At Home Facials

With the dust and pollution that we all live through these days, it's hardly a luxury to get facials done. Once upon a time, maybe women did facials just to feel pampered and relaxed, but now, considering the stress with which we cope on a regular basis, facials are slowly becoming an important part of our skin care routines.

While its true that we require regular facials, it's not necessary to spend big bucks by going to salons or spas to do them. You can get a similar glow by following a few easy steps at home and voila! You'll be glowing like you did when you first fell in love!

The first and foremost thing that you need to do before starting with a facial is to gather all the creams and packs together. A facial is meant to be a relaxing experience and you won't be relaxed if you're running from one cabinet to the other finding your cream or your lotion. So step one is to gather your articles together. Next step is if you are going to use any tools like maybe a blackhead remover spoon, then sterilise it. All you need to do is put in a bowl of water and pop it into the microwave and boil the water. You can also put it in a vessel and boil the water in the old fashioned way on your cooking range. Once you've done this, start off your facial.

Light a few candles or play some music to get into the spa mode. Start off by cleansing your face using a nice cleanser. Many people believe that terribly expensive cleansers are the best, but that's not true. Use whatever suits your skin and works for you. If you find that a cheap drugstore brand suits you the best, then by all means go ahead and use it. Pour the cleanser on a cotton wad and spread it on your face. Next lightly massage in upward strokes. Wait for a few moments while it does its work and removes the grime. Then use a cotton wad and blot it off. Be gentle while doing the entire process because we don't want to wrinkle and crinkle our skin!

Once your cleansing is done, steam your face. By all means, use the vaporiser that is used during the times you catch a cold. If you don't want to steam your face, skip this step. However, steaming opens up your pores and all the wonderful creams that you will use later will get soaked up better into your skin. Okay, so at this stage you're either going to steam your face or not as per your choice. If you don't steam skip ahead. If you steam your face, then after steaming use the blackhead remover spoon or the black head remover strips that are available in the markets.

Next, use an exfoliating scrub to gently get rid off the old skin cells. An exfoliating scrub can be called a face polisher / exfoliating scrub / gentle bead cleanser etc by the marketing departments! All you need to do is use one of these things on your face. Concentrate on the oily areas like the bridge of the nose, the pockets of the nose, your chin and the forehead. Scrub well for around 2 to 3 minutes. Wash off with warm water. At the end of this step you'll realise your skin looks smoother. This is because the dead skin and grime, which is of course invisible to the naked eye has been scrubbed off. Alternatively you can use a homemade scrub too.

After scrubbing and admiring your glowing skin for a few minutes, its time to dip your fingers in some luxurious massage cream and smooth it on your face. Whilst buying a massage cream, look for ingredients like jojoba oil/ macadamia nut oil / almond oil / vitamin E extracts, or something that says nourishes your skin. Basically since our skin is squeaky clean by this point we want to make the best of it and nourish it with some good cream so it glows! Take a good enough quantity, and proceed to slather it on your face. Massage gently in upward strokes and concentrate on the under eye area and your cheeks. Massage your neck too. If you have a handheld massager, then use that too. Let this cream sit on your face for a while.

Once the cream is absorbed into your skin, we move on to the last step. Put some sort of a mask or pack which tightens the pores and seals off the nourishment in your skin. If you live in a cold dry climate, use a face pack which infuses much needed moisture into your skin. if you live in a warm / hot and humid place, then use a clarifying mask. Most of the companies have masks to suit every climatic condition and every skin type. So get something that will suit you. Apply a nice layer on your face, and lie down for a while. Close your eyes and sleep for the next half an hour. The nap will refresh you as much as the facial!

Wake up and wash off / peel off the mask. Then stand in front of a mirror and admire your glowing skin!