So, um, what exactly is this “slush” facial we keep hearing about?
You might be familiar with the term “slushie facial” from Glee, but the slush facials that Kylie and Kendall Jenner have reportedly been getting have nothing to do with the TV show. According to Marie Claire, these slush treatments use acetone and dry ice to clear up acne. While that sounds painful, we gotta admit — we’re intrigued.
“Our acne slush treatment begins with a cool exfoliation of the surface of the skin with dry ice wrapped in gauze and dipped in acetone,” nurse practitioner Holly Buchko told Marie Claire. She said:
"This serves to clean the surface of the skin, remove excess oils, and remove makeup. It also decreases skin bacteria and can help calm the inflammation associated with acne."
And apparently this unorthodox treatment really works — and doesn’t hurt to boot. If you watched Kyle and Kendall’s big sister’s show, Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian, on E!, you got to see this type of facial in action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yae9jzwQOEw?feature=oembed
On Revenge Body, celebrity dermatologist Christie Kidd (she is Kylie and Kendall’s dermatologist) used liquid nitrogen rather than dry ice for her version of the treatment and stated the famous sisters have gone through this process. Liquid nitrogen and dry ice are made of different elements (dry ice is made of carbon dioxide), but they do perform similar functions.
However, Buchko noted to Marie Claire that some medical practices prefer dry ice over liquid nitrogen since it is…
"generally safer for a variety of skin types and for a variety of medical conditions."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtcyNw8aFU8?feature=oembed
While we might have gone with a different name than “slush,” at least now we know the basics behind this celebrity-approved acne treatment.
