The Power of Treatment Layering and Oxygen Skin Loading

Sharon Hilditch is a celebrated figure in the skincare industry, known for her relentless innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. Sharon founded Crystal Clear in 1995, quickly earning global recognition for her groundbreaking contributions to professional skincare practices. 

Gone are the days when a facial was just about a quick cleanse and glow. Clients today are looking for more—visible change, improved skin health, and minimal downtime. For professionals, this means rethinking the single-modality approach. One strategy gaining traction in advanced skincare circles is treatment layering, particularly when combined with a powerful biological agent: topical dissolved oxygen.

Together, these methods offer a smarter way to rejuvenate skin, improving outcomes, supporting recovery, and enhancing tolerance to more intensive procedures.

Treatment layering involves using several techniques within one session, each selected to build on the last. Instead of relying on just one therapy, the treatment moves through stages—exfoliation, infusion needling, cryotherapy, LED light exposure—designed to work in tandem. Exfoliation helps the skin become more absorbent. Needling encourages collagen and opens micro-channels. Infusion leverages these openings to push actives deeper. LED light supports recovery at the cellular level. The order matters. Each step nudges the skin into better shape for what comes next.

The skin is a complex organ with multiple layers, and focusing on just one layer often doesn’t deliver enough. By combining methods that reach across the epidermis and dermis and stimulate different pathways, the skin reacts more robustly—with greater resilience and visible improvement.

Oxygen plays a key role in making these treatments even more effective. It’s essential to nearly every skin process: repair, metabolism, and inflammation control. And yet, the outer layers of the skin often exist in an oxygen-poor environment—something that worsens with age or environmental stress. Replenishing oxygen topically, especially in its dissolved form or under pressure, helps re-energise tired skin, speeds up recovery, and improves how skin reacts to other treatments.

This is where oxygen skin loading comes in. It’s a technique that gradually builds oxygen into the skin during each phase of a facial. That might mean infusing oxygen with cleansers and peels, layering it with actives like niacinamide and peptides, or using it to calm and cool the skin post-procedure. Done well, oxygen loading leads to faster healing, less redness, stronger collagen production, and skin that feels calmer and clearer.

Systems like Skinstorm take this approach to another level. Oxygen is worked into every step—cleansers, peels, serums—giving the skin continuous access to it throughout the treatment.

A full protocol might look something like this: starting with an oxygenated cleanser to prep the skin and boost its permeability; moving into a mild exfoliating peel, also oxygen-infused, that refreshes without irritation; then oxygen-assisted microneedling, followed by cryotherapy to reduce heat and support skin comfort. This is followed by high-tech ingredient infusion—often delivered with drone technology—and a needle-free oxygen jet for added hydration and volume. The treatment wraps with a cooling mask rich in oxygen, paired with LED light to support cellular balance.

These steps appeal to modern clients who want multifunctional facials that do more than just feel nice. They want science-backed results without long recovery times—and oxygen, delivered with intention, fits the brief. It elevates the effects of needling and peels while making the whole experience gentler.

Layered treatments already offer a more comprehensive approach to skincare, but when you integrate oxygen at every phase, the results become noticeably stronger. Skin heals faster. It tolerates more. And perhaps most importantly, it looks clearer and more radiant—even before the client leaves the treatment bed.