What to Expect: When You Go For A Facial

For most beauty treatments you’ll be asked to disrobe, and that includes facials. Why, you may ask? Because a facial will usually include both a facial massage, and a massage around the upper back, neck, and shoulders. Lovely stuff, but it does mean you’ll be asked to take your top and bra off, or at least lower your bra straps.

Most facials last around 60 minutes, and the course of treatment will depend on you. A professional will give you a short series of questions to answer, including noting your skin type, any skin problems, and even your general state of mind. With those answers, the beautician will tailor the treatment around you.

Despite each facial being unique to you, you’ll almost certainly start with a cleanse followed by an exfoliation. The cleansing comes first, and at this stage, your beautician will be able to asses your skin.

Once they’ve fully cleansed your face, they’ll exfoliate with a scrub, steam or a cream. From your point of view, you’ll be laying back in complete serenity by now, so although this is all going on behind the scenes so-to-speak, you’ll simply be relishing the sensation of being slathered in creams and primped. You’ll find that beauty-room favourites like DECLÉOR’s Hydra Radiance Smoothing & Cleansing Mousse are commonly used.

At this stage, you’ll often have a massage. Typically, the cleansing and exfoliating products will be used in a massaging motion across your face, but now the beautician will actively massage your face and shoulder areas to boost blood flow and improve drainage in your glands.

All very technical stuff, but again, you won’t need to think too hard. In fact, the opposite is true. Fully embracing the feeling of being treated like a princess is highly recommended.

Finally, your skin will be replenished with a mask and moisturisers. The mask applied will again depend on your skin type, and it may be left on for a few minutes if required. Some of the products you’ll see in good spas include Thalgo’s Deeply Nourishing Mask. Moisturisers and serums will come next.

Finally, you’ll be given some water and a few moments to come around before you dress and leave the room. After all that, you should step out looking slightly dishevelled, but luminous and relaxed.

A good beautician will give you a quick debrief of your treatment, so you’ll know what products they’ve used and why. It’s common to hear that your skin is dehydrated, and truth be told, the best way to manage that is to have regular facials. For drier skin types, the winter months are the best time to increase treatments. For oiler skin, additional facials in the summer months will help you manage things.

Between treatments, be sure to follow the beautician’s advice based on your skin type. You can also get hold of gorgeous spa-treatments to use at home, like NUXE’s Crème Fraîche de beaute set Dry Skin.