmk quick peel
After DMK Quick Peel.

Then we get to the painful part – and I’ll be honest here and tell you, that tears were literally streaming down my face. Quick peel is a chemical exfoliant, that contains acids. Even though it’s super effective, it can be used on many different skin types. It exfoliates, it increases blood flow, strengthens the capillaries, removes toxins and helps with inflammation. It also promises to prevent scarring by preventing melanin production.

I can say, that this burns. I’ve experienced quick peel many times, but I didn’t remember just how bad it was. I was both crying and laughing, while Viivi made me feel better with a fan. That fan is like an angel in that situation – it helps the burning sensation so much. Lucily it’s only five minutes. After the exfoliation your skin is supposed to be red – and in my case my face got extremely red. That is normal and the redness will fade, once the acid is removed from your skin. Here is another example of just how different this treatment is!

Still I would take that exfoliaton again – it’s so effective. Maybe it’s one of those things, you are willing to do – you know – for your beauty’s sake. Just like brazilian sugaring. It hurts for a while, but it’s definitely worth it and you go through it every month again and again.

Here is the simple steps to Enzyme #1 treatment. At the end of the treatment, several different serums and lotions are applied on the skin. One of the important things in DMK skincare is also sun protection and DMK’s sunscreen is indeed very comfortable and lightweight (I could have recommended it on my last sunscreen post!).

DMK Enzyme #1 treatment:
Deep pore cleanser – Cleansing
Epitoxyl – detoxifying toner
Quick peel – exfoliation, 5 minutes
Enzyme mask – mask, 45minutes
Last, but not least: serums, oil, vitamin c, herb & mineral mist, lotion, sunscreen
Viivi does DMK facials in her beauty room at Nätti Töölö, Helsinki. Enzyme facial lasts for about 120 minutes and it’s normal price is 149€. So you could say it’s a bit more pricey than the regular facial, but as you might have already figured, it’s not a regular facial.

dmk facial review

If your skin needs a boost and you want to know, just how good a quality treatment feels like – consider DMK’s enzyme facial.

Facials are always customized to be suited for the client. Besides the enzyme treatments, there are other DMK-treatments available. There is for example DMK Beyond Botox – The smiling face treatment, which is awesome for those who use fillers, to make them last longer and to prevent the need for them.

Viivin kauneushuone / Nätti Töölö
Topeliuksenkatu 7
00250 Helsinki
@viivin_kauneushuone

Have you ever tried DMK treatments? What do you think of it? Do you prefer relaxing treatments or the ones, that give you results right away?

Fixing my smile with dental care

ebeling hammaslääkärit kokemuksia

sakari ebeling dentist hammaslääkäri

Collaboration with Ebeling dentists
Contains a discount for you at the end of this post

Some of you might remember me talking about a big collaboration coming up. Well – now it’s finally here and I’m very excited to tell you that it’s with Ebeling dentists! I knew I wanted to get my teeth and smile fixed – and it was important to me, that the place I would go, would be the kind of place I would go to even outside of the collaboration. Risto has been their client for over a year already and he has always been very happy with everything, so I knew it would probably be the right place for me too. So let’s get into the subject, that is my teeth.

teeth stains värjäytymät hampaissa

First of all: what was wrong with my teeth? In pictures they might seem fine and I’ve even gotten a few compliments on them, of how straight and white they look. But in reality, I was feeling a bit self conscious about them. I had pretty bad stains on my lower teeth. And I know I’m not alone – it seems to be pretty common to be ashamed of your teeth. Maybe they’re not that straight, or maybe their color isn’t that even. It saddens me too hear, every time someone says they try not to smile that wide, so that their teeth wouldn’t show. I can relate to that, but at the same time I feel like it shouldn’t be like that.

Teeth are a pretty distinctive part of us, so it makes sense to keep good care of them. Spend a little time, effort and money on them. So keeping that in mind, I’d like to tell you about a few things you could do to your teeth to boost up your confidence.

smile teeth

Calculus/plaque removal & soda cleaning

Did you know, that calculus can cause you bad breath and gingivitis?
And did you know, that removing calculus and cleaning your teeth with soda can make your teeth totally stain-free, clean and whiter?

I had gingivitis before going to the procedure, and I was intrigued to hear that calculus can affect that infection and cause that. I wonder if that was the case with me. I was happy about this appointment, because I knew removing calculus would already make my teeth look better.

hyvä suuhygienisti helsinki

But what was even more intriguing was the soda cleaning, that was done to my teeth. I had never even heard of that – and it’s no wonder. I’ve only been a customer to public dental care and they don’t really care of the aesthetic aspect of your teeth. In other words: they won’t remove your stains, as it’s just your problem. But having done this once – I’m already hooked! I think in the future this will act as my teeth whitening. Just look at the photos and see how good my teeth look.

And as always with teeth procedures, the guestion is: does it hurt? Nope. The only thing that felt a bit uncomfortable was the scraping and removing of the calculus (but that could also be, because of the inflammation I had on my gums). The other part, soda cleaning, didn’t feel like anything.

For anyone suffering from stains – I urge you to try the soda cleaning! It’s also a great option for teeth whitening, as it does brighten your smile quite a lot. I know teeth whitening might cause ache to some, so this would also be a painless option.

before and after soda cleaning
Before and after plaque removal + soda cleaning.

