hen I first moved to New York in 1997, I decided to spend what little money I had on a facial at a downtown spa. And it changed the course of my life. The experience was absolutely underwhelming. Basically, the esthetician put magenta colors against my face (I guess to determine my skin tone) and, without doing a thorough consultation or extraction, ultimately just patted my skin. Was her technique what everyone was raving about in the facial world? Is this all I had to look forward to? Even as a 26-year-old consumer, I knew this couldn’t be all there was to skincare. I called the first esthetics school I could find in NYC and enrolled.

	Never touch your face after washing it in the morning.

In esthetics school, you learn how the skin functions, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards, and what you need in order to pass your the licensing exam. You also get some great tips. The best advice my instructor gave me was to never touch your face after washing it in the morning. I followed her advice and any congestion I had cleared up in three months. What brilliant advice! To this day, I still tell my new clients never to touch their face. The advice is free and it works!

Opening Glow Skin Spa

With esthetics school behind me, I made a big decision not to work for anyone else and instead, to open my own business. I had the opportunity to work within a doctor’s office for free to build my business. It wasn’t fancy, in fact, my door was a curtain. But with perseverance, dedication, and my own creative marketing, I was able to fill each day with people who wanted facials. As word traveled about my facials, I was able to move next to the doctor’s office the following year. And I finally had a door!

Good Facial Basics

A good facial is like a bad facial, word travels virally. I was doing something right, something that people were buzzing about. I concentrated on two things: extractions and massage. This is still the foundation of all my facials, but now with a lot more oomph!

Over the past ten years, I’ve developed a way to communicate to my staff and to my clients about the importance of facials. It starts and ends with this trinity: the heart, the mind, and the hands. If you have the perfect combination of all three, your facials will be addictive, beneficial, corrective, and therapeutic. This is true if you are receiving a clinical facial, a peel, a therapeutic facial, or a high tech treatment. There needs to be balance with this trinity.

• The heart allows you to tap into your selfless, nurturing side. When you get a facial, you want help with your skin, but also want to feel positive. Whatever may be happening in your life, a facial enables you to find refuge, to get away, to feel good. This can only be translated and accomplished if the therapist has an open heart. Once you are able to relax, your facial muscles lose tension and are more receptive to the therapy at hand.
• The mind, being the most powerful, educates you and empowers you with knowledge and advice. Having a relationship with your therapist ensures that your home skincare regimen will be adhered to because you trust her expertise. The power of a professional facial is only as good as your home care regimen. In order to have beautiful skin both need to complement each other. A great therapist will educate you and translate her words into actions. A knowledgeable therapist can help you understand how ingredients, lifestyle choices, and habits affect your skin.
• The hands, your therapist’s trusting hands, play many different rolls in your skin care. The hands allow you to feel the therapist’s language, letting you get to know her. The confidence and expertise of your therapist is felt, not just heard, when you are touched. Many emotions can run through your therapist’s fingertips and you’ll be able to feel it. A master esthetician can tell a story or choreograph a dance with her hands allowing you to trust her and feel something positive. From extractions to the massage, your therapist’s hands complete the trinity.

If you experience a professional facial once a month and follow the advice of your esthetician, you can have beautiful, healthy skin for years to come. If you have balanced, well-cared for skin, you exude confidence, a sense of self worth, and your skin is something you won’t need to think about (or stress about). If you woke up and had dewy, soft, strong, flawless skin for the rest of your life, wouldn’t you think a facial was worth it? This is our goal at Glow Skin Spa, and my mantra as a therapist. Hopefully, you will find a therapist who can perform a trinity of heart, hands, and mind so that you can enjoy the benefits of a professional facial on every level.