00:00I feel like makeup has been a sort of protection.
00:03It's been my shield.
00:05I mean, it's skin on the surface level.
00:08It looks so superficial, but for me, my looks was all I had.
00:12It's still hard today to say that I was ever in an abusive relationship.
00:18I didn't have a voice, and so it was my form of self-expression.
00:21Doing this chemical peel is shedding parts of my soul that need to be forgiven,
00:28that need to be healed.
00:33Hi, my name is Mi-Lynn.
00:35I live in Seattle, and I'm about to do a chemical peel.
00:38One day, I was noticing that my skin wasn't as bright as it used to be.
00:43So with Asian skin, as we get older and more exposed to sun,
00:48we start developing brown spots on our skin.
00:50They look kind of like freckles, but I learned that it's hyperpigmentation.
00:55I was researching different ways to brighten my skin,
00:58and it looked like the fastest way to clear flawless skin would be through a chemical peel.
01:05Hi, my name is Krista, and I'm a master esthetician on Mercer Island in Seattle, Washington.
01:12We're going to do your third treatment today, so let's get started.
01:16Chemical peels work to address different concerns within the skin with acids.
01:24Mi-Lynn's hyperpigmentation looks to me like its sun exposure and genetic factors
01:31because she has family members where she sees similar types of freckling.
01:40Today, I'm going to do a chemical peel on Mi-Lynn, and that chemical is a TCA in a 10%.
01:49TCA is trichloric acetic acid that destroys melanin when it is overproduced in the skin.
01:57Step one, I'm going to do a skin analysis.
02:00Step two, I'm going to do a cleanse.
02:04Step three, I'm going to degrease the skin with alcohol so that we get an even application of the chemical
02:13peel.
02:15Step three, I'm going to apply the peel, and I can apply it with up to five passes,
02:23but for this first treatment, I'll only do one.
02:27Step four, I'm going to apply SPF, and that's it.
02:34So I've never gone out in public without makeup.
02:37It is the Asian culture to show up perfectly in your mask and to hide any emotions,
02:43anything that would attract negative attention to your family
02:47because we want to give this facade that we have the perfect family.
02:52My parents were the same, and this is what I grew up to imitate in my own marriage.
02:58I'm excited to literally shed a dead layer.
03:03And it sounds funny, but you know, much like life and as humans,
03:07we go through our seasons to where we need to shed all the things that don't serve us anymore
03:12so that it can make space and new parts of us start to blossom.
03:17The deepest points of pain and discomfort really do lead us to our transformations.
03:24Now I'm in this place where I choose things for myself.
03:27So we're done?
03:28All done.
03:29Do I look like a new group?
03:32You'll look different in a couple days.
03:38It's now seven days later and this is what my skin looks like.
03:42It's brighter.
03:43It's significantly lighter in all the dark spaces.
03:46The major spot that I had concerns about were the big area next to my mouth
03:53and it looks significantly lighter as well.
03:55It's just really exciting to see that my makeup and my overall skin just looks a lot better.
04:00Already it feels so good. Feels amazing.
04:04As I documented my skin every single day,
04:06I started to appreciate the different areas that were actually transforming.
04:13Day three after my chemical peel for hyperpigmentation.
04:17It's already a bit lighter than the first day.
04:20And I feel like it was representative of my whole life,
04:23especially healing now after all my trauma from my abusive relationship.
04:29It just feels like I was able to shed a layer of pain of old stories
04:36so that new space could open up for new experiences.
04:40Sometimes the experience of shedding can be very irritating, so uncomfortable.
04:45But as you push through it, it really allows you to be exactly who you're meant to be.
04:53And I'd say the greatest lesson of all is that I'm still lovable regardless.
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