Monday 21 April 2008

#70 In Yer Face

Want a good facial? Here's a bit of advice...

- A good facial should never, ever leave you blotchy or sore (of course, I'm not talking about deep peels or laser treatments here - this is, for the moment, all about SKINCARE treatments). I once experienced an overzealous facial that was pure agony - a girl who literally dug into my pores for 30 minutes straight, as though panning for gold - I left with a swollen, stinging nose and her words ringing in my ears, 'It was tough this time, but it will get easier with each visit.' Needless to say, there was never a strike two.

- Even great facials can result in breakouts - but, in my experience, the better the facialist, the fewer the post-treatment spots you will have. I believe that this is linked to how rough and inexperienced some therapists can be - the tougher the skin is treated, the more the sebaceous glands are stimulated... et voila.

- The best facials should involve some serious massage, perhaps an electrical device or two, at least one spa-strength treatment and savvy, sensible advice. It should not simply be an hour of spritzing, patting, rubbing, washing and layering on of products. Well, we can all do that at home can't we?

- The best facialists can carry out extractions - even deep ones - without so much as a flushing of the skin. The best pair of hands that I have ever come across belong to Sarah Chapman (www.sarahchapman.net) - who repeatedly steams and massages skin with oil until it is calm, pliable and readily purged without trauma. She is a master of extraction.

- The best facialists probably won't stick to a single skincare brand. There are some brands who are said to carry out good facials - Dermalogica, Natura Bisse, Yon-Ka etc, but, end up with an inexperienced therapist and you will not see impressive benefits. It's therefore far better to find yourself a therapist whom you trust - regardless of the products used. Believe me, a skincare expert can work wonders; a skincare line used for an hour once a month will not.

That, my facial-seeking friends, is my short, shortlist...

4 comments:

chictique said...

It's true, but once bitten twice shy. I'm the same with waxing, one bad experience at the hands of the inexperienced and it takes weeks to build my confidence back up...

Jessica Teas (née Gearhart) said...

Shame that there are so many people out there who practice and are actually quite bad.

Must get better at doing them at home.

Hey, I tagged you as well! Have a look at the latest CB entry.

xx

Miss Malcontent said...

Ah, the eternal game of virtual tag :) Thanks so much Jess x

Shryh said...

Hear, hear. I once had a facial in Taiwan and the extraction was carried out so gently I barely felt it. I've never broken out from facials except once, and it took me 2 weeks to heal.