What You Should Know
By Dr Chytra V Anand,
DIY Facials have always been a popular home care regimen for women across the world,especially in India due to our closeness with Ayurveda. Now, DIY Facials have become the buzz, especially in the Post COVID world.
Any facial has 5 critical steps to it, and this must be followed even for a DIY or do it yourself facial at home. The 5 essential or key steps are
– Cleansing
– Exfoliation
– Massage for circulation and lymphatic drainage
– Skin boosting with actives
– Mask to seal the skin
Expert Tip:
You can make your own ingredients at home using fruit and vegetable extracts for a feel-good facial. If you wish to transform the skin, then you need you to use Active facials.
These have active ingredients that pass your skin barrier safely to help your skin from within and not just work on the surface. This gives you long-lasting results. Some of the active ingredients for you look for are Lactic acid, Glycolic acid, Salicylic Acid, Retinol, Licorice, Niacinamide, Hyaluronic acid in your Active Facial Kit.
Step 1 – Cleansing:
Cleansing is a critical step to performing a DIY facial. Don’t take this step lightly even though you’re doing the facial at home.The skin is porous and dust, grime and oil tend to settle in our skin on the surface. Supposeyou don’t cleanse before you exfoliate, there is a chance that you can introduce these foreign particles into the deeper skinlayers during exfoliation. This will clog the pores and make the facial ineffective. Hence we always recommend a double cleanse routine before starting any facial procedure.
Step 2 – Exfoliation:
Exfoliation is critical to a well done DIY facial. The skin cycle is a 28 – 30 days cycle. Every 30 days your skin changes, hence it is vital to exfoliate once every 30 days for normal skin types.If you have dry, dull or pigmented skin or oily skin, then you should exfoliate every 2 to 3 weeks till the skin normalises. Don’t use scrubs or exfoliants with microbeads as they cause micro-tears in the skin, which leads to long term damage,especially in Indian skin.The safest exfoliants are peel based or enzyme based.
Glycolic Acid, Lactic Acid, Salicylic Acid etc. like those from Skin Q DIY Active Facial Beauty Boxes are safe DIY peel facials for Indian skin
Or you can use Papaya / Pineapple based enzyme exfoliants like the Kosmo Enzyme Peel mask from Kosmoderma.
Step 3 – Massage:
Massage helps withcirculation and lymphatic drainage. The massage butter you use is just a medium for the movements that you follow on your face. For circulation, to increase the blood flow and bring oxygen to the skin surface, circular motions are performed across the face and neck area. Forlymphatic drainage to remove the toxins from the skin surface, it is fingertip movements from the centre of the face going towards the outer edges of the face and neck.
The procedure time should be a minimum of 5 mins
Step 4 – Skin Boost:
After the massage, the skin is receptive to receiving skin-boosting active ingredients. So what to apply in this step before applying the mask will determine the skin quality you achieve. Based on your skin type, you can choose from either of these active.
For dry skin, dehydrated skin use Hyaluronic acid& Vit E active serums like Skin Q Hydra Elixir, for pigmented dull skin use skin brightening serums with Licorice,Kojic acid and Lactic acid like the SkinQ detan Elixir.For oily skin or acne-prone skin use oil control products with Niacinamide, Retinol, Azelaic acid etc like the Skin Q Oil & Acne Control Elixir.
Step 5 – Mask:
The mask is the final step to seal the skin pore. Peel mask or sheets mask made of algae infused with aloe Vera, gooseberry extracts, turmeric etc.is commonly used in Indian skin.
The Mask step takes 5 – 10 minutes to seal the skin and protect it from the external environment.
Like anything else in life, you need to keep repeating to maintain the results. Your skin is dynamic, and hence the DIY Facials need to be repeated every 3 – 4 weeks to achieve and maintain healthy skin.
About the Author
Dr Chytra V Anand is a Celebrity Cosmetic Dermatologist ,Chief Formulator @ Skin Q
