For some, facials are an absolute, get-it-in-the-budget necessity.  Others think of facials as a serene, relaxing, fluff-and-buff service that one might treat themselves to for a special occasion or while on holiday.  The truth is, every facial designed at Moonstone Skin & Body Care is customized to correct, nurture, and restore health to the skin.  Every face has its own needs, and we take careful measures to address those specific needs – no two facials are ever the same!  To give you a better understanding of why facials are more than a luxury service, let’s deconstruct the steps of a basic facial protocol.

• Cleanse.  We start the facial process by cleansing the skin twice.  The first time is to remove makeup, pollutions, and impurities, and the second time is to deep cleanse the skin.
• Toning.  Toning removes any remaining traces of makeup, and readjusts the pH balance of the skin so that it’s ready to receive maximum benefit from the rest of the steps. And many times, toning alerts on any dryness or dehydration of the skin.
• Exfoliate/Detox.  This second step starts to remove dead skin cells collected on the skin’s surface for a more radiant complexion, soften the skin for extractions, and allows for better product penetration.  This step also helps to stimulate blood flow to the skin, which nourishes the facial tissues with nutrients and oxygen.
• Extractions.  This step allows your esthetician to deep clean your pores and remove blackheads and clogs from your pores that dull the complexion or cause unhealthy skin conditions like acne.  We have the benefit of skin that is prepared to be extracted, as well as a magnifying lamp and instruments that can allow us to remove blemishes without damaging or breaking the skin open.  Many people do this step at home, but if there’s one reason to make a facial appointment, it’s to allow us to deep clean your skin without trauma or the spread of bacteria.
• Masking.  Masks can be magic! Professional grade masks are packed full of hydration, nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that are specially formulated to penetrate the skin’s surface to nourish your skin from the inside.  Masks are customized to address specific skin needs: anti-aging, hydration, moisture balancing (for combination skin types) calming & soothing for sensitive or rosacea skin types, firming, brightening… the possibilities are endless.  Masks can be further customized to each area of the face to address literally all of your skin care concerns.
• Massage.  It feels wonderful, it relaxes you, and it can make you feel like you’re the most pampered person in the world.  But there are further benefits besides making you feel heavenly – facial massage stimulates your lymphatic system, which is the part of the blood that fights infection, and increases circulation at the surface of the skin.  It also helps to tone the muscles of your face, which gives your skin a tighter, younger complexion, and it helps the nourishing products we use on you to continue to penetrate deeper into your skin.
• Correctives.  Usually in the form of serums, correctives are specially formulated to penetrate the epidermis deeper and are almost always a form of pure product, with no filler ingredients — you are getting a mega-dose of vitamins, nutrients, and minerals that will start to correct your concerns deep into your skin.  This is where the healing and correction really begins for your skin.
• Hydration. In this step, we are closing the service by applying a moisturizer formulated for your skin type and condition.  Hydrated skin is happy skin, and no one – not even people with oily skin – should skip this step.  Hydrated skin appears smoother, plumper, and shows less fine lines and wrinkling than a dry, dehydrated skin.
• Sun Protection.  Every facial should end with an SPF of at least 30 applied to the newly exfoliated, detoxed skin, as the stratum corneum (the hardened, top-most layer of the epidermis) has been sloughed away and the fresh new skin is now exposed.  Applying an SPF to the fresh skin will protect it from the sun’s rays and hyperpigmentation.

Depending on your skin type, your concerns for your skin, and the needs of your skin, your esthetician may further customize your facial to include more advanced treatments, such as ultrasound, high frequency, or galvanic, which are not consumer-grade and cannot be performed at home, but are hugely beneficial in helping to achieve your skin goals.

Immediately following a facial, your skin will radiate a healthy glow.  48 – 72 hours after a facial, your skin is more hydrated than it was before the facial, and circulation in the face has been boosted.  About a month after receiving your first facial, your cells begin to regenerate, and you can begin to see some of the long-term benefits of facials (less laxity in the skin, brighter, more even skin tone, acne reduction, etc.).  This is the time you should be scheduling your next appointment, in order to remove dead skin cells and build upon the benefits of the first facial you received.  Some skin corrections, such as acne, or hyperpigmentation (melasma, sun spots, etc.) may require more frequent visits to achieve optimal results, and then the time span between appointments can be increased as the desired results are achieved.

What would you most like to change about your skin?  We’d love to hear about it in our comments!