There’s nothing like settling in with your beauty arsenal, ready to treat your skin to some self-care. Giving yourself a facial at home is as close as you can possibly get to some extra TLC till you can make your way to your dermatologist’s clinic again.
Who doesn’t love spending time pampering themselves on the weekend, right?
With our fast-paced lives, taking some time off for yourself almost feels like a luxury, but it’s a well deserved one. We’ve put together the perfect guide to giving yourself a relaxing facial that your skin will thank you for.
How to prep for your at-home facial
- Create a relaxing ambience to truly get yourself in the mood and ready for some pampering. Light a few candles around you, set your table and chair in front of your sink area (or use a portable stand mirror), grab a few lush towels and put on a soft, luxe robe. Ambience is everything and you must make sure that your surroundings are calming and soothing before you begin. Turn your email notifications off (No Zoom calls while you give yourself a facial, please), put your phone on silent if you can, cast your favourite Netflix series and get ready!
- While you should ideally do your facial near a sink, you can also keep a big bowl of cold water and cleansing cloths or cotton pads by your side to clean the products off your face after every step. Keep another empty bowl to throw your used wipes in. You don’t want to be struggling to find one in the middle of your routine. Your facial needs to feel like a relaxing self-care session with everything within reach, not like you’re doing a lot of work and pacing between spots in your room trying to find a wipe!
- Have two cleansers, 1-2 face masks (if two, one brightening, one hydrating), a face serum, a bowl of hot water with orange slices in it and your daily moisturiser ready.
- If you’re looking at using a device like an LED mask, ice globes or cold spoons or a dermaplaning device, make sure you have that charged and ready. It’s showtime!
Steps to follow for your at-home facial
- As always, start by double cleansing your skin—it’s important for you to get rid of all traces of makeup, dirt and grime to make the most of your facial. Use a milk cleanser like the Cetaphil Gentle Milk Cleanser or plain coconut oil or grapeseed oil on damp skin. Rub it into your skin in round, upwards motions and wash off or wipe away. Make sure all traces of makeup come off during this step, we’ll focus on cleaning out your pores in the next one.
- Next, exfoliate with either a physical scrub like the Bioderma White Objective Moussant, a strawberry scrub with crushed walnuts or even besan. Exfoliation is key to thoroughly cleanse your pores and prep them for nourishment and hydration. You can also use a chemical exfoliant like the FCL C Scape Cleanser which contains AHAs that exfoliate your skin and have brightening benefits without being abrasive. AHAs like glycolic acid, lactic acid and mandelic acid make for lovely face exfoliators. If you have excessively oily pores, using a scrub with salicylic acid is a good choice as well. Rub the one you choose in gentle, circular motions, leave it on for a few minutes and then wash it off.
- It’s time to mask! If you’re using two masks, now’s the time for the brightening one. If you’re using one, pick the hydrating treatment. We love the ZO Skin Health Enzymatic Peel to cleanse and brighten your skin and the FCL Hydrating Mask for a potent dose of hydration. You can also create a mask at home by using whipped egg whites with yoghurt or avocado to tighten your pores.
- Now, steam your face with hot water and orange or cucumber slices for 3-5 minutes to detoxify your skin.
- Next, apply your second mask if you’re using one—this time, a hydrating one now that the brightening is looked after—or use cold cream or cocoa butter to gently massage off any blackheads. Always use an upwards and outwards motion when massaging your face or applying any skincare to keep your skin tight and youthful.
- You can also use cold spoons or ice globes at this stage to tighten your pores further and improve absorption of the products you use next. Icing your face is a great way to wake up your skin and of course, minimise any enlarged pores you may be dealing with. Using frozen spoons or ice globes makes the process easier than actually freezing your fingers by using an ice cube directly on your skin. Even makeup goes on better once you’ve iced your skin! Clean your face after your massage.
- Lastly, pat the serum of your choice into your skin, layer your moisturiser and you’re all done! If you’re looking at using an LED mask, now’s the time to use it and then end your treatment. An at-home LED mask makes use of low level light therapy to treat your skin for concerns like acne and pigmentation by boosting collagen production and increasing the skin’s cell turnover rate. Amongst the LED colour options, the blue light treats acne, green works on pigmentation, yellow treats an uneven skin tone and red tackles signs of aging such as fine lines and loss of collagen. Unsure which one will work best for you? We’re only a call away to help you out!
Tips to remember:
- If you’re unsure of the products best suited to your skin and are still struggling to figure out the best ones, you can always reach out to us for an online consultation and we can help you decide the ideal ones for your at-home facial. When in doubt, always get in touch with the experts—using the wrong products can worsen your skin concerns which will then take even longer to heal, causing long term damage.
- We also retail a range of skincare products at Isya Aesthetics and can help you procure the right ones, if you’re unable to get your hands on them at the time.
- Not all the products recommended in this post will work for everyone. Each person’s facial is tailormade in terms of the product selection and we suggest reaching out to us for suggestions to create the right combination for you.
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