In recent years, facials have morphed from being a luxurious indulgence for special occasions to a fundamental component of modern skincare routines. The problem? Facials in swanky spas and high-end skincare salons have never been more high-tech – or expensive.
Thank goodness then for the wave of at-home beauty tech devices now available at our fingers – such as the best LED face masks and the best microcurrent facial devices – that help us to get our glow on any day of the week without having to trek to costly clinics.
But if you’re looking for a device that delivers the experience and results of a high-tech facial in the comfort of your home, look no further than the new ThermoGlow Pro from Swiss cosmeceutical brand, Dr. LEVY Switzerland.
Designed to ‘stimulate the skin’s own youth-enhancing healing processes’, I’ve been lucky enough to put it to the test for a few months, and this is one device I’m in no hurry to give back. Read on to find out why it has become an essential part of my weekly skincare routine.
THERMOGLOW PRO REVIEW: PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
The Dr. LEVY Switzerland The ThermoGlow Pro is now available to buy for a recommended retail price of £249 from Dr. LEVY Switzerland and selected third party retailers including Cult Beauty and John Bell & Croyden.
THERMOGLOW PRO REVIEW: UNBOXING AND DESIGN
Founded by world-renowned aesthetic dermatologist Dr Phillip Levy, Dr. LEVY Switzerland creates multi-award-winning cosmeceuticals formulated to enhance the skin’s ability to visibly repair itself using 25 years of stem cell experience and Nobel Prize-winning research.
Now, the brand has entered the beauty tech market with two new offerings: The ThermoGlow Pro on test here, and The Contour Pro, with the latter already counting Maya Jama amongst its celebrity fans due to its ability to provide a non-invasive, full facial workout to tighten skin.
When my ThermoGlow Pro arrived nicely packaged in a sturdy carboard box with a drawstring travel pouch, European charging adapter, USB-C charging cable, and detailed instruction manual, I admit I was still feeling a bit in the dark as to what it did and how it worked.
Billed as a ‘groundbreaking MedTech device’, many of the terms used on the website to describe its powers are suitably scientific, such as ‘negative ion “anti-magnet” effect’, ‘Contrast Therapy protocol’, and ‘anaphoresis and iontophoresis’, so it took me a lot of goggling to get a clearer understanding.
In short, the ThermoGlow Pro is a hot and cold massager offering three temperature functions [that’s the ‘Contrast Therapy’ bit’ explained] which combines low-level heating waves and electronic charges [that’s the ‘ion’ bit] to work through three treatment phases of ‘Cool’, Purify’, and ‘Infuse’.
Suitable for use on all skin types, the ThermoGlow Pro device is a compact and ergonomically designed hand-held tool with ridged sides for better grip, a charging port at the base, and a main electrode made of stainless steel at the top that is shaped to glide over the contours of the face.
On the side, you’ll find one Universal button that turns the device on and off with a long press and changes the treatment functions/phases with a short press. This button automatically lights up blue to indicate the start of the first Cool phase, then changes to red for the second Purify phase, and finally turns pink/purple with a short press for the third Infuse phase.
It’s worth mentioning that my ThermoGlow Pro was dispatched at a time when a free gift was available with a purchase – containing a zipped pouch with five miniature Dr. LEVY Switzerland skincare products – and that I used the device with these products initially and with my own skincare products afterwards. It’s also not waterproof, so don’t take it into the shower.
THERMOGLOW PRO REVIEW: FEATURES
The ThermoGlow Pro device claims to bring ‘clinically inspired Biohacking’ to everyday skincare routines with a simple three-step system combining Contrast Therapy and Ionic Microcurrents to help invigorate the skin for a luminous glow, visibly improve texture, give a feeling of renewed firmness, and help fade the signs of fatigue.
It should be noted that while you can use the ThermoGlow Pro as part of your daily morning or evening skin routine, the instruction manual states you should only use this device a maximum of three times a week, meaning it should not be confused with a daily cleansing brush, for example. It is, quite simply, a powerful tool for at-home facials and it should be treated as such, giving your skin time to recover between sessions as you would a normal facial.
Breaking down the facial treatment itself, you begin with the Cool phase, which lasts for a 90-seconds (the device automatically switches off after a phase has been performed), and should be performed on already cleansed skin. When turned on, the electrode at the top of the device cools to 18°C, and all you need to do is smooth the electrode over the face, always working from the inside towards the outside.
