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Since its opening in September 2015, the South African branch of Reviv has been causing a stir, with media personalities, celebrities, and high-flyers all swearing by the magical properties of vitamin drips. So, I might be a little late on the uptake, but I decided it was time to try an intravenous drip for myself.
At Reviv’s swanky salon in Sandton, a qualified nurse hooked me up to their Royal Flush drip (R2 999). This is the most expensive of their products, and incorporates their Ultraviv (R1 499) and Megaboost (R1 999) drips all in one.
According to the Reviv website, this infusion restores hydration, replenishes essential minerals and vitamins, boosts your immune system, decreases inflammation, relieves pain and nausea, delivers an energy boost, detoxifies the body and cleanses the organs.
Inserting the needle was made fairly painless by an anesthetic cream, and once the drip was in I was escorted to a couch to relax. It took about 40 minutes for the vitamin infusion to enter my blood flow and I felt a little light-headed and, for lack of a better word, “drugged up”, but not uncomfortably so.
Image: Supplied
After the drip I was given a Slimboost injection (R349), which “stimulates fat burning and promotes natural weight loss”. Just so you know, this is administered in the buttocks, and can be quite painful. Jabbed and prodded, I was good to go back to work.
So, what were the results?
I felt quite perky and cheerful, although I’m not sure if that was the placebo effect or not. Throughout the day I found myself going to pee rather a lot more than usual, as if I’d been drinking a lot of water. I had an event to cover for work that night, and didn’t yawn or feel droopy once. After the event though, I felt a little nauseous and experienced a weird numbness in my hands and feet. Luckily, it wasn’t overly uncomfortable and I went to bed.
In the morning these symptoms were gone, but nevertheless I emailed Reviv chief executive officer Sayed Mia to ask about it.
“[Numbness] has been found in cases where clients’ bodies are going through a detox, but it’s very short-lived,” he told me. “Some clients may experience slight headaches and others tend to visit the toilet regularly when detoxing. There could be a number of underlying factors and how certain vitamins react to a person’s body.”
The next few days I did feel a little more energetic than usual, but not remarkably so. I also noticed that my skin looked plumper and more nourished.
My verdict?
R3 000 is a lot of money to spend in one go, so perhaps try out one of their more affordable drips first.
Reviv is located on the 3rd Floor, West Tower, Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton. They are open 10am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday. Book by phoning 072 892 2229
Many local celebs, including Khanyi Mbau and Nomasonto “Mshoza” Maswanganyi, have been known to go on intravenous drips to lighten their skin. The process uses a high dose of the antioxidant glutathione. So, can Reviv’s Vitaglow drip lighten your skin? The answer is maybe. In some instances this drip has been known to lighten the complexion and even out pigmentation, but there is no guarantee. You will have to do several treatments before you see a result, and maintain the treatments to continue seeing results. It’s a rather expensive and time-consuming process.
