Treatment protocols for preparing a subject's skin to receive skin formulations having one or more active materials are provided. The devices and/or methods for carrying out the treatment protocols aim to increase the skin's ability for skin formulations to penetrate or infuse into the SC layers thereof. The treatment protocol includes the application of shearing forces in order to part, tear, or form fissures only in the Stratum Corneum (SC) of the subject's skin without inducing trauma in viable skin layers below the SC. After application of shearing forces to the skin, a skin formulation can be applied to the sheared areas of skin.
