Facials · ExplainedHydrafacial or Chemical Peel?

The simplest way to think about it

A Hydrafacial cleanses, exfoliates, extracts and hydrates in one pass. You leave looking better than you arrived and nobody can tell you have had anything done. It is maintenance, done well.

A chemical peel uses acids to accelerate how fast the surface sheds. That clears congestion, lifts pigmentation and stimulates renewal underneath — but it takes days to work through, and with a medium peel you will flake.

Hydrafacial is maintenance. A peel is a change.

Choose Hydrafacial if

• You have something on this week or next
• Your skin is congested, dull or dehydrated rather than damaged
• You want visible improvement with zero downtime
• It is your first clinical facial and you want to start sensibly
• You are maintaining a result you already have

Choose a peel if

• You are treating pigmentation, texture or persistent congestion
• You want a change in the skin rather than a polish
• You have four weeks or more before anything important
• You are prepared to run a course of three to six rather than one

The event timing rule

A Hydrafacial is safe two weeks before a wedding. A medium peel two weeks before a wedding is a gamble, and a peel in the final week is how brides end up flaking in photographs.

If you are working to a date, our bridal timeline sets the whole thing out backwards from the day. The short version: courses finish six weeks out, final facial at two weeks, nothing new in the last month.

Why peels are a course, not a treatment

We start conservatively and step up. A first peel at a strength your barrier cannot handle causes irritation, post-inflammatory pigmentation and a fortnight of repair — slower than going carefully in the first place. Three to six peels two to four weeks apart is a typical protocol.

For pigmentation especially, what you use in the four weeks before matters as much as the peel itself.

Why not both

That is what most of our skin plans look like. A peel course to make the change, Hydrafacial monthly to hold it, and Dermalux LED added to calm the inflammatory response after anything active.

Skin & Co is Morpeth's official Hydrafacial provider, which means genuine consumables and brand-trained staff rather than a generic hydradermabrasion machine sold under a similar-sounding name. Worth checking wherever you book.

What each costs

Express Hydrafacial £110, Deluxe £170, Platinum £200. Peels run from the Initial Enhancement Mask at £80 through to POWER+ at £140. A skin consultation and analysis is £30 and redeemable against whatever we agree.