No Pain, No Gain

There are those facialists who pamper your skin with avocado masks, let you smell lavender incense and leave you smelling and sometimes looking like a rose. And there are those whose clinical rooms double as torture chambers, where every waking moment is spent in agonizing pain as they extract with surgical precision every impurity in your skin, leaving you looking like a pepperoni pizza. Christine Chin is part of the latter camp.

Why would you subject yourself to such excruciating pain? Why else? For everlasting beauty of course. Like an old Chinese proverb by a wise prophet, “No pain, no gain,” rings true in the realm of physical beauty. Or was that Arnold Schwarzenager? Well, either way, “no pain, no gain” is a theme among Chinese healers- at least the ones I’ve met. From my mother’s masseuse, “Dr. Lee” who made me cry from the pain he induced while massaging the pressure points in my palm to Christine Chin who coolly sticks needles and who knows what in my face as I lie death-gripping my chair, I’ve done nothing but benefit from my suffering. No I’m not a sadist, I just like results.

Like clockwork, 3 days after every appointment with Christine, I discover baby soft, clear skin that I never knew I had. From her extracting facial and her “micro-dermabrasion” that involves taking an actual rough diamond to exfoliate dead skin away – my skin is clean and clear, I might even say luminous. Even my very hard to please Asian mother comments on my now glowing skin.

But good things are never cheap, are they. Indeed Christine’s prices are as scary as her techniques. One appointment for a facial and micro can easily reach $400, not to mention the product you’ll leave with. And you will leave with product, since, like her facials they are truly amazing.

Final Word: The fact is women pay for beauty, especially if it’s the real deal. I will promise you if you go to Christine, you’ll see results. And that my friend, is priceless. (Insider’s Tip: If the “Mean Queen” herself is booked, ask for Lillian her 1st assistant.) Christine Chin Spa, 212.353.0503.