Volume No.
1
CHEMIST & CO
MAGAZINE
September 2026
travel / lifestyle / aesthetics / minimalism
fashion / beauty / art
RESET AFTER SUMMER: REPAIRING SUN EXPOSURE
September 2026
Summer might be over, but your skin and hair could still be catching up on the season you've just had. As the temperature drops and routines settle back into place, September is the perfect moment to take stock - and to treat what the sun (and the stress of a busy summer) may have left behind.
Even the most sun-savvy among us tend to accumulate some damage over the summer months. Weeks of exposure - whether from a fortnight abroad, long walks, or simply forgetting a top-up of SPF - often show up weeks later as pigmentation, dullness, and fine dehydration lines.
Signs your skin needs a reset:
Uneven skin tone or patches of pigmentation
A rougher, less refined texture
Visible sun spots, particularly across the cheeks, nose, and hands
An overall dull or tired complexion, even with a good skincare routine
The good news? September is actually one of the best times of year to treat sun damage. With UV levels lower and skin less reactive than in peak summer, treatments like IPL and targeted peels can work more effectively - and with less risk of irritation or rebound pigmentation.
"A lot of people wait until January to think about their skin, but by then the damage has had months to settle in. September gives us a real window to correct pigmentation before it becomes more stubborn. " -
Ruth
SKIN TREATMENTS @ CHEMIST & CO
PIGMENTATION MULTI-TREATMENT PROTOCOL
Targets pigmentation by resurfacing skin to even tone, fade dark marks and restore radiance.
You will receive a treatment every 4 weeks:
Pigmentation Targeting IPL +
Full face depigmenting peel + focal sunspot peel
10 mins Dermalux Medical Light Treatment after each peel
Ideal for sun damage, uneven tone and dull complexion.
MONTHLY BOOST PROGRAMME
Benefits:
Consistency maintains and optimises your skin health, goals and outcomes.
A highly personalised service based on what your skin actually needs, using science & skin analysis.
Your opportunity to discuss skincare, products and your plan directly with Ruth.
Skin Analysis every 6 months included.
Q&A WITH RUTH
WHY SEPTEMBER, NOT JANUARY?
Q: Most people think of January as the natural time for a "skin reset."
Why do you recommend September instead?
By January, sun damage has usually had four or five months to sit in the skin. Pigmentation that could have been caught early has often deepened, and dead skin cell turnover has slowed right down with the colder weather, so the skin looks duller on top of everything else. September gives us a much earlier window - the damage is fresher, and the skin itself is in a far better position to respond to treatment.
Q: What would you say to someone who's tempted to just wait until the new year?
I'd say the "new year, new skin" mindset is understandable, but it works against you here.
Pigmentation doesn't improve on its own over winter - if anything, it can become more entrenched as cell turnover slows. Starting in September means that by January, rather than just beginning
treatment, you're already seeing the benefit of it. It's a genuinely better use of the season than waiting for a symbolic date on the calendar.
AUTUMN HAIR THINNING :
A REAL SEASONAL PATTERN
If you've noticed more hair in your brush this month, you're not imagining it - and it's not just in your head.
Research including a trichogram study and a Google Trends analysis has found that hair shedding tends to peak in late summer and early autumn for most people, with a smaller peak in spring for some.
The pattern traces back to summer, when more hairs enter the resting (telogen) phase of the growth cycle; those hairs then shed a few months later, through September to November.
Common misconceptions worth clearing up:
"It's just stress." Stress can be a factor, but seasonal shedding happens independently of it too.
"Nothing can be done." There are effective, evidence-based options for addressing thinning hair - the carlier it's addressed, the more there is to work with.
"This only happens to older people." Seasonal hair thinning can affect people at any age and any hair type.
Exosomes for Hair: What They Are and Why They're Gaining Attention
Exosomes are tiny, naturally occurring particles released by cells sometimes described as "cellular messengers." They carry a payload of proteins, growth factors, and genetic material that instructs nearby cells on how to behave, whether that's healing, regenerating, or dividing.
How they're thought to work
Once delivered to the scalp, exosomes appear to act on the hair follicle in a few ways: waking dormant follicles from their resting (telogen) phase and nudging them back into active growth, stimulating the dermal papilla cells that govern follicle health, and encouraging the small blood vessels around each follicle to develop - improving the blood supply that follicles need to function well.
HAIR TREATMENTS @ CHEMIST & CO
Benefits Clients with:
Early to moderate androgenetic alopecia (male & female pattern hair loss).
Telogen effluvium (post-stress, post-
COVID, post-partum, weight loss, menopause, etc.).
Patients seeking a regenerative alternative to PRP with more potency.
Designed to stop hair loss and regenerate hair follicles to restore their normal functioning. It resets the strength of the dermal papilla, stopping hair loss and creating a better environment for hair to grow, allowing stronger and thicker hair to grow through on a healthy and hydrated scalp.
Mesostetic's hair mesotherapy (often sold as "meso" hair treatments/serums) works on the principle of delivering nutrients directly where the follicle can use them, rather than relying on a topical product to sit on top of the scalp.
How it works:
Physical stimulation - the treatment (via microneedling or fine injections, depending on whether it's the clinical procedure or a serum-based version) creates a controlled, gentle disturbance in the scalp's surface.
Boosts microcirculation - this physical stimulation
increases the scalp's microcirculation, which enables more nutrients to reach the hair follicle.
Delivers active ingredients directly to the follicle - rather than nutrients having to travel through the bloodstream generally, they're delivered close to where they're needed, bypassing some of the barriers a purely topical product would face.
