Facials: Not Just a Pampering Thing

If you were to randomly ask a group of women walking down the street, a good percentage of them would tell you that they have had a facial at some point in the past year. Most men will snicker and say something about women spending too much money on relaxation and beauty crap. But is that really the case? Not exactly.

If you want to relax you don’t go get a facial, you go get your hair done or have a massage. Facials, unlike the above mentioned practices, are actually a little uncomfortable and should really only be performed by a licensed esthetician. While most cosmetologists have training in facials, they’re trained in a way so that’s it’s more relaxing and less thorough. They also are trained mostly in hair, while an esthetician’s primary focus will always be the health of your skin. Taking care of your skin, as most women understand, isn’t something to mess around with and is not like a manicure where you’re pampered to the fullest and start to doze off.

By this point, I’m sure a couple of you (Especially if you’re a man that’s actually stuck around for this long) are now wondering what exactly goes into a proper facial. I’ll explain:

Consultation

Most estheticians will want to have a consultation prior to a facial because, as cliché as it sounds, no two people have the same skin. Therefore, different people need different facial procedures to best enhance their skin health. This usually entails filling out a survey (i.e., how much water you drink, do you smoke, how much sun do you get, etc) first. After looking through the survey then the esthetician will want to take a close look at your skin; what he or she will do is cover up your eyes with something small (Not always cucumber rounds) and put you under a bright light that will allow her to see every nook and cranny of your face. Hopefully you don’t have any loose boogers hanging around or else it’s going to get really awkward really fast. Hah. Anyways, after studying your face, determining your skin type and condition, and going through the survey a second time, your esthetician will decide what steps to take.

Cleansing

No matter what your skin type, this will be the first step that your specialist will take. He or she will use a type of facial cleanser that is best for your skin type and/or condition. They will use either a cotton pad, a small sponge or esthetician wipes. Why don’t they use cloths? Because, while people think that washcloths and hand towels are great for removing every piece of dirt or oil from your face, it can actually remove too much oil which will cause your skin to try and produce an excess amount of oil to get it back to normal levels. This means that you’re going to have a lot more oil on your face than normal, which leads to more frequent breakouts.

After washing your face the esthetician will use a machine very similar to a humidifier that releases steam into a concentrated area (Your face, mostly). This will relax you, yes, but the primary focus of this bit is to open your pores and loosen up any blackheads or whiteheads you may have. However, for those of you with sensitive skin types, don’t be alarmed or feel that you’re getting a less-than-perfect experience if the esthetician skips over this part. Depending on how sensitive she feels your skin to be, she may or may not include the steam.

Exfoliation, Extraction and Peels

And this is where the relaxation bit ends. There are actually two ways to go about exfoliation: the esthetician can either use a body scrub or, for those of you who are more in need of a heavy-duty exfoliation, a chemical mixture (Also known as a chemical peel). The exfoliation process is to remove dead skin cells and rejuvenate your skin with nutrients.

Mechanical exfoliation, or a body scrub, is when the esthetician uses a combination of gritty ingredients that are full of nutrients that are good for your skin, the most popular one being a salt scrub which usually consists of things like salt (Obviously), sugar, lemon and coffee. In most cases the steam I mentioned earlier is still present so that your skin can more easily absorb the nutrients that are in the scrub.

Chemical peels are even more uncomfortable because you’re having a mixture of chemicals set directly onto your skin to go into turbo exfoliation. When I went in for my second facial, I thought it had something to do with fruit skins and the like; boy was I wrong. A chemical peel, or chemical exfoliation, is used primarily for skin types that are aged with a high level of damage or hyperpigmentation (If you have black skin). There are different levels of peels: very superficial, superficial, moderate and deep. Your esthetician will most likely only perform very superficial and superficial chemical peels that only affect the dermis, unless they are experienced and trained in moderate peels which go a little deeper. Deep chemical peels should only be performed by a cosmetic surgeon. When a chemical peel is performed, steam is not used because it would make the chemicals too potent. Chemical peels are typically standalone procedures done in a series, but, can be included in a facial treatment as the last step because it burns and stings like all hell. Once the peel is finished you pretty much look like you had the crap sunburned out of you. But damn your skin will be fine.

Now there’s the extraction process. This is pretty much just a fancy term for popping blackheads and whiteheads. This is the primary reason that the esthetician used steam for during the cleansing process. While you should never squeeze blackheads on your own (Though we all do anyways) because we can push the bacteria deep into our skin and cause an infection, a licensed esthetician will be able to properly do it for you. She will use either her fingers with tissue bits or cotton balls, or she will use a double-sided metal tool where the ends look like identical metal loops where one was flattened. Either way, the specialist will apply the necessary amount of pressure to remove the gunk that’s been sitting in your face for god knows how long. Sure it doesn’t feel nice, but it’s best to just have someone who is trained to do the job for you. Otherwise you can use too much pressure and break capillaries or cause hyperpigmentation. She also will be able to remove more blackheads/whiteheads that you probably have the patience for or have problems reaching.

Wrapping it Up

After your esthetician has gone through the big and uncomfortable parts of the facial, she’s going to apply a facial mask that is ideal for your skin type; I have crater pores along my cheekbones and on my nose so the mask my esthetician applies is mint-based and she mixes in a couple other things to tone down the red splotches I tend to acquire, but, my best friend gets a mask that illuminates and moisturizes her normally dry skin. Everyone will get something different. During the mask working its magic the specialist will give you a scalp massage; you are a woman, still, and we want to be pampered, dammit!

Once the mask has dried and the esthetician has wiped it away, she will apply a series of toners and moisturizers before trying to sell you a few products. I don’t recommend giving in and buying her products, though; they’re usually on the high end of the price range and you can find off-brand products that work just as well.

There You Have It

So, you see, facials aren’t exactly a relaxation-focused procedure; you focus a lot more on the health of your skin than how good it feels. It’s best to have a facial performed every 6-8 weeks, the same time frame you should have between hair appointments, or at least four times a year, at the change of each season so your skin doesn't go into shock from the climate change.

As a partial tomboy that spends more time stressing over Mass Effect 3’s endings (Or lack thereof) than how prim my appearance is, I’ve recently come to understand the importance of taking care of it is; this is especially for those of us who live in dry northern regions or hot and sunny states. Facials will help prevent excessive skin damage, stress lines, accelerated aging caused by living in a harsh environment or smoking, and so on.

It’s not just a pampering thing.

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