Key benefits of this Cool phase, according to the brand, include the promotion of vasoconstriction (the narrowing of blood vessels) and stimulation of blood circulation, the rapid reduction of inflammation, the activation of lymph glands for deep detoxification, lymphatic drainage to reduce puffiness, and a strengthening of the skin’s firmness.
To begin the Purify phase, you need to cleanse your face with ultra-cold water using a creamy cleanser that remains on your face to act as a conductor during the treatment. This phase lasts for three minutes (or as long as it remains comfortable to use) and you need to repeat the same inside-to-outside motion across the face as before.
The device jumps up to 43°C during this phase to promote a skincare technique called anaphoresis which, according to Google, uses ‘steam and a negative galvanic current to create a chemical reaction that liquefies sebum and dead skin cells in the pores’.
This process is particularly beneficial for oily or acne-prone skin, as the Purify phase is said to help dislodge and extract toxins to purify pores and impurities while again improving blood circulation and oxygenation of the skin and boosting collagen production.
After rinsing your face with ultra-cold water again and removing any residue from the ThermoGlow Pro, you then need to apply a serum to your face (moisturiser is optional) before starting the Infuse phase which lasts for three minutes, using the same smoothing action across the face with the device.
During this Infuse phase, the temperature of the device lowers to 37 °C, and the ThermoGlow Pro claims to promote another skincare technique called iontophoresis, which uses a gentle electrical current – or ‘additional microthermal shocks’, as Dr. LEVY calls them - to help skincare products deeply penetrate the skin to increase their absorption and effectiveness while revitalising and firming the skin, and finally soothing it by gradually returning the skin to its normal temperature.
THERMOGLOW PRO REVIEW: PERFORMANCE
Are you still with me after all that science? I hope so, because while the ThermoGlow Pro might sound complicated, it couldn’t be simpler to use, and the results are rather wonderous.
Getting amazing facial results at home takes less than 10 minutes - seven and a half minutes of treatment time, with time in between to apply or rinse off skincare products - and I can report that I got noticeable results from the very first treatment, and that those results only got better with time.
The first time I used the ThermoGlow Pro was before bedtime, and it’s fair to say that my skin was definitely smoother and clearer the next morning, thanks to the device’s highly impressive ability to draw impurities out of the skin (even if I still don’t quite understand how it works!)
As you’d expect from any detoxifying facial, a few new blemishes erupted over the following days as my skin worked out those hard lumps and bumps that had been lurking underneath my skin, but with continued use of the device, my skin really cleared up, with redness, scarring and inflammation from recent blemishes also noticeably reduced.
Before I get into the other results I enjoyed, a little on how the actual treatment felt. Firstly, I never experienced any discomfort or pain from the heat, cold, or ‘microthermal shocks’. In fact, I found the whole process of alternating between cold and hot absolutely invigorating and stimulating for my skin and my mindset, just like coming out of a plunge pool and stepping into a sauna.
All three phases feel deeply relaxing to perform, and at no point do they feel like a hassle to do because the device works seamlessly into your typical skincare routine of cleansing and moisturising – you just take a little longer to do them. And boy, do you feel the effects of a deeper cleanse and deeper penetration of your skincare products.
It the name of full transparency, I feel duty bound to add that my results were more impressive when I used the ThermoGlow Pro in conjunction with the samples of Dr. LEVY skincare products I received, including the 3DEEP Cleanser, the Booster Serum, and the Booster Cream, and that if I had the budget to afford them, I’d be an instant convert because my skin glowed in a way I’d never seen before in my life.
However, when I continued to use the ThermoGlow Pro with my usual skincare products, I still experienced fantastic results, with firmer, clearer skin that looks younger and revitalised. This is one gadget I’ll definitely keep using.
THERMOGLO PRO REVIEW: VERDICT
The Dr. LEVY ThermoGlow Pro is a cutting-edge MedTech device that brings the power of a salon-quality facials into your home. Using a combination of Contrast Therapy, microthermal shocks, anaphoresis, iontophoresis and more, it open pores and eliminates impurities from the skin while helping skincare products to work more effectively.
Easily incorporated into any existing skincare routine, use it up to three times a week to cleanse, purify and revitalise skin in less than 10 minutes and enjoy clearer, firmer, more youthful-looking skin.
