When the seasons change, when you’re stressed out, when you don’t have enough sleep or you’re not feeling well, or even when you’ve over-indulged in face creams and makeup and even SPF products, your face can sometimes pay the price. Dull, dry skin, or worse, skin that is sensitive and prone to break outs can be kept under control, at least somewhat, simply with good cleansing and exfoliation. The old fashioned facial scrubs did deep cleanse and exfoliate, but if you didn’t know how much to use, how long to use it, and how strenuously to massage it in, you could end up with skin that didn’t fare any better than using nothing at all. It was a real beauty breakthrough when electronic and battery operated facial cleansing/treatment tools entered the market in a variety of price points. The older units were recommended by dermatologists, but they were often expensive and bulky and not user-friendly to operate. Today, you can have your pick of devices that are not just affordable, but deliver lots of skincare benefits through interchangeable heads, varying speeds, and slightly different technologies.
One really easy to use, affordable facial cleansing/treatment tools that has several attachments including a pumice stone attachment, is the Spa Sonic Skin Care System. EpiCare Ltd, the manufacturers , claim right on the box, the Spa Sonic is comparable to the leading sonic skin care system (we all know it as the Clarisonic) and that this unit was previously only available in spas. What I can tell you is that you can purchase this in mass market outlets in person and online (e.g. Target, Costco, Ulta) and also on the EpiCare Spa Sonic website, where the 7-piece Face and Body Polisher professional kit includes: 1 Polishing unit, 2 Facial Brushes, 1 Body Brushes, 1 Facial Buffer, 1 Pumice Stone, and a Battery Four Pack for $69.99 plus shipping and handling. This is certainly a lot less expensive than the Clarisonic full sized unit at $199.99+.
From this reviewer’s perspective, the Spa Sonic does offer beauty benefits. It will cleanse gently, and it has another benefit: the white version is waterproof, so you can use it in the sink, shower or bath. The use of the facial brush will cleanse and even help tighten over-extended pores. Good and gentle cleansing with this brush should, with use, improve skin texture and the look of your skin, and hopefully reduce or eliminate breakouts. The brush heads are soft and even on sensitive skin, these should be appropriate. On the plus side though, since there are no cords it’s travel friendly, and you can pop it into a beach bag to clean up all the lotion and dry bits from your skin after the beach or pool. And, although I didn’t get one of the new, fun tints like lavender or pink, but the Spa Sonic Skin Care System Face and Body Polisher White that I received is good for the guys, too and it’s waterproof. The units are no-brainers to operate and frankly, kind of fun to use.
But that being said, the Spa Sonic is good in it’s class but I wouldn’t compare it to some of the much more expensive models. There is a downside to a unit that uses batteries and that isn’t re-chargeable. In my opinion after using the Spa Sonic for a while, I have to admit, as much as I like the idea, that the Spa Sonic appears to be under-powered. There is one speed, and on the unit I was sent for review at least, it was lackadaisical, at best. I tried new batteries, thinking that perhaps the off-brand sent to me in the box, might be old or defective, but the unit still just rotated in a dreamy fashion, without much “oomph.” That was fine when using the facial brush, since I didn’t want anything vigorous on my sensitive skin. Ditto for the facial buffing sponge that is supposed to help your moisturizer absorb more deeply into the skin (but it also left some of the moisturizer on the sponge instead of on my face). Alas, when I tried the body brush, this hand-held unit just wasn’t energetic enough to surpass a hand-held loofah or a body scrub. The pumice attachment didn’t provide enough friction to remove dry skin, let alone the kind one gets on heels and calluses, even though I soaked my skin first, as directed.
Like anything else, you will likely choose the Spa Sonic based on your needs and your budget. If you keep your expectations reasonable, you’ll be happy with it. TheSpa Sonic website has plenty of information and E-commerce for the unit and replacement heads, plus and an informative video.
