At home facials could be done once a week, every other week, once a month, or as often as you remember. I used to love doing at-home facials with my girlfriends when I was in high school--it's pretty fun to do with girlfriends during a ladies night in.
If you'd like a relaxing ambiance, go ahead and turn on some soothing music. If you don't have actual spa music try some Norah Jones---she's soothing and soulful, and certainly helps me relax. You can also usually find spa sounds CDs near the candles in Target and/or WalMart. The brand "LifeScapes" usually has some really good ones. While you're there you can pick up a few candles if you'd like a little mood lighting...
Products you will need:
Cleanser, Exfoliant, Mask, Toner, Moisturizer
Optional Products:
Eye Makeup Remover, Treatment Serums, Eye Cream, Lip Balm
Items you may need:
A sink full of hot water or a steamy shower (to steam and open the pores of the face)cotton swabs (for removing eye makeup, or for gently removing blackheads)
cotton balls or cotton rounds (for applying toner)
thinly sliced cucumbers or strawberries (to cover your eyes while the mask sits and impart moisture to the delicate eye area)
The Process:
1.) Examine the skin. Take a close look at your skin and note it's current condition. Are there any flaky patches that might need extra exfoliating or moisture? Are there any areas that are particularly red and irritated that maybe you should avoid? Tender blemishes? If you have more than one kind of mask or other products to choose from, you can make your decisions based on what you see now.2.)Use cotton swabs and/or cotton balls along with eye makeup remover and carefully remove any makeup.
3.) Run luke-warm water at the sink and gently splash some onto your face. Use about a nickle sized amount of cleanser in damp hands and rub your hands together a little to make it lather a bit (if it's a kind that lathers). Evenly distribute the cleanser over your entire face. Use your fingers to massage the cleanser into your skin using small circular patterns. Focus on areas that you feel really need to be cleansed. Take a little longer than you normally would.
4.) Exfoliate! You have a lot of options here. If your product is a simple scrub, use just a little more than a pea-sized amount of product and distribute it on your face. Use your fingertips to vigorously massage in the grit focusing especially on areas that are rough or flaky and avoiding areas inflamed by acne or otherwise irritated. (follow those same general directions if you're using a home microdermabrasion kit). If your scrub has additional acids like Azaelic, Lactic, or Salicylic Acid-or if it has enzymes like Papain, Bromelain, or Pumpkin-leave it on for about 3-5 minutes to allow the enzymes or acids to further work. Don't leave it on much longer though--you don't want to let it get irritated. If your exfoliant is NOT a scrub and is purely acid or enzyme-based, it might be able to be left on for up to 10 minutes. Evenly distribute it and let it sit for the recommended time. Read the directions carefully as timing may vary.
5.) Time to get steamy! Either lean over a sink of very hot water with a towel covering your head AND the sink and allow your face to steam for five or so minutes OR you can hop in a steamy shower for the same amount of time.
6.) By now your face should be feeling as soft as butter! But we're not done! If you have a moisturizing serum or other treatment serum (I would NOT recommend using a serum designed to treat acne for this) use it to MASSAGE. The facial massage is one of the best reasons to receive a facial from a professional because most of us aren't patient enough to do it at home. In the spa, this portion usually lasts 8-10 minutes. Use long light strokes over the entire forehead and the cheeks. After that gets boring you can switch to a pinching or kneading type motion...and when that gets tiring use just the tips of your fingers to massage using friction on your forehead (focus on smoothing over any fine lines you may have). Lastly, use your pointer and middle fingers of each hand to firmly massage your temples using tiny circles. By the way--if you've heard you're supposed to massage or apply products only in an upward motion to avoid sagging--it's not true. First of all---if your skin is stretched upward---and it doesn't snap back all the way---your skin will still sag DOWN. But also, it doesn't really work that way. Unless you're really aggressive with your skin, you aren't likely to make it sag from this---in fact moderate massage helps to FIRM your skin by passively exercising the muscles that contour your face!
7.) Mask. Distribute an even layer of the mask over your face. If you only have a mask that might be too drying for some areas---know that it's okay to leave a few areas naked! If you have a few different kinds of masks (like one that is moisturizing and one that is drying) you can put one on your T-zone and the other on just your cheeks. If you're using sliced strawberries or cucumbers, place them over your eyes, kick back and relax for up to 25 minutes. If you aren't, you can use this time to paint your toenails, put in a hair mask, buff your nails, or whatever else you'd like to do to pamper and relax---just don't paint the nails on your hands because you're still going to need your hands soon and you don't want to mess them up! Rinse your face clean when the time is up. I usually splash cool water on my face first and try to remove as much as I can that way---then finish removing the rest with a damp washcloth.
8.) Now it's time to tone! If your toner is in a spray bottle, mist your face and neck---if not, moisten a cotton ball or cotton round and apply to your face and neck. Wait a few seconds for it to dry before moving on to the next step.
9.) If you're using any other serums or treatment lotions use it now (this is an appropriate time to use acne products)
10.) Apply your moisturizer. You don't have to overdo it---all of the other steps are going to help your skin really absorb this product and retain the moisture.
11.) Last but not least, it's time to take care of your eyes and lips. Apply eye cream and lip balm and you are done!
Okay I know that was quite a lot to go through, so here's the quick run down:
Remove Makeup
Cleanse
Exfoliate
Steam
Massage
Mask
Tone
Treat
Moisturize
Eye Cream
Lip Balm
Keeping you beautiful (and fresh!) one post at a time.
Kate Block
