Beauty editors swear by it, bloggers write raving reviews and celebrities attribute their sunny, glowing skin to this cosmetics line. Who’s the surprisingly smooth and charmingly soft elephant in the waiting room? It’s Hollywood favorite Obagi, the company that’s giving micro-abrasion and Botox a run for their money.

Award-winning Obagi is no underdog. They’ve been fighting the beauty battle for decades and have won their place in the premium cosmetics family picture by constantly going back to the lab and finding new ways to improve their products. The ultimate purpose? Delivering dramatic results.

Obagi Nu-Derm 1-on-1

It only takes a google search to step into the realm of Nu-Derm. This is a place of before and after shots that can actually make you reconsider everything you imagined about your skin. It’s straight forward and it’s tested.

Obagi Nu Derm Transformation System is not a mere line of cosmetics. It is a system that’s formed around 5 medical principles — cleansing, activating, stimulating, calming, nourishing and protecting.  Abstracts aside, the goal here is fixing skin issues that are otherwise permanent and visible.

The Main Suspects

Obagi Nu-Derm is your star if you want to get rid of fine lines, sun damage, age spots, scars and acne.

Serious issues call for the big guns. While some over the counter cosmetics do a wonderful job at moisturizing, cleansing and toning on a daily basis, treating is a whole different story. Especially when it actually works.

This is why, when you’re meddling with Obagi Nu-Derm, you’re in medical cosmetics territory. This means you can only start using after consultation and under close supervision.

The Week of Fire

If you’ve decided to give your skin the time-machine treatment, you have to know it won’t be easy. Nu-Derm is, indeed, an aggressive peeling and skin regenerating system that goes to the root of your problem. Your skin’s in the way and it’s goin’ down.

“By day 17,” confesses Get the Gloss health and beauty expert Christa D’Souza, “just as I am off for a fun hen weekend, I have become a cover girl…for National Geographic Magazine.”

“Now, I have to admit that at first these products put my skin through the ringer! The first 2 weeks my skin peeled, itched, and was a nice shade of pink”, claims beauty blogger Allyson Sterling.

Indeed, Nu-Derm is a peel, peel and peel some more method. But, as with all hardships, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. And that light has the curious ability to erase sun spots, hyperpigmentation, fine wrinkles and scars.

The Silver Lining

As you go through the process, which can last for six weeks — sometimes less, sometimes more — your skin changes.

At the end of her treatment, Christa D’Souza revisits the subject and asks herself: “Was it worth it?” To which her answer is loud and clear: “If you’d asked me two weeks ago I would have probably said no. Now I’m wondering why everyone doesn’t do it.”

Sterling ads, from another corner of the internet: “The best part is that I am really seeing some great changes in my skin color and texture. I have definitely noticed a more even and clear color, as well as a silkiness that has never been there before. I have to say, I’m loving it!”

Now, do you remember those before and after pictures? Let’s go back in time for a bit and see what celebrity esthetician Kristy Harris has to say about them.

“I have worked professionally with the Obagi products for over 10 years,” she writes at Best of Both Worlds AZ, “and have had “literally” thousands of clients on the Nu -Derm system. The results shown in the before and after photos are typical and common. If you use the Obagi system correctly you will experience skin transformation.”

Red Carpet Glow

Singer and songwriter Alicia Keys, former Bachelorette Emily Maynard, Australian journalist Amanda Platell, actresses Catherine-Zeta Jones, Paula Patton and Ashley Judd plus TV personality Taylor Armstrong have all lined up to see the Obagi Nu-Derm show.

And they’re just the tip of the iceberg. More and more celebrities are taking the peeling road to skin fame, and their physicians are the first to cry wolf.

Nick Milojevic, a non-surgical doctor at The Harley Medical Group, offered a bit of inside-information regarding what Sarah Jessica Parker’s beauty regimen might look like: “Although Sarah Jessica Parker looks fantastic and natural, she has almost certainly had Botox in the “frown” lines on the brow and around the eyes. To keep her skin looking so fresh and bright she may occasionally have chemical peels such as Obagi Blue peel.”

The Fine Bottom Line

“A new skin” sounds like something from a typical cosmetics commercial, a cliched snippet that’s void of meaning and full of hogwash. And, while that’s usually the case with over-the-counter creams and serums, Obagi was designed to be a cocktail of pain-gain that’s not for the faint of heart. It’s intense, demanding on your skin and challenging for your will to go through with it all. But, in the end, it pays. That new skin becomes real.

This is the first part of a five-piece series in which we follow the Obagi line of cosmetics and how it can work for you.