#skinfacts DID YOU KNOW?

Every professional skincare treatment should start with a skincare analysis! This crucial step reveals key info into your diet, health and skincare regimen allowing your esthetician to determine the best course of treatment. This process is more important than the treatment itself, since it acts as our roadmap. Do not ask your esthetcian to skip it, a good detailed first time analysis could take as long as 45 minutes to an hour.

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The facial debate & an esthetician spills the beans (kinda)

Are facials worth it?

Naturally, you’d expect an esthetician to respond with “Yes, of course they’re worth it“, followed by a list of bullets detailing their benefits. Or maybe it varies depending on the esthetician asked.

 

I have mixed feelings about facials. And there was a time in my life, about 10 years ago, when I received them regularly at an upscale reputable spa. Thinking back, I’m not even sure why I received them as often as I did, which was about once a month for some time. My skin was ill-behaved in my 20s and I sought facials as an option to improve it. Can’t say they did. The process was always the same, I’d scab up a few days post-facial where extractions were performed (see.. pretty much everywhere), then I’d look as though I’d been involved in an ugly street brawl before the scabs fell off and my skin looked nice for a bit, then it’d happen all over again. And I paid for that, in more ways than one. 😦

 

As a beauty school student, I received and performed facials daily. All sorts of facials on all sorts of skin. And here’s what I think:

• Facials are great for normal, combination or dry skin types with little to no major areas of concern to address. A good facial consists of products customized to your skin type, so you’ll get a nice deep cleanse which alone has its benefits. The steam helps to open up your pores allowing the product and touch of your esthetician to clean your skin better than you can at home. If you have few breakouts or just minor blackheads, mild extractions are fine, and the massage that follows is great for stimulating circulation and adding that glow and fullness from the blood pumping thru your veins. A relaxing, soothing or refreshing mask is a great way to end your service. These skin types will look more hydrated, rosy and refreshed at the end of the facial. Awesome!
• If you have acneic skin or your areas of concern are hyperpigmentation, sun damage or advanced aging (prominent wrinkles), I’d suggest treatments designed to give you results. You want to see your acne & scars clearing, your hyperpigmentation & sun damage fading, your wrinkles diminished. Facials are not going to get you there. You need more. I know, I have acneic skin and areas of hyperpigmentation and facials alone do not get the job done. A combination of advanced options such as laser resurfacing, microdermabrasion, and acid-based peels are far more beneficial in obtaining the results to treat these skin types and conditions.

 

These days, you want to be sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck! Why waste time with treatments that are not geared toward improving your skin? Don’t. If you have any special conditions such as those listed above, rosacea etc, I’d suggest starting your professional skincare journey at a medical spa or dermatologists office. And don’t just plunk your money down because you caught a great deal on Groupon, start with a consultation no matter where you go. And if the esthetician or doctor treating you doesn’t require paperwork or ask you a ton of questions before recommending treatments, politely decline and keep looking. It’s your skin and wallet you have to be concerned about at the end of the day.

 

Now, let’s talk about this article on TotalBeauty.com. I read it awhile ago but wasn’t sure whether to feature it here or not, there are some points I agree with, such as a) ask your esthetician about her training and experience with YOUR skin type! This is not something I ever thought to do and I’ve had over ten estheticians and dozens of professional facials in my time (and that was before beauty school) and, b) ask how much training and experience she’s had with extractions? I would’ve saved myself a lot of scabbing had I known it wasn’t normal.

 

Here’s the article: 8 Secrets Your Esthetician Won’t Tell You

 

Give it a read & feel free to share your thoughts!

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