Facial Etiquette: 5 Things You Should Know Before Your Appointment

Professional facials, along with being incredibly enjoyable and relaxing, can be highly beneficial to your face and body. When you arrive at the spa for your facial, your aesthetician will carefully evaluate your skin prior rendering treatment, and this alone can ensure a great experience. Additionally, there are some things that you can do to be better prepared for your facial, and to ensure you have the absolute best experience possible.

5 Things to Know Before Your Facial

1. Avoid the use of any sort of exfoliating products within four days of receiving a facial. Exfoliation can be a very important part of your skincare regimen as it can contribute to healthy, glowing skin–as long as it isn’t overdone. A healthy skincare regimen should not include daily exfoliation as this can irritate the skin and make it more prone to various skin problems and issues. Some women find they only need to exfoliate once a week, others maybe twice a week. Most facials include some sort of exfoliating treatment, and if you have already exfoliated your skin with scrubs, acids or retinol products within the prior four days, this can lead to an irritated and overly-sensitive skin. For similar reasons, you should reschedule your facial appointment if your face is sunburned or at all irritated.
    
2. Consider what your top three skincare concerns are so you can discuss them with your aesthetician. Before your actual facial treatment, you will have a brief consultation with your aesthetician. They will want to know what your top three skincare concerns are so that these can be addressed with a customized facial treatment. If you consider this in advance, you may not be surprised in the moment and struggling to come up with answers.
    
3. Bring along, or at least know the names of, your current skin care products. Part of an aesthetician’s job is to share expert advice with their clients so that they are better able to care for their skin properly. Furthermore, an aesthetician may be better able to understand things they notice about your skin, or why you are unable to successfully and fully resolve your main concerns if they know what products are being used on it. You may want to call ahead to find out how much time can be spent on this subject so that you can ask to schedule in a bit more time if you desire it.
    
4. Follow your normal skincare routine on the day of your appointment. If it were any other day, would you get up, wash and hydrate your face and put on makeup? Then do exactly that on the day of your facial treatment. This allows the aesthetician to see exactly what your skin normally looks like, which gives them important information they can use during your facial. If you wash your face immediately before your treatment, your skin won’t show its normal oil or hydration levels, which can make it much more difficult for your aesthetician to determine exactly what your skin is doing and what it may need. Arriving with or without makeup on does not make a significant difference, as they will wash your skin at the beginning of your treatment anyway.
    
5. Prepare to be out of contact for the entire time you are at the spa. It may be very true that since a facial has many physical benefits, this is your primary reason for partaking of this treatment. However, facials can also be wonderfully relaxing, which is obviously another great benefit. You need to be willing and able to have your phone completely off for the entirety of your treatment, as a ringing or even vibrating phone can be terribly disruptive–even if you have determined that you won’t answer it. If certain people would normally contact you during this time, let them know where you will be and when they can reach you before or after your appointment.

As one final thought, you may want to brush your teeth, or at least use some breath mints, before you arrive for your appointment. You and your aesthetician will be very close to one another’s faces for a good portion of your treatment, and the last thing you want to do is feel self-conscious about what you had for lunch that day or whether your breath is pleasant. It can happen that you may be concerned that your breath is less than fresh when your aesthetician doesn’t even notice, and this makes it much more difficult for you to fully relax and enjoy your facial. If you brush your teeth or grab a couple of breath mints, you can rest assured that your breath is totally fine and then you can better enjoy your treatment.

Love,

Gen