8 Things You Need to Know About Acne Facials
The world of skin care is vast and ever-expanding. There are always new headlining ingredients, new treatments, new products, fads as far as the eye can see — all claiming to be your ultimate solution. But the things that stays the same? The reasons people seek out skincare advice or skincare treatments. One of the biggest is, of course, acne.
Acne remains one of the most common skin conditions in the United States, and is well represented in the reasons many of our own clients come to see us. Famously, it is most often associated with those in their teen and young adult years. But as many of us know all too well, acne can also follow us far into adulthood.
Today we’re talking about just one of the treatments we offer in our Cedar Rapids salon to address, treat, and prevent acne for our clients:
THE Acne Facial
An acne facial is a specific kind of personalized facial that specifically focuses on treating acne. A skincare specialist may preform an acne facial to treat acne currently present on the face, or as a part of a regular professional skincare routine to prevent acne from reappearing. For those that suffer from regular acne, or even circumstantial acne, for example from stress, adding acne facials to their skin care routine could be a real benefit, and we’ve seen the results in our salon to prove it.
Ready to dive in?
8 Things You Need to Know About Acne Facials
1. No two facials are the same
If you’ve spent any amount of time on our website or at our salon, you’ll already know that personalization is part of our core salon philosophy. Acne might be the most straight forward support for this. As any acne sufferer can tell you, the first thing you try to treat your acne isn’t likely the last thing you try to treat your acne. And if it was, then you were definitely one of the lucky ones, and the rest of us are only a little bit jealous.
When it comes to treating acne with any kind of service (facial or otherwise), there are a lot of different elements to consider.
To start, you may have heard of some well-known different skin types: dry, oily, combination. You may have also seen “aging” or “sun damaged” thrown in the mix. But did you know there are also different types of acne? White heads, black heads, cystic, and papules just to name a few. Each have their own properties and best practices for treatment.
Beyond the physical differences between clients, there are also environmental elements to consider: time of year, pollution, and even lifestyle.
All of these elements together create a complete profile, all of which needs to be considered when crafting the right acne treatment solution for your unique profile. The most crucial thing is to understand is the complexity of acne. It’s true that anybody could just use the same thing or have the same treatment, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it will have the same result. So, we have to cater things for each person.
2. You need to bring your own products
Not to be used in the facial treatment itself of course! But do bring the complete collection of the skin care products you’re already using and including in your daily / weekly / monthly routine — in the bottle and everything! This way, we can read all of the ingredients, and even research the name of a particular product if there is information missing from the label. This helps to fill in the fuller picture of the current status of your skin.
What if you’re an old client coming back to the salon after a hiatus? “My skin care specialist knows me and my skin, do I still need to bring in my products?” Knowing the skin is very important, but it isn’t enough, even if we have been seeing a client for years.
Even if I see the skin and know the skin, I need to know the routine. Are you missing the toner? If you’re using retinol, I don’t want to use salicylic in conjunction, so I’m going to remove that from the treatment.
— Teresa Dove, Licensed Cosmetologist, Owner
3. Some acne products may make your acne worse
Acne is a personal problem. In the way that it is often something people may find embarrassing, but also in the way that the cause and nature of your acne will be different from the next person’s. Your acne is personal to you. That’s why, someone could be using XYZ products or ingredients, and say, “this is working for me”, and give it to their friend who is also suffering from acne, and it ends up over-drying their friend’s skin while they themselves never had that problem.
Here’s a great example:
Teresa has two daughters, Katherine and Rosemarie. Both pull some weight in the salon — Katherine manages the website and social media, and Rosemarie is the occasional model for our photoshoots. Both also have had acne since puberty, and both treat it very differently.
Katherine swears by benzoyl peroxide. Rosemarie’s skin can’t tolerate the stuff. For her, benzoyl peroxide dries our her skin way too much, she develops a rash and her acne actually gets worse.
Even sisters can’t always share acne products!
In the salon, we take baby steps, and we start with the knowledge of each client’s personal chemistry, and their type of skin. It can get very complicated!
Sometimes we have clients come in that are over-treating their acne at home. You have to be careful, more is not always better. Overusing the products, using the wrong products, too many products… Just because it says “for acne”, it might not be treating your acne. It could actually exacerbate the problem. It’s about what your skin will tolerate.
— Teresa Dove, Licensed Cosmetologist, Owner
4. Even an acne facial needs a moisturizing treatment
People assume that if they have acne, they don’t need moisturizer.
Possibly the worst misconception we have around acne is that, nearly universally, people try to dry the skin to kill the acne. And while that can be a really good, and sometimes necessary, place to start, we have to be careful not to get extreme, not to go too far.
