What takes a facial from good to great?
So I consider myself a skincare girl, especially since hitting my mid-30s. I have established a regular skincare routine and I am always looking for ways to enhance it because full disclosure, I am 37 and I would like to age gracefully. I recently had the opportunity to visit 3 different spa studios from leftover Christmas gift certificates and a birthday gift certificate. I got a facial from each one of these places and I feel like I have determined what makes a massage good versus great.
First of all, the visual aesthetics and products are everything! The aesthetics should be dreamy, relaxing, and feel like a reprieve from the real world. You should immediately start feeling more calm just from the environment alone. Additionally, the products that are used during the facial have to FEEL elite. I am sure you’re wondering how you would be able to feel the difference. Well let me ask you this, do you feel a difference from Dawn dish soap in comparison to a moisturizing soap? I thought so. The same is true with facial products. The exfoliant should feel like it’s deep cleaning your skin, sometimes you’ll feel slight tingles from products. The moisturizers and masks should feel buttery soft depending on what type you get. You should quite literally be able to feel the difference on your skin.
Secondly, the massage part of the facial should actually feel like it’s alleviating some tension. If there is one thing that drives me nuts, it’s when estheticians give you a “massage” that really feels like you’re being patted with puppy paws. You want to be able to feel some of those tension knots breaking up a bit. Obviously it won’t be a full body massage, but you should feel slightly less tense afterwards.
Lastly-the care by the esthetician should be top notch because let’s be real here, we are paying top dollar to be pampered like a Queen, we better get our monies worth, lol! The Esthetician should at least have a brief conversation with you before the facial to gage what concerns or goals you have regarding your skin. They should also tell you what they’re doing during the facial. I don’t mean a full blown conversation, but at least say something like “I am going to put a soothing and deep cleansing mask on you now that has jojoba oils…” etc. You should also feel like the facial flows well and that you aren’t being herded or hurried through the treatment. I have experienced facials that flow naturally and others that feel like the esthetician is just going through the motions and trying to hurry up and be done. The other part of this is that they should at the end of a facial at least answer any product questions you have. At one studio, the esthetician gave me excellent and specific product and further treatment suggestions for my skincare goals and I so appreciated that! At another facial however, the Esthetician said that she would follow up with me when the exfoliator that I was interested in came back in stock and she never did. These are the kind of things, in my opinion that take a facial from good to great!
The three spa studios in the eastern panhandle area that I feel comfortable recommending are Personal Reflection Day Spa in Inwood WV, Vivo Salon and Suites in Harper’s Ferry WV, and Bespoke Beauty Co LLC in Inwood WV.
Have you tried any of these studios before? Are there any other things that you would add to this list of what takes a facial from good to great? Let me know!
All my best,
Jess
