Your skin care journey always starts before you know it.

Young & Free

In your early teens, you’ve got no care in the world. Those extra hours at the beach are just a way to include more Polaroids in your summer album. Smoking in high school is just that thing that pulls you closer to your favorite crowd. Your skin is a secondary character in this story.

As we grow a bit more self-conscious and see the changes our body goes through, we start interfering in the script. Our skin demands attention. How we treat it from this point on depends on many things — habits, personality, know-how and so on.

Rain Clouds

But there usually comes a point in our lives when what we’re doing stops being enough. Our skin’s stubborn tendency to do exactly as it pleases becomes stronger and stronger. It might be a newly acquired dullness that no BB cream can mask. It might be a second wave of acne, sudden and obnoxious. It just might be a cocktail of sunspots, freckles and fine lines.

And that’s where the journey has the potential to change dramatically. With new skin care rituals comes a new direction. And, while day-to-day cosmetics serve their purpose, serious situations call for serious solutions.

Turning Point

That’s exactly what Obagi Nu Derm Trial System  is all about. This complex system is meant to initiate big changes. It’s meant to erase fine lines, melt away sun spots and melasma, and give the face a glow that can’t be faked with makeup.

As with all life changers, Obagi Nu-Derm isn’t an easy way out. It’s intense, demanding and possibly expensive. The first steps can be scary and they can interfere with your life a bit.

“Red and hot and itchy…oh and not to mention flakey!” is how Mia, the main beauty blogger from Studio 128, describes her skin on her sixth day of treatment. Unlike other women trying Obagi for the first time, Mia stays positive: she works out, makes sure she’s not using any cosmetics that would make her skin worse, and blogs fiercely about her experience.

Other women aren’t so happy to have a tingly visage that feels like it’s falling apart. They rush to the dermatologist, freak out a bit on their lunch break and have a morning shock when the person looking back at them from the mirror doesn’t look like who they thought they were before.

The good (or amazing, your choice) part is the not-so-bitter end. While the whole journey might be daunting, the results are always impressive. A book thicker than the Bible (or Torah, Quran, Vedas, etc) could be compiled out of positive reviews left for the Obagi Nu-Derm System on beauty blogs, forums and websites.

Having a visibly fresher skin isn’t the hard part, though. It’s getting there that’s the real challenge. And what makes a journey easier, if not knowing exactly what’s going to happen, what you have to do and what you shouldn’t?

Get It Right

When starting out with Obagi Nu-Derm, make sure you get your schedule right. You’ll be introducing a new routine that’s consistent and only works, surprise, if you do it religiously.

The morning routine will most likely include cleansing with a special gel, toning, “clearing”, exfoliating, moisturizing and applying sunscreen. Before bed, you’ll go through approximately the same ritual. You’ll just skip the SPF, in case you don’t live on the Sun’s surface.

The trick here is keeping the products away from your eyes, nose, mouth and lips. And we’re not just saying it. A bit of water splashed where that cream shouldn’t be won’t do too much good when your skin is red and hurting like never before. Sensitive areas, beware. Obagi Nu-Derm is coming to get you.

If you’re a beauty model or a spokesperson, get ready to feel self aware or take a break. Obagi Nu-Derm isn’t a quick fix. It’s a how-to-train-your-skin kind of experience which can last for weeks and weeks, depending on what you’re fighting against. Minor issues will obviously call for less work, but a combination of skin problems — fine lines, sun spots and damage, freckles — will ask for more quality time with the product.

Why We Love It

That being said, the Obagi Nu-Derm journey is a surprisingly happy one. You wouldn’t say that having your face on fire at 6 am is very happy, we know.

But the mere idea that what we thought couldn’t be altered is indeed changeable, which changes the rules of the game dramatically.

The traditional attitude towards skin is usually acceptance. You’ve seen your mom’s face change, so you know yours will change too. That makes you ready for wrinkles and damage and it’s quite a jading experience.

With Obagi Nu-Derm, everything you thought was true about your skin becomes slightly irrelevant. Of course, we all age. But our face doesn’t have to hold the Get Old flag. It can go to this really tough skin training camp that will make it sweat, then shine.

That’s the Obagi Nu-Derm System.