Dentist Sakari Ebeling answered some questions:

How does soda cleaning work?
Small sodium bicarbonate crystals are blown with water-air shower on the tooth’s surface and that removes the stains and calculus.

Does soda cleaning affect my dental enamel?
In normal use, no. If you would do it every day, then it could wear out the dental enamel, just like brushing your teeth too hard could do.

Can I whiten my teeth at home with baking soda?
It’s not recommended. Brushing your teeth with baking soda at home may wear out your dental enamel. In some DIY teeth whitening instructions lemon juice is used together with soda – that especially wears out the dental enamel.

teeth whitening
During teeth whitening.

Teeth whitening

If you really want to get your teeth brighter and whiter, your option is obviously teeth whitening. Ebeling dentist do this in two ways: using the regular hydrogen peroxide or carbamide. The teeth whitening I got done, was done with hydrogen peroxide. I was a bit nervous about my appointment, as I thought that I would have to keep my mouth open for an hour and I could already feel my jaw clench. Luckily this wasn’t the case.

My teeth whitening experience was very pleasant. My dental hygienist Katariina was very calm and professional and she was constantly making sure that I was okay and that I didn’t feel any ache. I didn’t have to keep my mouth open, as the holder kept my mouth open all the time. The whitening paste was on my teeth for twenty minutes at a time, forty minutes altogether. Those two twenty minutes went by quickly and I was able to relax a little, listen to the music and check my Instagram (maybe you saw my glamorous snaps).

ebeling hammaslääkärit katariina matilainen
Me right after teeth whitening (hence the big smile!) with dental hygienist Katariina Matilainen.

Does teeth whitening hurt?

I only felt a little ache in my teeth during the whitening. A small ache is normal during this procedure, but as always, it’s very personal how we experience pain. For a day, my teeth and gums felt a little sensitive, and in the evening I experienced some ache, but that’s normal and lasts only for a couple of days. For me, it was only for the day and after that my teeth were perfectly fine. So in terms of pain, I would say that it’s worth it to get a white smile only for the price of small ache in the evening.

After the procedure I got home instruction including a list of foods and drinks I should avoid. But I should mention that I did get a permission to drink latte the next day (my fellow coffee addicts surely understand). The list wasn’t long or bad and it was only for two days, so that didn’t really limit my life.

As my teeth were already quite white naturally (and thanks to the sodium carbonate cleaning!), they went about one shade whiter. You can still see the difference though: my smile is now super bright and I feel like it couldn’t be any better. This too is personal and depends on your teeth. Normally your teeth should go 1-3 shades whiter.

hampaidenvalkaisu helsinki
Before and after teeth whitening.

Dentist Sakari Ebeling also answered some questions about teeth whitening:

Does teeth whitening ruin your dental enamel?
No it doesn’t. It may cause some momentary ache in some patients. It’s still not recommended to whiten your teeth many times per a year.

Does whitening affect dentin or does it only whiten the surface of your teeth?
It whitens dentin through the small dentin tubules.

You do whitening with hydrogen peroxide and carbamide peroxide – what’s the difference?
Hydrogen peroxide, which is the stronger substance, is mostly used in-office treatments. Carbamide peroxide is mostly used at-home-treatments. Carbamide peroxide turns to mild hydrogen peroxide and affects that way.

hammaslääkäripelko apua

Dental fear & anxiety

I couln’t write this post without talking about my dental fear, because it’s pretty important to take into consideration when you’re – you know – dealing with dentists. I think almost all of us dread going to the dentist and actually having some anxiety towards it is also pretty common. Ebeling dentists provide services for people who have dental fear and they have for example a cute dog, that can be there for you, if you need it.

My anxiety wasn’t that bad at these visits, just because the atmosphere in the place is so calm and all the personnel are so nice and welcoming. And what was surprisingly calming, was the fact that there was music playing in the rooms as well! I definitely feel, that going to this place I am less scared than usual. That said, I’ll definitely get some drugs for my wisdom teeth removal later (wisdom teeth removal is my ultimate teeth nightmare after all).

I am now super happy with my teeth and I feel like it has given me a major confidence boost! It says on Ebeling’s site that “Your smile is our business card!” and me leaving the building with a silly grin on my face sure endorses that statement.

white smile

hammaslääkäripelkoon helpotusta

Discounts to Ebeling dentists

Now you have a great opportunity to get to Ebeling’s dental care. I recommend first booking an appointment to checkup, so you get a good insight of your teeth’s health. For me, we first checked out the situation and took roentgen picture, which showed that I have some wisdom teeth, that need to be removed soon. It’s also notable, that before whitening, plaque neeeds to be removed.

Checkup and X-ray picture  69€ (normal price 119,€)
*When you’re entitled to social insurance compensations. If you’ve been to checkup already in 2017 or 2018, the price is 15,5€ higher.

Soda cleaning free of charge, when making an appoinment to plaque removal (normal price +15€)

*Plaque removal 60mins 111€. Without social insurance compensation 129€. To get the compensation, you need a referral from a private dentist, which you get from the checkup.

Whitening 200€ (norm 300€)

Discounts are valid to appointments booked in May. You get the discount by mentioning this blog’s name ‘Charlotta Eve’, when booking.

Another thing to note – Ebeling dentists never add any additional costs or office fees. A good quality service is always included in the price.

best dentist helsinki
Ebeling dentists
 
Porkkalankatu 7 A
00180 Helsinki
 
phone: 010 323 3963
 teeth whitening results
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