Oh Madeleine! I'm sorry to hear that. These weird sudden reactions are so frustrating since we all use so many products to target something specific, it's hard to know what's causing what!! I suppose it's partly because our body skin, neck skin, and face skin are all so different. I'm on a med for migraines and it makes me itchy, but it only causes hives on the back of my legs. Nowhere else. Ugh.

I use johnson and johnson's baby moisture care wash and it's a good thing I like the smell because it's really all I can use. I guess you could maybe try that, but I get the feeling it's not your body soap that's causing that. Is it your weather maybe? Like a heat rash or something? Have you changed shampoos lately? I'm just trying to think of anything that could affect your neck like that. I hope you get it figured out.

Also Madeleine- Could you maybe tell me and Bluegreeneyed a little more about facials? I don't know if she's had one, but I've always been nervous about them. When my skin is damp and heated, it's VERY easy to accidentally scrape some off. (Bandaids even do this to me. ) I do fairly well with extracting blackheads myself. I just use my aztec clay mask and after rinsing it off, I wrap my fingers in kleenex and SO much comes out of my pores. The clay mask is nice since it seems to shrink my pores just for a day or two. Wish it was permanent, but not with oily skin!! But I'm still curious to see if maybe it's a good idea for some of my more stubborn areas.

Also can I ask about cleansing with distilled water? What are the benefits of this?

Sorry for the late reply I had been using my mobile phone for internet and it's very annoying to navigate.

Facials are great. Your skin will be assessed first and you also fill out a form to list your current skincare products and any medication you are taking. Facial always begins with a double cleanse, then exfoliation (and extractions, done safely), a face and neck massage, next the masque is applied for 10 minutes. Masque is rinsed and moisturizer, eye cream etc is applied. I find the Dermalogica trained ladies do their extractions very well, my forehead feels completely smooth after. I also had a facial at another spa and my therapist created a custom facial for me with mixed brands using Decleor and Priori. She also gave me a sample of a serum containing retin a. Took that home used it every night and my forehead was completely clear again!. Another facial you can't go wrong with is products by Biologique Recherche (quite rare to find though? I had this done at a spa in Hong Kong Four Seasons). They have their own unique exfoliation technique, the products are also very active so you feel the benefits for quite a few days after the facial your skin improves a lot.

I think facials are great even the skin assessment helps a lot and you also learn new things about your skin and techniques to using products.

Oh and distilled water is great if you have hard water at home. It's unfortunately a bit pricey for me to keep using considering I cleanse my face twice a day. I am sure it's cheap in the states and other parts of the world haha. I have just gone back to using filtered shower water (it's still hard though !). And my skin is breaking out again. So I really think it makes a huge difference if you can persist with it as it is a bit of a hassle. I would heat some distilled water up in the microwave so it's warm, put that into a drink bottle. In the shower you pour a little on your face to cleanse with, and then pour a whole lot more to rinse. Avoiding the water in the shower touching your skin at all.

the whole system u say is available here but the facial method and procedure u mention if done in my country(which has many many many parlors) will cost me my kidney and a part of my uterus(taxes extra!!!).

here ,in general (not very cheap,not very expensive) parlours what they do is not bad but nothing near this.and in parlours which are user friendly(read cheap) - i will probably end up having fevicol on my face and neck!!

*shudder*

double cleanse?

ROFL!

i'd be pleased if the women in the parlour very near my place double cleanse her hands before touching me!

Thanks Madeleine! Im going to look into these. Im worried about reactions since i have bad luck with way too many products but i wonder, do you think they might do some extractions without serums? Or can it not be done that way? I dont tear up my skin doing my own blackheads but sometimes its a little red for a day. Thinking they could maybe do something different. But ill ask them about whats best for allergy prone skin.

Thanks Madeleine! Im going to look into these. Im worried about reactions since i have bad luck with way too many products but i wonder, do you think they might do some extractions without serums? Or can it not be done that way? I dont tear up my skin doing my own blackheads but sometimes its a little red for a day. Thinking they could maybe do something different. But ill ask them about whats best for allergy prone skin.

The therapist will tailor the facial for your needs and tell them any sensitives you have. They probably could do extractions without but I think the products they use should be fine for sensitive skin and help change the PH of the skin for the extraction. They (dermalogica) also have a gel masque which is amazing for sensitive skin. Sometimes they will even apply 2 masques to different parts of your face if you need it, like I get really red cheeks so the gel masque and a clay mask on my Tzone.

I could definitely use this on my nose. Thank you!