Back with my facial experience and — it was fabulous! I had a relaxing encounter and really learned a lot. She picked at my face a bit (I know, sounds gross and painful but it’s worth it – promise!), put a few different masks and gels on my face, gave me a scalp, neck, and upper back massage, and even tweezed my eyebrows for me! It was quite lovely and lasted about 90 minutes. I was very relaxed and happy. Although, it probably wasn’t the most budget-friendly activity I’ve done recently, but I think it was totally worth it. Every now and then a girl needs to splurge, right?

In any case, I’ll be passing my new found knowledge on to you:

Water
This is the essence of all things; the basis of life. I decided to drink four bottles of water yesterday at work. I kept filling up. I guess I just was preparing for the facial in some way. But I must get into more of a habit with this, especially since my esthetician reiterated the importance of drinking water religiously. Take this example I recently read: a grape that doesn’t have enough moisture (aka water) will shrivel up and turn into a raisin. If you don’t drink enough water, think of what will happen to your face in later years…

Cleansing
On a cold morning, it’s easy to hop in the hot shower and wash your face with some scalding goodness. But it’s no good for your face! Anytime you wash your face (I’m supposed to do it day and night) you should use cool or lukewarm water, otherwise you risk breaking blood vessels in your face (ick!). And although it may not be visible, you could be doing damage without even knowing it.

Toning
I stopped using toner a long time ago because I didn’t think it was doing anything for me. In fact I thought it was making me break out. I think where I went wrong was the choice of toner I made. I believe that the one I had picked way back when (I can’t even remember which) was high in alcohol. This can clog your pores. Toner apparently helps your face not overproduce oil. With the continued use of toner, I will be able to use less moisturizer because my face won’t need as much just after I’ve cleansed.

Sustenance
Apparently, you are what you eat. My esthetician told me that if you eat an excess of chocolate or drink a lot of caffeine, it can affect your face negatively. I had always thought this was a myth but it’s true! And guess who drinks coffee every single day? Of course I do. So what’s the solution? Wean myself off the stuff and get headaches a lot? Or keep up with the addiction. I probably should kick the habit, knowing it’s affecting my skin. We shall see…

Troubleshooting
You’d think because I’m so beauty-obsessed I’d have a product on-hand to zap those zits. But I don’t. The best kind to get, according to my oh-so-marvelous esthetician, is one that has tea tree oil in it. When you get a zit (or even when you feel one coming on), just apply your zit-zapping product with a Q-tip and your healing time will certainly speed up!

In a nutshell: drink more water, use lukewarm or cool splashes of water, use toner, cut out the caffeine, and get some tea tree oil! And, of course, get a facial if you can!!

-Amanda Fornecker

Tags: facial, spa

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 3:35 pm and is filed under Spa/Wellness . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.