Oxygen
The first time I saw oxygen products being sold for beauty purposes was in the mid-1980s at Tamara Spa in Michigan, where I grew up. The range was Karin Herzog (pictured below), founded by Paul Herzog, who pioneered the concept of delivering oxygen to the skin through a cream. This range is still the most trusted name in oxygen products. I remember thinking, 'oxygen cream? Because some people don't know how to breathe?' I felt confident that I was getting my necessary oxygen intake. If not, I reasoned, I'd surely be dead.
In the late 1990s, an oxygen bar opened on Wellington Street in Hong Kong. This was not long after Michael Jackson made hyperbaric oxygen chambers famous in his quest for eternal youth. Again, the concept of an oxygen bar was ridiculous to me. But in the past few years, oxygen as a beauty tool has emerged as a certifiable trend in spas, beauty supply stores, and even in the aisles of Watsons, with Clean & Clear's oxygenating skin care range and super-oxygenated sports drinks.
Hyperbaric chambers and hyperbaric oxygen therapy have been in use for centuries, as early as 1662, according to experts at Medical Multiplex. The Hyperbaric Oxygen Safety Committee was developed by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society (UHMS) in 1976 to oversee the ethical practice of hyperbaric medicine, including the use of chambers to help treat deep-sea divers with decompression sickness.
It is in this scientific environment that Dr Herzog developed medical-grade oxygen products for treating damaged skin - burns, skin ulcers and post-surgical wounds. This is not to be confused with claims by one skin care brand that a Nasa scientist developed its brand. Dr Herzog's work is Nobel honoured. The Karin Herzog products contain the fewest possible ingredients, and those ingredients are of the highest quality. Having used these products personally, I can say that they do provide a firm overall texture to the skin and can help eliminate problem areas such as patchy dryness or blemishes.
But what about oxygen facials, oxygen peels, and even oxygen water?
Oxyvital is a famous name in oxygen facials.