MOST Asians, whether they admit it or not, are obsessed with having very clear white skin, like what Nicole Kidman or those Hong Kong movie stars have.

Commercially available whitening products can only promise to give you back the skin you were born with before sun exposure had done its job; nothing lighter than that.

Glutathione injections and tablets can perhaps lighten your baby skin by a shade or three, but that is the absolute limit for most.

However, the latest treatment I tried is the secret of many Filipina actresses, some of whom have gone from dark brown to white.

Body peeling with whitening treatment is an aggressive method that promises to drastically change your actual skin tone. Naturally fair-skinned Rufa Mae Quinto, for instance, went from light beige to a head-turning pink-white due to body peeling.

A caveat: Although procedure and its ingredients are very safe?they have passed Japan?s BFAD?they are not recommended for pregnant women and those who are ill, or have liver or kidney ailments. So, before getting the treatment, consult your doctor first.

The body peeling program called Power White is an intensive facial, skin and body treatment that erases pimple, acne and dark wound scars and marks, while whitening every area of the body.

Even a person with caramel, chocolate or dark coffee skin tone will turn ivory or porcelain-white in a matter of weeks, and it is theirs to keep with soaps and solutions readily available at the salon. The entire program requires a once-a-week visit to the salon for 10 weeks, plus a take-home skin care regimen one has to follow strictly.

Steps

There are two things you will need in mega doses:

Money. This procedure usually costs an average of P250,000 for the entire 10-week package. (Philosophy by Mikaela charges P80,880 for full body treatment and P50,880 for face). Liquids, creams and bath products are included until first maintenance. Facial whitening includes facials, diamond peel and laser resurfacing.

Free time and patience. After the initial five-hour treatment at the salon, you will be required at every waking hour on the hour to apply five liquid solutions evenly throughout the area to be treated. You will not be allowed to bathe for five to seven days.

Skin that refuses to snake-peel right away may require up to 10 days of no bathing plus religious liquid application. The lucky ones are usually done by day five.

Shampoo and washing of certain body parts are allowed, but if your hands are being treated, you have to wear gloves or wrap them in plastic. If treated skin gets wet, it will slow down the peeling and you may end up with white patches.

Step Two finally allows showers, but you are now required to do so three times a day with special soap and creams applied afterwards. Your skin will actually be darker as the surface dead skin dries up and peels.

Step Three requires showers and multiple solution applications every morning and before bedtime.

Step Four is maintenance, done twice a day for the rest of your life as long as you want to keep the white color. Dryness of skin and very fine peeling will settle after 10 weeks, but the whitening will continue.

Those who are very dark will require starting over from step one after step three. Other very dark clients undergo as much as four cycles of steps one to three before reaching the maintenance stage.

Inching closer

I am currently on Week Four and on maintenance plan. So far, my foot scars and the pimple scars on my back have either lightened considerably or completely vanished. Tan lines have blurred as well, and my skin feels like dry felt paper instead of my trademark satin.

Although I have not yet reached Rufa Mae Quinto-white, my arms, back, elbows and knees are inching closer to match my already white but untreated face. The difference, though, is that my body has a pink tinge, as against the original starch-white skin of my face.

Oral or IV Glutathione are good aids to the treatment, since these help the liver detoxify and promote whitening from the inside. Power White works from the outside.

For inquiries, call Philosophy by Mikaela Pasay Rd. Makati at 8921574 or Mikaela Salon, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig at 8561925.