Face Time.

I won't bore you all with a long post about how much snow Boston is buried under right now.  Needless to say it is a lot.  More than a lot.  In all the years I have called this city home never have I seen it covered in this much snow.  My mouth drops open in amazement as I walk around (desperately trying to actually take the T somewhere or make it into the office) looking at how high the snow piles are on each corner.  I believe all of Boston is going through the various stages of grief regarding these seemingly never-ending storms and I'm happy to report that for the most part I find myself in a state of acceptance.  Mostly because there is absolutely nothing we can do about the weather.  Massachusetts shifted places with Alaska this year without telling us.  So now, all we can do is wait.  We'll thaw out around July or so.

What I thought I'd write about instead, is a little treat I gave myself last weekend, when I took myself on a Saturday solo date to get my first ever facial.  Having never had one before I had always been curious.  So when my yoga studio/spa location offered a deep discount for their classic "true facial" I decided I'd give it a shot.  A dose of calm and relaxation in the deep mid-winter and a little help for my dried out, beaten up by the winter weather skin?  Yes, please.

I am fortunate in that overall, I have relatively "normal," healthy skin.  Yes, the occasional flare-up or pimple will still happen (lies we tell our children #478 - you don't stop getting zits after adolescence) but generally, I would not describe myself as having "problem skin."  My face does taking a beating in the New England winter though (7 foot snow piles or no).  I walk a lot in this city and I try and get outdoors as much as the cold will allow; which, does help with the cabin fever, but doesn't necessarily keep my face from feeling dry, cracked, and wind-burnt at the end of most days. 

Since I had never had a facial before, I had zero idea what to expect.  Honestly, I wasn't even sure if I needed to change out of my yoga clothes before heading to the spa area of the studio.  (Nothing like a new minor experience to remind you about those fish out of water feelings!)  When I arrived in the spa area and got myself a glass of water, I took note that everyone - men and women alike - had a robe on.  So, I went back into the locker room and changed into a robe.  I still wasn't sure if the change was necessary, until my specialist called me in from the waiting room.  Then I was very glad I'd put the robe on.  She invited me to put one of those wrap bath towels that stay put with Velcro (or in this case, snaps) around and then had me crawl onto a massage-like table.  After putting a turban style wrap around my hair to keep it from getting in my face, she got down to business.  It is a rather bizarre experience to remain on one's back with your eyes closed while a stranger smothers all sorts of creams and lotions all over your face and decolletage, but it is also rather awesome.  The first twenty minutes or so were delightful, even if I hadn't let myself fully relax yet.  Then came the "extraction" part of the process which, well, sucks.  Even my specialist agreed it was the part everybody hates.  Basically she extracts anything that's come to the surface of your pores and it sort of feels like nails digging deep into your skin.  Not fun.  But perhaps a necessary evil?

The good news is the last 30 minutes or so is blissfully relaxing and before long you've almost forgotten about the dagger nails.  I was pleasantly surprised that she spent some time massaging my arms and that area of my chest right around my collar bone where I hold a ridiculous amount of tension and stress.  When it was all over, I emerged in a state of calm, and a bit desperate to see what my face looked like.  (There were no mirrors in the room where I got the facial.)  After talking with my specialist a little bit about what she's noticed on my skin and what she would recommend, I walked back to the locker room.  My face was glowing.  It looked a little shiny and oily too thanks to the deep moisturizer she'd applied, but in general, I looked like I'd just happily stepped in from the cold - rosy cheeked and all.

Since I was about twelve or so I have been obsessed with products.  On Friday nights I used to beg my Dad to drive me up to the nearest CVS or Rite-Aid so I could buy the latest potions and products I had read about the previous week in YM or Seventeen magazine.  I still love trying new products and make-up and learning what I love and what I hate.  I even write about my opinions over here on my other (slightly neglected) blog.  Given my product love, I thought I knew pretty much all there was to know about skin care.  Guess what?  I didn't.  Here are a few things I learned:

#1.)  Apricot Scrub is terrible for your skin.
WHAT?! I cried when she told me this.  I have been using an apricot scrub about once a week or so ever since I was a teenager, I told her.  I knew it was important to exfoliate and I thought this was the perfect product with which to do it.  Turns out that the exfoliating process is definitely important but she recommends almost anything BUT an apricot scrub for two reasons.  #1 most of the time the product they actually use to hold the scrub particles together is filled with chemicals and detergents.  #2 and more importantly, the apricot particles actually CUT YOUR FACE (!) and can lead to torn, ridiculously dried out skin and eventually acne.  She recommend using something like this scrub instead; which, is a hell of a lot more expensive than the St. Ives scrub I have been using, so I'm still on the hunt to find a good "in between" to replace my go-to for the past 20 years.

#2.)  A Serum can be your best friend.
I keep talking about how winters are hard on the skin.  Turns out, if you apply a serum before you apply your moisturizer you'll have double the protection and it will help your moisturizer work its magic.  You learn something new every day and on Saturday I learned that serums can penetrate several layers of skin versus just the surface, like a traditional moisturizer.  You only need a dime size amount, my specialist explained, and it will make all the difference in the world. Yet again, they can be pricey, so my plan right now is to use one in these dry winter months when I really need it and then go back to just moisturizing in the summer.

#3.)  It really is fun to treat yourself.

I am well aware that a facial is not a necessity in this life.  I won't be signing up for monthly visits, it will not be the end of the world if years go by before I have another one.  Still, I am really glad I used a little fun money to indulge on Saturday.  Spending an hour in a dark and quiet room while someone went to town on my skin was more luxurious and decadent than I ever expected it to be.  And if there is one thing I've learned as I've gotten older is that there is little substitute for taking time to treat yourself like a queen every now and again.  As the beauty company L'Oreal has always told us: "You're worth it."