There are some women who will spend six months researching an aesthetic treatment, comparing practitioners, reading reviews and looking at before-and-after photos from every possible angle. I know, because I am one of them.
However, every so often, I see a result on a friend and all that research goes straight out the window. I mean, I know she’s not scamming me. I saw the result with my own eyes. And I want that.
It seems reckless, but it’s also completely natural. If someone you know has had a treatment and suddenly looks fantastic, of course you’re going to think, I want some of that.
A friend of mine had BBL laser done and looked amazing afterwards. She is also a good five years younger than me, which I did consider… briefly. I know that younger skin and 40-something skin don’t necessarily have the same concerns, and I generally take skincare advice from younger women with a small pinch of salt because our skin can be playing very different games.
But she looked so good that I was sold.
So I booked BBL.
First things first: what is BBL?
BBL stands for BroadBand Light, not to be confused with the Brazilian but lift craze:) It’s a light-based treatment used to target concerns such as pigmentation, redness and uneven skin tone. It’s often casually referred to as a laser treatment, although technically BBL is a broadband light treatment rather than a traditional laser.
Those were exactly the things I wanted to address. My skin isn’t what I’d describe as “bad” – actually, I think it’s pretty good – but being in my 40s has made me much more aware of the things you notice when you get very close to a mirror: redness, pigmentation, uneven tone, visible pores and the general loss of that completely smooth, fresh-looking skin I had when I was younger.
I wasn’t looking for a different face. I just wanted better skin.
BBL #1: 25 May
My first BBL appointment didn’t exactly start with me feeling relaxed and zen. The reception staff were lovely, but my therapist was running late – about 30 minutes late, in fact. By the time I was finally taken through, I was pretty annoyed, but I tried to put it behind me and get on with the treatment
.
I had my face and neck treated, and one thing that surprised me was that there was no numbing cream. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, so I wasn’t particularly worried about it. The face wasn’t terrible, but the neck was a completely different story. The neck hurt.
I told my therapist it was sore and she turned down the settings, which I obviously understand. But there is a tiny, slightly irrational part of me that thinks if I’m voluntarily paying someone to hurt me in the name of beauty, I would at least like the pain to be earning its keep. Obviously, more pain doesn’t mean better results, but I did wonder whether the treatment had been fairly conservative. I also felt as though the settings on my face were relatively low.
Afterwards, I was red, although my skin is naturally quite reactive so that wasn’t particularly unusual for me. By that evening, most of the redness had settled, although my pigmentation looked more obvious. I also noticed one or two little pigmented areas that seemed to have lifted and looked almost like tiny freckles.
And then I waited for the magic.
So… did BBL work?
Yes. Just not in the dramatic way I’d hoped.
This is where I’m really glad I took photographs, because looking at yourself every day is a terrible way to judge a subtle skin treatment. When I compared my before-and-after photos, I could see that my skin had improved. There was less overall redness, my complexion looked more even and some of the pigmentation looked slightly softer. My skin looked a little clearer and calmer overall.
But the improvement was much more noticeable in colour and tone than in texture. My pores were still there, my cheek texture was still there and those little surface irregularities hadn’t suddenly disappeared.
I remember looking at the photos and thinking, okay, it definitely did something… but is that it?
For the amount I’d paid, I wanted a little more wow.
I didn’t give up on BBL
I didn’t decide that BBL didn’t work. In fact, when I looked carefully at my original photographs compared with the post-treatment ones, I could see that it had done something useful. It had made my complexion calmer and more even, particularly in terms of redness and overall tone.
The problem was that it hadn’t addressed everything I was bothered by. At some point in your 40s, improving pigmentation and redness isn’t necessarily the whole story. You also start paying much more attention to texture, pores, collagen, skin quality and overall luminosity.
I didn’t just want less redness. I wanted my skin to look fresher and more refined.
That’s when my therapist suggested adding MOXI.
Enter “Boxi”
My clinic calls the combination of BBL + MOXI “Boxi”. MOXI is a non-ablative fractional laser designed to improve things like pigmentation, tone and texture. The combination made sense to me because instead of asking one treatment to do everything, you’re addressing different aspects of the skin.
