I treat myself to a facial every other week or once a month and you should too.
Most people tend to think that this (by “this” I mean getting facials regularly) is an extra step to my skin care regimen but I beg to differ. I get a lot from going to the spa for facials and it’s not like I’m wasting my money on something that’s totally non-beneficial, right? If it were possible, I’d get a facial every week!
With that said, I’d like to tell you one of my many wonderful experiences with getting facials at my favorite spa. The name of the spa will, of course, remain a secret as I am going to divulge a few funny moments I’ve had while getting treatments there and maybe, by the end of this post, I can convince you to start getting facials regularly (I’m really crossing my fingers):
The Facial Virgin and the Decision
It’s not what you think! Very much like you, I was hesitant to actually go in and get my face cleaned and pampered at the spa. I was a facial virgin (as my friends would call it). Don’t be mistaken though, I’ve visited the spa many times but I’ve always opt for massages or other body treatments and never facials.
I guess what was stopping me was the idea of allowing another person to take charge of my beautiful face. I could enumerate different scenarios of aspects that could go wrong during and after the facial. My creative mind thought of scars, burns, pain and so on (don’t be discouraged, read on).
But, it wasn’t until I got a gift certificate for a free facial that I dared to step into the unknown. Well, that and my pushy friends commenting that my skin was in dire need of a makeover. It was true, nonetheless, and so I phone in for an appointment.
The Moment When I Realized I Was Wrong
The day of the facial came and here’s a blow by blow account on what happened (plus, steps to what the nice lady did to my face):
Step 1: Preparation
I’m not sure with other spas but the lady that was in charge of doing my face (let’s call her lady facial because it’s catchy) didn’t make me wash my face. She just instructed me to tie my hair up and she proceeded to put a head band on me.
My inner voice is saying: “Meh!” (With nonchalant expression that says: I’ve done this before lady)
Step 2: Cleansing, Toning and Massaging
Lady facial then cleaned my skin using a toner. This is one of the most relaxing parts, in my opinion because the toner feels cool on the skin and while she’s toning, she also massages my face.
My inner voice is saying: “So far so good. No burning yet. I wonder what toner she’s using.”
Step 3: Steaming
Once my face was all cleaned and prepped, lady facial explained that she was going to steam my face. Being the facial newbie that I was, I wasn’t quite sure what this meant. I just went with it as she put a piece of cloth on both my eyes. She turned on a machine that sprayed steam on my face area.
My inner voice is saying: “Whew! For a moment there, I thought she was going to do something painful. This isn’t so bad.”
Funny thing though, the steam sort of built up around my nostrils and it seemed like I had fluid coming out of my nose. I kept wiping it off so no one would notice. Just to be clear, again, the fluid was coming from the steam.
Step 4: Microdermabrasion
For those of who don’t know what this is: it’s a cosmetic procedure in which the face is sprayed with abrasive crystals to remove dead epidermal cells (source: dictionary.com). With the knowledge of beauty and skin care that I have now, I can say that there are more ways to microdermabrase your skin – not just spraying.
The timer went off on the machine and lady facial explained that this was the part where she’s going to clean my face even more. She used a suctioning tool on my face that looked like a pen which suctioned the dirt and handled the microdermabasion.
My inner voice is saying: “This feel really good. I had nothing to worry about!”
After the whole suctioning process, she pulled out her extractor and began to squeeze parts of my face that had blackheads, whiteheads and clogs. I’d have to admit that this part made my eyes tear. It wasn’t really painful but it was uncomfortable.
My inner voice is saying: “Holy Moly! Is this supposed to happen?”
My face was all red after that as I had a lot of zits that she had to extract. She followed this up with a similar looking tool with a sort of laser light bulb at the tip. I’m not sure what this was for but I’m betting that it was for further cleansing.
The last tool she used on me was a blow-dryer looking thingamajig that had a flat surface at the end. It felt cold. Lady facial explained to me that it was to close my pores off.
My inner voice is saying: “Ok, just one step that was uncomfortable. This should be done soon.”
Step 5: Moisturizer and Sunscreen
After everything, she massaged my face with moisturizer and then she applied sunscreen. The END!
The Aftermath
Overall, my experience was good except for the extraction part but she did show me what she extracted and, oh boy, the amount of dirt she got was surprising. Don’t judge, yours could too! My skin looked red but it felt amazing, smooth and supple! It continued to be so for 3 days. I had that great glow without even putting makeup on.
Of course if it was not so costly, I would go the spa every day to get pampered and get microdermabrasion sessions. But I found out, there were microdermabrasions devices that you could use yourself, so you bet I spent some time on the Internet to find reviews. I eventually found this awesome ( no pun intended) guide about at home microdermabrasion machines, which lists the top 3 microdermabrasion machines.
I really like the way they did it, and presented the machines. In case you are interested, they recommend Microderm MD, Kendal HB-sf01 and HB-SF02 and New spa microdermabrasion machine. Please note these reviews are their opinions about the devices, not mine.
I only tried the Microderm MD, and I agree it definitely feels like a professional machine, as you get a smoother skin and are more receptive to skincare treatments.
The price of one microdermabrasion machine is worth it because usually a session costs about $150-200, so after 1 or 2 sessions with a unit, it aready has paid for itself, let alone the fact you don’t need to go out. No more time wasted to even dress 🙂
So do you have any spa story? Have you tried a microdermabrasion machine? what do you think? if you want, I will do a whole article about it, though the myawesomebeauty.com team already covered it all…. so I am not sure what I could add.