Many women like the idea of going to a reputable skin care specialist for a facial to improve the appearance of their skin, and some like to do their own facial at home. Doing it yourself will forfeit your right to relax while you pamper your skin, but you will not lose out on the many other benefits that come with a facial. If you would like to do your own facial at home, but do not know how to go about it, let the steps below guide you through the process.
Step 1
Gather hair into a ponytail and secure with a fabric-covered elastic band on top of head. Place the turban on your head.
Step 2
Wet your face with warm water and apply facial cleanser. Gently massage cleanser on the skin for a few seconds, making sure to cover all areas of the face. Rinse all traces of cleanser from the face and blot dry with one of the terry cloth towels.
Step 3
Saturate a cotton pad with toner, squeeze out excess moisture and gently wipe entire face with the cotton pad, avoiding the area around the eyes.
Step 4
Put a terry cloth towel under very warm running water, then wring it out and fold it in half lengthwise. Lie down on your back and position the middle point of the fold beneath your bottom lip and pull both sides of the towel up and over your eyes and forehead, criss-crossing the ends and leaving your mouth and nose exposed.
Step 5
Replace towel with second very warm and wet terry cloth towel after one to two minutes, and continue in this manner for another eight minutes or so to soften oils embedded in pores.
Step 6
Wrap a cotton strip around each forefinger, making sure to cover fingernails, and gently apply pressure around any blackheads or clogged pores you see. Use a new cotton strip on each finger for each blackhead you extract, or each pore you deep cleanse. Pimples can be extracted in this manner as well, but only if they have a yellow head on them.
Step 7
Saturate another cotton pad with toner, squeeze out excess moisture and gently wipe areas where extractions were done.
Step 8
Apply the mask to forehead, up to eyebrow line, and over temples. Gently spread mask over the remainder of your face, avoiding the area around the eyes. (As a guide, imagine you are wearing a pair of sunglasses and you must go around the outside of the rim of the sunglasses with the mask.) Leave mask on according to the directions on the product label, and rinse off when instructed to do so.
Step 9
Saturate a third cotton pad with toner, squeeze out excess moisture and gently wipe entire face with cotton pad, avoiding the area around the eyes.
Step 10
While the skin is still damp, apply a thin film of moisturizer to entire face, making sure not to get moisturizer in your eyes.
Tips and Warnings
- If you own a facial steamer, use this in place of the warm wet towels. Keep steamer 16 inches away from face and steam face for 10 minutes.
- Be careful that you do not burn yourself when using a facial steamer, or warm wet towels. Do not place facial steamer closer to your face than the recommended 16 inches. Always read the instructions printed on any products you use on your skin. Be careful not to get any skin care products in your eyes.
Things You'll Need
- Fabric covered elastic band
- Turban
- Facial cleanser
- Cotton pads
- Toner
- Two terry cloth towels
- Six or more 1-inch by 2 1/2-inch cotton strips
- Appropriate mask
- Moisturizer
References
- Milady's Standard Textbook for Professional Estheticians; Joel Gerson; 1999
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