When doing an acne facial, we are always going to include a moisturizer. We want the face to have water, not oils. So to prevent the over-production of oils, we have a moisturizer at the end or in between the treatments.
5. What to expect at your appointment
We have talked about how different and varied your acne facial can, and should, be. But there is a rhythm that Teresa follows during her initial appointment with a new client seeking to treat acne. This is the skin care consultation.
First off, we start with Evaluating the Skin. Actually physically looking at the skin, both with the naked eye and really closely with magnifying goggles. Is there sun damage? Redness? Is it oily or dry? Are the pores clogged? Etc.
Next is Visiting with the Client. This is where we address all the products you’ve brought in and discuss how you might change your at-home routine to more accurately address your acne based on Teresa’s skin evaluation.
Finally, Teresa will Create a Treatment Plan. With all the information gathered from the skin evaluation and discussing your current products routine, this will provide all the information to determine what course to take. This treatment plan can include both in-salon treatments such as additional acne facials, as well as an updated at-home skin care routine with more appropriate products for your skin.
The skin care consultation is almost like working with a coach to navigate your acne.
6. One treatment is probably not enough
As relaxing and soothing and pampering as an acne facial may feel, it alone is no magic bullet.
Much like taking a multivitamin for just one week isn’t going to have a long-lasting impact on your overall health, one acne facial isn’t going to fully correct your acne.
But don’t be worried, you won’t be chained to the salon. You may need more regular treatments closer together in the beginning of your acne journey, but as it gets under control, you may need less in-salon support.
7. Your first facial may not actually be for treating your acne
The treatment that Teresa will perform at your initial appointment after your skin care consultation will entirely depend on the status of your skin when you arrive. And that may mean your skin isn’t ready for an active acne-fighting treatment.
We recently had a client come in for their first acne facial, and with them they brought in a lot of over-the-counter acne fighters. The main ingredient they were using was retinol, which has a great reputation for fighting acne! But, they were still fighting with their acne.
That’s because they were allergic! On top of that, they were dealing with exacerbated irritation. Due to the irritation, the skin was producing excess oil. In this case, Teresa could not do an acne treatment. Instead, she did an anti-inflammatory treatment to address the allergy and irritation before anything else. By the third treatment on the third week, she was able to finally treat the acne.
8. Your acne treatment may need to change over time
Just as we change and evolve and grow and age, so does our skin. Our lifestyles may change, or we may even move and experience a whole new environment that our skin now reacts very differently to.
With our changing life, our acne treatment needs to follow.
As you continue to meet with your skin care specialist, they will be able to notice changes in your skin when you return for your appointments, but also be sure to share changes that you are seeing at home. They will be there to help keep your skin and acne in check no matter what life brings you.
Acne Facial FAQ’s
We’re sure you’ve still got some questions! Here are some common ones we get about acne facials. If you still have acne facial questions of your own, schedule a skin care consultation at our salon in Cedar Rapids by calling (319) 373-9596 or by requesting an appointment online.
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How long will it take for my acne to go away after an acne facial?
Like many things in skin care, particularly as it relates to treating acne, results are highly personal and dependent on many factors. You may see some improvements in your acne in the days immediately after your acne facial, but you will still need to consider your overall acne treatment in a more holistic way with your skin care specialist. They will come up with a treatment plan for you specially based on your unique acne and skin. As your treatment progresses, they’ll also be there to monitor and change direction as needed throughout your treatment.
How long does an acne facial last?
In salon, you can expect an acne facial to last 45-60 minutes depending on the specific treatments that will be used and the number of treatments that will be included in your particular visit. Your initial appointment that includes the skin care consultation will take a little bit longer.
How often should I get acne facials?
Depending on your goals, it may be best for you to book a weekly, biweekly or monthly acne facial. If you’re working on healing existing acne, you may need more frequent appointments. The treatment you receive at each appointment may also vary. For example, if you receive a chemical peel treatment with one acne facial, your skin care specialist will want to follow that up with something more moisturizing and soothing to the skin, and not another chemical peel shortly after the last.
If you have made it past the stage of healing existing acne, and are now on to maintaining your new clearer complexion - first of all, congrats! In this stage, you may not need as frequent of visits to see your local skin care specialist. You could be looking at a monthly or bi-monthly treatment schedule.
Meet your Cedar Rapids Skincare Specialist:
Teresa Dove
Teresa is the proud owner and operator of Professional Image Enhancement. She is a Licensed Cosmetologist (L.C.) and Licensed Electrologist (L.E.) based in Cedar Rapids and has been providing professional skin care and permanent hair removal to her clients from all over Eastern Iowa for over 25 years. She regularly attends the International Esthetics, Cosmetics & Spa Conference for continuing education and to stay on top of the industry.
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