The Cranky Professor

Do you need this? Maybe!

There are many things in this world that I need to work on.  Being a better person.  Losing 10 pounds so I can fit into my work pants.  Cutting back on my rather shocking bacon intake.  My skin is probably at the bottom of the list.  Oh, it doesn’t happen all by itself.  I have regular visits to the dermatologist and when I roll in, I tell him to get out his prescription pad because there’s a lot of work to do.  Have I botoxed yet?  Nope, but I have considered it.  There’s this little  vertical line that I get between my eyebrows after a full day of scowling at students that doesn’t go away, even after I take what I like to call “the teacher’s retreat”:  a muscle relaxant and a martini.  (Just kidding — I choose one or the other, never both at the same time.  Any ideas I had about combining the two were eliminated after  I had a friend who did it one time and promptly fell asleep and then wet the bed).

So one day I was cruising the web and ran across the obscenely expensive Clarisonic “Skincare System.” Just one trip to Google to read the user reviews had me convinced that this thing could actually be a life-changing appliance.  I had to try it.

Retailing at well over $200, I turned to my best fried Ebay and got one for $175, brand new. To say that it’s a “system” is a little much.  Made by the same folks who brought us the Sonicare toothbrush, it’s basically a giant vibrating brush.  You soap up, flip it on, and lightly apply the soft brush to your skin.   The instructions say to use it for 20 seconds on your forehead, 20 seconds on your nose and chin, and 10 seconds on each cheek.  A timer beeps when it’s time to change areas to scrub.  So in all, it takes one minute to use and it is waterproof, so I just kept it in the shower.

I decided to give it a test.  I used it on half my face for three weeks.  On the other half of my face, I just washed normally, with my hands.  For cleanser,  I used what I normally do:  Dove soap.   According to the Clarisonic website, you can use any kind of soap, but they send along three samples of their “optimized” cleansers, so on my neck I used the Clarisonic all over, but I washed with Dove on half of my neck and one of their “gentle” cleansers on the other side.

The results?  Hard to tell.  Periodically I would ask my friends what they thought, and they thought that the side of my face that didn’t get any Clarisonic treatment looked tighter and the pores smaller, but the Clarisonic side was glowing and was softer to the touch.   I could definitely feel the difference in texture.

On my neck, the side where I used the Clarisonic cleanser was noticeably redder than the Dove side.

I decided that someone else should try the Clarisonic, so  I gave it to a friend to use for a couple of weeks.  After a week and a half, people were complimenting her without any prompting on her skin.  They used words like “smooth” and “glowy.”  She was convinced that she needed to buy one.

About a week after my Clarisonic arrived, I was trolling around Bed, Bath and Beyond and I came across this:  The

The Knockoff

Pretika Sonic Dermabrasion Facial Brush. It retails for $49.99 and appears to be a knockoff of the Clarisonic.  Reviews are good for this item, the only complaints being that the brush could be a little softer and there isn’t a choice of brush firmness as there is for the Clarisonic.  Also some folks have been disappointed by the battery life.  Otherwise, people are thrilled with the results.  I’m encouraging my friend to buy this one and I’ll let you know how she thinks it compares.

As for me, I’m not sorry I bought the Clarisonic.  I do notice a difference in my skin when I’m using it, and since I suffer from Rosacea, I probably couldn’t get by with the brush on the Pretika, judging by what I’ve read.   However, if money is an issue or if you have nice, normal skin, I’d probably jump at the Pretika.