Although I’ve more or less come to terms with my curves that make men swerve (oooh yeah baybeh), that doesn’t mean I’ve given up hope on trying to tone mah bodeh and slimming down. I exercise regularly with step aerobics and yoga, and occasionally go into walking sprees – yes yes, shopping and walking alot also counts, in my books at least. I draw the line at invasive treatments, so the aesthetic treatments I’ve tried are simple ones such as Marie France Bodyline Pro-Freeze Treatment, which is a targeted treatment. Since I survived it with barely a scratch nor icicle, I decided to pretend to be a hero and try out the whole body version of cryotherapy at ONLY Aesthetics (which is the parent company of Absolute Zero, so you can get it at both places).
A very eye-catching waiting area – the lamps are similar to the octopus hair-perm machine at my usual Korean Ceci Hair Salon in Seoul, while the seats are totally suitable for someone with an emperor complex – it’s totally throne-like lol.
And speaking of emperor complex, which dynasty is complete without a roasted pig? Well, in this case, it’s not quite roasted but perhaps more black lacquered with a matt finish. or something equally arty farty.
Changing in the room (which I presume to be used for facials normally) into a dark-coloured tube robe.
As I enter the room holding the cryyotherapy machine, I notice these furry thick gloves and boots. I remember thinking very smugly “hey I don’t need these!”
And voila! The grand reveal – to put it simply, this is a vertical version of a tanning bed, except that it freezes you. In fact, it kinda looks vaguely like a fridge sans all the shelves and compartments. It’s fully padded on the inside, and that brown padded platform you see? Step into it, and it’ll raise you upwards so that your head and shoulders are out of the machine. Inhaling helium is fine, but inhaling vaporised liquid nitrogen certainly isn’t. Keep your head up gurl!
And this is when I start getting vaguely, slightly scared – do you not see the temperature reading of -118 degrees celsius and all the vaporised liquid nitrogen pouring out?!
Right, so this is when I step into the cryo chamber in the tube robe (but you gotta hand it over to the staff once you’re inside) and just remain there in your undies, socks (thank goodness I wore those), furry boots and furry gloves.
Having survived a -22 degrees celsius winter in Korea this year, I thought I could be all gangsta and be like “is that all you got gurl? bring it!”, but damn. IT. WAS. FREEZING. ASS. COLD.
This is the official marketing spiel:
Cryotherapy, with ‘cryo’ being the Greek word for cold, refers to the unprecedented use of vaporized liquid nitrogen to cool the skin surface to -1 degree Celsius, stimulating the body into thinking that it is at risk of freezing. Customers enter a cryochamber that releases vaporized nitrogen to decrease the atmospheric temperature to approximately -190 degrees Celsius, which lowers the skin surface temperature close to the freezing point. Placing the body in the pseudo emergency state triggers a gamut of natural biochemical responses that result in a host of benefits, spanning across beauty health, fitness and general wellbeing.
To put it into my very own layman’s terms, how this cyrotherapy works is that your body is suddenly thrust into a super, duper, polar-bear-losing-its-balls cold weather. The body then withdraws all the blood (and whatever vital bodily essences you have) and throws it into protecting your core organs ie lungs, heart, etc. This leaves the fats out high and dry, and thus, they die in the cold. They will then be processed and passed out naturally through your body’s system. But I’m not scientist, so don’t take my word for it. heh
I lasted a grand total of 90 seconds for a first-timer (with a maximum allowed time of 3 minutes for the pros), and boy, did time never pass more slowly. Within the first 5 seconds, I started chattering and shivering. Whilst you’re in there, you’re supposed to slowly turn and rotate your body for maximum exposure (and this movement also helps generate some heat), but I could barely do that cos I was so damned cold brrrr. I remember seeing it as -130something degrees at one point in time. ZOMG snowmans wouldn’t last in this chamber, I tell you.
Immediately after I step out of the cryo chamber – my skin goes full red and splotchy, which means the blood is gushing back into the limbs and the vessels are dilating. I also found that I started sweating in the airconditioned room (though by this time, the aircon was practically nothing compared with the subzero temperatures I’d just endured).
I wouldn’t say that this was a terrible experience – in fact, it’s quite interesting (once I got past the shit-this-must-be-how-it-feels-to-have-cold-blue-balls). I wouldn’t mind going for it one more time, perhaps a 1.5 min or 2 min session this time?
For those who’ve got (heat-pack-wrapped) balls ofsteel, here’s what the treatment promises:
A typical Whole Body Cryotherapy treatment session takes only three minutes, and is non-invasive, non-disruptive, pain-free and with no downtime.
Some of the aesthetics and beauty benefits of Whole Body Cryotherapy include the following:
- Increased basal metabolic rate that encourages weight loss
- Activates collagen production that promotes reduction of cellulite
- Increased collagen production renews skin elasticity to achieve anti-aging effects
- Activation of the body’s anti-inflammatory response helps in the reduction of skin blemishes
The treatment has garnered a strong following from top athletes and celebrities, such as Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo, Olympic Champion Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, Hollywood actor Daniel Craig and actress Demi Moore.
For me, I haven’t really seen any particular results in terms of weight loss, but I do like the feeling of alertness after I step out of the chamber. It’s really refreshing actually. The redness and splotchiness of the skin subsided in about 30 minutes as well, once the blood started flowing properly throughout the body.
Note that the one I visited is ONLY Aesthetics, located at Raffles Place, 22 Malacca Street #09-00 RB Capital Building, Tel. 6220 4434.
This treatment is also available at Absolute Zero, #03-15, Pacific Plaza. Treatments start from $188. Interested customers can visit the Absolute Zero website at http://www.absolutezero.com.sg or call 6737 4434 to make an appointment.
Absolute Zero, Pacific Plaza
