Do I need to prepare my skin before a facial?

When friends of clients book a facial with us they often ring to ask ‘what should I do to prepare beforehand’?

It’s a legitimate question and I always tell them “No, you don’t need to prepare your skin at all. Come as you are. It is our job to carefully assess what kind of treatment is going to help you. I will take care of everything for you, so please don’t worry.”

Thank you. So you will determine what my skin type is?

We will, and we ask you to trust us. It will take about 10 to 15 minutes for me to determine your skin type and what your individual concerns are.

I will be looking for issues to do with clogged pores, discolouration, pigmentation, acne or lines and wrinkles etc. So when you come into the salon we’ll sit together, talk about it, and decide what’s best for you.

So that’s it?

As I see it, your friend has pointed you toward me and it is up to Prana to honour that. Prana may not be the most budget-conscious beauty salon you’ve visited but my wish is that you’ll experience something beyond what you may have been used to.

Facial treatments are as individual as everyone of us.

If it helps, there are five or six areas of concern we pay special attention to. For instance:

• In Perth, it is very often sun damage that causes early ageing in quite young women (and men for that matter!).
• Then, we may have skin that has an uneven tone.
• We are also looking for acne scarring, which can affect adults as well as teenagers – even if you haven’t suffered acne in youth it can still plague you as an adult where there is hormonal imbalance, stress or particular environmental factors at play.
• A very common area of concern is pigmentation, due to hormonal imbalance in pre-natal or post-natal pregnancy.
• Another area of concern for us is the ageing process. You see, after 40 we tend to have lines, wrinkles and skin growths which appear ad hoc. This is a huge area involving healthy physical activity, mental stimulation and diet (amongst others) and as beauty therapists, our mission is to complete the cycle.