First time facial

mto

OK, I know its not very money saving, but I have decided to treat myself to a facial for my 40th birthday. Never having set foot in a beauty salon before :eek:, can anybody make any recommendations for a novice?

Is there usually a hard sell after the facial?
Will they expect a tip?
Should I go with a particular brand? (i've heard good things about Dermalogica)

Any advice appreciated.
mto

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Happy Birthday!

Just relax. You might find the smell a bit strange - a mix of wax, nail varnish, perfume and various products, but it's actually quite pleasant when you get accustomed to it.

The ladies can seem a little alien at first, as they tend to be pretty much immaculate, but they are there to make you feel better about yourself. They are trained to spot things that just hadn't occurred to you before, so don't be thinking you are terrible if they mention something you hadn't noticed.

Most salons have their preferred brands and they should come up with something that is appropriate for your skin, whether it is perfect, sensitive, oily or bright red with green spots (!).

After all, they would like you to come back regularly, so they should make you feel really good. They may mention things you can do (not so much of a hard sell, more a gentle nudge) but I've never known one to be sniffy if I've said no thank you.

You don't have to leave a tip, it's not compulsory - I do when I can, but I can't always afford it.

If you don't feel confident in them when you go in to make the appointment, go somewhere else.

Just enjoy!

mto

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

they should come up with something that is appropriate for your skin, whether it is perfect, sensitive, oily or bright red with green spots

Will they expect me to know what type of skin i've got, or will they work it out? Might seem a silly question, but I would say i'm a mixture of dry cheeks, oily nose, sensitive with blackheads, monthly breakouts and seborrheic dermatitis. Can they treat all that at once?

Also have to admit my skincare routine is non existant, which is probably why my skin is rubbish.

Princess_Jane

You'll love it!

I go for a facial every other month and it's soooooo relaxing.

They can tell a lot about your skin by looking at but I always mention if it's been sensitive, spot-prone, sore etc.

skintlass

They will ask you a whole series of questions if they are a good salon, this is to judge if there are any reasons you should not have a facial. They will put together a treatment based on what your skin needs. I like Rene Guinot and dermalogica facials but its a personal thing. Enjoy the facial, you deserve it.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

They're trained to work it out, but it doesn't hurt for you to mention that you get breakouts, that it's a bit sensitive, etc. And most girls actually enjoy doing the blackheads!

Don't be so worried. It's OK. The sort of things they would be considering is a thorough cleansing, gentle exfoliation, face mask designed to draw out impurities, gentle removal of blackheads, moisturising cream/lotion, all with products designed to be gentle and a rather nice facial massage as part of applying these different things.

You may get a bit of a breakout in the days following a facial, as the gunk comes up out of your skin, but cleansing carefully each day normally helps.

I am not a beautician, just a fan of this stuff, but what I would suggest if you can afford it, is maybe introduce a couple of things to your skin in the meantime.

For example, as you say you have sensitive, dry and clogged skin, try moistening some porridge oats in milk until they start to soften, and just gently rubbing that over your face one night a week. The oats themselves will be a gentle exfoliant (taking dead dull skin away), the milk has a similar gentle effect, and the oat 'juice' is very gentle and soothing on skin. And, at about a pound for a huge bag of organic (and much less for small bags of normal), it isn't too expensive to try.

In the same way, if your skin feels really dry in places, rather than spending out a fortune on lotions and potions, you could use aqueous cream (under £3 from the chemist). Rub this on dry skin, then rinse with warm water and pat dry to use it for cleansing, leave it unmoistened (and under cotton gloves overnight) for dry, sore hands. A teaspoon of sugar in a dollop of vaseline, rubbed in and then rinsed off in warm water is another really nice way of treating your hands. You leave it for as long as possible or wear cotton gloves until you wipe the remainder off.

I adore toiletries and make up, and I have had all of those things you describe happen with my skin - I also actually had a lot of hair fall out a few years ago following medication that zapped my immune system and led to long term fungal scalp infection and dermatitis - it was sooooooo sore and painful and I never realised how distraught I would be at clumps of hair coming out in the shower - but all these things happened to me BEFORE I used cosmetics - it was realising how bad it could get that made me want to appreciate what I had so much.

Please, don't be so anxious - it's unnerving going into an alien environment, but it can become a blissful refuge at times!

Glamazon

I had micro-dermabrasion once - it was fab. Skin was a bit rough afterwards but came up lovely.