BBL had helped with my colour, while MOXI could potentially help with texture and overall skin quality. That sounded much more like what I was actually looking for.
So on 28 July, I went back for my second treatment.
This time, they applied numbing cream, and honestly, what a difference. The treatment itself was much easier than my first BBL. My skin was definitely redder afterwards, but this time I felt more optimistic because I knew we were doing something slightly more comprehensive.
What did BBL + MOXI actually do?
Looking at my photographs, I think the difference is more convincing than the BBL-alone result, although I still wouldn’t describe it as dramatic. The biggest changes for me were in the overall quality and finish of my skin rather than one specific problem disappearing.
My skin looked brighter and had more of that fresh, polished glow I had been looking for. It wasn’t just shinier; the light seemed to sit more evenly across the skin, which gave me that “good skin” effect.
The redness also looked calmer and my complexion appeared more even overall. The pigmentation didn’t disappear – I still have areas of pigmentation – but it seemed less visually dominant.
Where I think MOXI added something was texture. My pores didn’t disappear and the little textural irregularities on my cheeks are still visible in close-up photographs, but the surface looked more refined. When I looked at my face as a whole rather than examining it centimetre by centimetre, the texture was less distracting.
The easiest way I can describe the result is that my skin looked fresher, smoother and more polished.
BBL vs “Boxi”: my honest verdict
If I had to summarise the two experiences, I would say that BBL alone made my skin look clearer and less red, while BBL + MOXI made my skin look fresher and more polished.
That’s an important distinction because I don’t think my first BBL was a failure. It was actually doing something quite specific and, looking at my photographs, I can see that it improved my redness and overall tone. It just wasn’t addressing enough of what I wanted to improve.
The combination treatment felt more like a skin-quality treatment. It gave me the additional improvement in texture, refinement and glow that I had been looking for.
Was the difference huge? No. I’m not going to pretend I suddenly have poreless, airbrushed skin. If you put the before and after photographs next to each other, I wouldn’t say, “Look at this completely transformed face.” I’d say, “Her skin looks better.”
And honestly, although that’s often the point in aesthetic treatments, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
What I learned from doing BBL in my 40s
The biggest lesson wasn’t actually about BBL. It was about copying someone else’s skincare or treatment plan.
My friend looked incredible after BBL, so I assumed I would get the same result. But our skin isn’t identical. She’s younger, our skin has different histories and we have different things we’re trying to improve.
I think that’s something we don’t talk about enough with aesthetic treatments. We see someone’s before-and-after and think, “I want that.” But the better question is, “What is my skin actually trying to tell me?”
For me, BBL was addressing one part of the picture. My redness and pigmentation improved, but I wanted more. Adding MOXI gave me the extra improvement in texture, refinement and overall skin quality that I was looking for. However, the results were still moderate compared with what you can expect from more aggressive resurfacing treatments such as Fraxel or CO2 CoolPeel.
I miss my 20s, when my skincare strategy was basically wash face, moisturise and hope for the best.
Would I do it again?
I would choose BBL + MOXI over BBL alone.
Based on my own experience, the combination gave me the result I preferred. That doesn’t mean I’d tell everyone to book “Boxi”, because your skin might have completely different needs. If your main concern is redness and pigmentation, BBL alone might be exactly what you’re looking for. If you’re also concerned about texture and overall skin quality, a combination treatment may be worth discussing with your practitioner.
For me, the photographs tell the story better than I can. BBL gave me a slightly visible but fairly subtle improvement in redness and tone. BBL + MOXI took that a step further and gave me the fresher, smoother, more refined skin I had actually been chasing.
So would I do BBL again? Not on it’s own
Would I do BBL + MOXI again? Yes.
Am I going to run back and get it done? Probably not. I think there are more targeted and aggressive lasers out there that would probably suit my current needs better, particularly when it comes to collagen support and reducing wrinkles.
So, naturally, I booked a CO2 CoolPeel. In the name of science, of course.
Watch this space.
Disclaimer: This is my personal experience and isn’t medical advice. Results from BBL and MOXI can vary depending on skin type, concerns, treatment settings and practitioner technique. Always have a proper consultation with a suitably qualified practitioner before undergoing an aesthetic treatment.