The Anatomy of a Facial
1. Cleanse: First the esthetician cleanses your face. I recommend you go in with absolutely no make up on as they are rarely able to get mascara off completely and you'll probably walk out with raccoon eyes (eep!).
2. Tone: A toner, often with enzymes or a gentle exfoliator like salicylic acid is applied to your face with a cotton pad. This tingles a little bit. This is the time to tell your esthetician if you have any allergies or sensitivities to products!
3. Peel/Exfoliate: A gentle enzyme peel or physical exfoliator (think: scrub) is applied to your face and massaged in for a few minutes.
4. Extractions: You can skip this part, but here the esthetician works on active blemishes by extracting them with his/her fingers, a tissue or a special tool. I've even had people use needles (ouch).
5. Mask: The esthetician will then paint a mask on your face (my favorite part!) with a super soft brush. The mask will dry on your skin for about 10 minutes.
6. Massage: While the mask is drying, the esthetician will massage your shoulders, upper back, arms, scalp (the best), hands and sometimes feet.
7. Cleanse & Tone: The esthetician uses warm water and a cleanser to take off the mask. Then they will apply more toner.
8. Moisturize/Protect: Finally, a soothing moisturizer is applied to your face in addition to sunblock (often tinted) and lip balm.
Post Facial: After a facial skin is very shiny from all of the cleansing and moisturizing. Your break outs will be even more irritated as they were just treated. It usually takes 2 or 3 days to see your break outs clear and often times smaller irritated areas will surface post-facial. After 5-7 days you should see major improvement in your skin that can last up to 10 days with proper maintenance.
My Thoughts
I know some people who get facials once a month or once every six weeks religiously. If that works for you, great! However, for me, I've found that my skin gets its best results with consistent mini-facials that I do myself. Maybe once in awhile if I have an awful break out I will go in and get a facial or I will get minimal extractions and just get a facial as a treat, but I do think that for me, the post breakout/irritation period leaves my skin worse off than it was pre-facial.
So what are these mini-facials I speak of? Rather than spending my money on a one-time treatment, I've purchased three luxury products that I use one or two times per week. First, I cleanse my face and apply Kate Sommerville's ExfoliKate all over my face (I use the sensitive skin formula, but there are many options!). Then I apply a hot towel to open up my pores for about 5 minutes and then do my own gentle extractions. It took me getting a really terrible scar to realize that it isn't worth it to try to fix every blemish. Some just need to run their ugly, frustrating and generally awful course. I use the "3 Strikes You're Out" rule that one esthetician with particularly gorgeous skin told me she followed. Basically, if you can't extract a blemish after trying three times, it isn't ready so just ignore it (as hard as it is) and use a drying treatment instead (see later). After extracting, I apply a clay mask all over and wait 15 minutes. Then I take everything off with a cleanser and moisturize. Finally, I dot a sulfur based spot treatment on the blemishes I've extracted and the stubborn ones that weren't ready and finish up my day. I find this works best if you do it within 30 minutes of going to sleep as it gives the moisturizer and treatment time to sink in (they won't get all over your pillow). A good night's rest always makes for clear, glowy skin in the morning with no post-facial break outs!
So, there are the facts! If facials are your thing, keep on trekking! If not, there are other, often less expensive, alternatives.
Happy pampering!
xoxo