I finally figured out why my chemical peels were underperforming

I've been doing peels for about 3 years and kept getting mediocre results on certain skin types. Last month I had this client with oily skin who wanted a medium depth peel and I used my usual prep routine. She got barely any peeling and I was frustrated. I talked to a senior esthetician at a conference in Denver and she told me to check my pH levels on my prep products. Turns out my toner was way too high at 5.8 instead of the 3.5 range. I switched to a lower pH toner for 2 weeks before the peel and the difference was night and day. Now I test every product with pH strips before I use it. Has anyone else run into pH problems with their prep products?

4 comments

4 Comments

cora8136d agoTop Commenter

Oh for sure, @miaprice, it's just one of those things where we assume products work the way they're supposed to and then reality smacks you in the face, you know? Always reminds me how you can't take anything for granted, even the little steps you do without thinking.

lucashenderson6d agoOG Member

Joke all you want but I've definitely done a peel with a prep so off it was basically just expensive face washing. You ever get that "well this is awkward" feeling when you're staring at a bottle wondering if it even works?

miaprice6d ago

Oh man, I feel your pain on this one. I've been doing peels for about 5 years now and had the exact same problem with a few clients that had stubborn oily skin. It's so frustrating when you're doing everything by the book and the results just aren't there. That pH thing is a sneaky one too because a lot of prep products don't even list the pH on the bottle and you just assume they're in the right range. I actually started testing my prep products with strips after a similar experience with a glycolic peel that barely did anything for this lady's acne scars. It's wild how something that small can make or break a whole treatment.

fionanguyen6d ago

Gonna push back a little here - pH prep is super important but it's not the only thing that makes or breaks a peel. I've had plenty of successful treatments using products at a higher pH because the client's skin just wasn't that sensitive. Sometimes people get so focused on the numbers they forget skin type and tolerance matter just as much.