By Mary- Jane O’Regan

Shirley’s in Glanmire is a friendly and well-established skin and laser clinic as well as offering a full range of beauty treatments. Welcome to the new incarnation of Shirley’s Beauty Salon, which, for twenty years, has been renowned, revered and recognised as one of Glanmire’s exemplary destinations for professional beauty care and superior customer service. In their newly renovated space to start their 21st year serving Glanmire, it is more intimate and refined, offering the feel of home and privilege.

Shirley’s Beauty & Laser Clinic is an award-winning salon with their focus on offering affordable advanced laser treatments, treating over 24 skin concerns and fantastic hair removal results. It also treats sun damaged skin on face neck and chest with amazing results. You can have laser skin treatments even if you have anti-ageing injections and fillers too. Lasers can be used over the entire face to resurface wrinkles and acne scars, reduce redness, remove hyperpigmentation, minimize pores, and zap broken capillaries among other uses. Even acne-prone areas of the face can be treated with light therapy. The salon has undergone some amazing renovations in recent times. The team provide you with the utmost attention, courtesy, and level of service.

I have had many treatments there but one the best facials ever was the Frax 1550. Here’s what it entails:

 

The treatment…

The treatment requires a little bit of numbing beforehand and your skin is cleansed and prepped. My fully trained therapist and the machine did small areas of my face at the time. It is slightly uncomfortable but not what I would describe as painful. Afterwards, your skin feels tight and begins to flake after a few days. As for results, all I can say is WOW. I got so many compliments on my skin and complexion after around two weeks. I must head back for another as it is recommended to do a series of them to maintain your skin. All staff are highly trained as Ellipse Clinical Laser specialists to be able to address any of your skin concerns.

The science bit….

Shirley’s Beauty & Laser Clinic, Glanmire now have the Ellipse Nordlys Laser System; one of the industry’s most effective award-winning technology, utilising the unique SWTTM and Laser based systems, to safely and effectively treat a wide range of skin conditions, including acne clearance, age defence, diffused redness, facial thread veins, removal of unwanted hair, leg vein treatment, nail fungus treatment, PDT enhanced treatments, photo rejuvenation, pigmented lesions, port wine stains, rosacea, skin texture, stretch mark removal, vascular lesions, wart and hair removal and wrinkle reduction. Ellipse has built a system that delivers new shorter pulses that previously were only treatable with pulsed dye lasers – Nordlys by Ellipse. Receiving both FDA and CE mark clearance, the researchers and scientists at Ellipse have taken light-based technology to the next level by introducing an innovative sub-millisecond pulse, resulting in superior versatility and improved clinical outcomes.

Is Frax suitable for me?

This is where your thorough consultation comes in. While resurfacing lasers like the Frax are great for smoothing over deep wrinkles, the treatment could be slightly aggressive for skin that isn’t showing advanced signs of ageing. If you are experiencing lines and sagging though you will see a result with Frax. I don’t have strong wrinkles but at 40-years-old I have the usual initial signs with some slight loss of volume and less radiance. I have light crow’s feet and patchy dehydration and dryness.

Is there downtime?

Yes, I would book it for an afternoon or day off as you will be a little red and slightly swollen for a day after. Your skin then may flake and resurface (this is a good thing). I would treat it for a couple of days with gentle products. Don’t sit in the sun following a treatment but use a good sunblock when you are out and about. You need to protect your skin since your natural moisture barrier will be lower for a few weeks and apply moisturiser generously and stick to gentle cleansers in the days that follow. After your skin finishes shedding, if at all, start adding antioxidants and peptides to your product line-up. I avoided retinols for two weeks after but reintroduced it slowly afterwards.

Lastly, for me, the thing I felt really made a difference was the way my skincare and makeup went on after about a week. I was using less foundation and felt like my redness had calmed a good bit. I felt like my skin was rejuvenated and overall my skin looked plumper. The eye area is where I noticed the biggest difference as I suffer from a slight sag in this area. I am 40-years-old.

*Note I had semi-permanent lashes applied on the same day.

You can download their App to book or call (021) 482 2945

Main Image Via Shirley’s Beauty & Laser Clinic Instagram.