How Often Should I Have a Facial?

Our clients often ask this question.

We like to think of it this way – having a facial is your skin’s equivalent of going to the gym and exercising. It’s an intensive way to get specific results and it happens in a concentrated amount of time, and often involves specialist equipment.

At home, your skin care routine is like your daily nutritional diet and the choices you make here will either help maintain or hinder your “exercise” efforts from the salon.

There’s no one fixed answer for how often we should have a facial.

Everybody has different skin needs and goals and the frequency of your recommended treatments will depend on the current condition of your skin, and what you are treating.

A good facialist will alternate treatments and products to create a bespoke package that suits your skin perfectly.

That said, here are some general guidelines for how often you should have a facial:

General Skin Maintenance

If you’re pretty happy with your skin and you just want to keep it looking fresh and healthy, then it is recommended you have monthly treatments.

A month is generally the length of time it takes for the skin to move through a life cycle of growth and exfoliation.

Your monthly facial is like a spring clean for your skin – a hands-on cleaning to remove build up of make up, dead skin and impurities that have landed from the environment.

And even if you do practice excellent skin care at home, you shouldn’t skip seeking regular professional help. Having a therapist go in to purify your pores thoroughly gives your complexion a chance to start over and allows active product ingredients to better penetrate the skin.

Stressed Out Skin

If your skin health isn’t currently in the best shape, it is recommended you initially schedule your facial appointments closer together to help tackle your specific concerns more intensively.

After these initial appointments, it is usually appropriate to start lengthening the time between appointments as your skin’s condition improves, to help maintain the results.

Time Poor Clients

We understand not everybody has the time for a monthly facial appointment.

If you are generally happy with the quality of your skin and complexion, you can consider coming in seasonally as the weather changes.

Our skin faces different challenges in different seasons – humidity and sunshine in the warmer months can lead to breakouts, or sun damage and pigmentation. In winter, cold air, wind and exposure to constant artificial heating can dehydrate your skin and dry it out.

Having a seasonal facial is a good compromise to help tackle problems arising from the season you’re emerging from and get your skin ready for the season ahead.

Acne Prone Skins

Acne prone skin requires special attention all of its own. For those people who experience frequent breakouts or have oilier skin and want to keep their acne under control, it is recommended to have facials more often – especially during acne flare ups.

If acne is a concern, we recommend coming in every two weeks to help clear and purge your skin and bring it to a healthier place. As your skin calms down and the breakout subsides, the period between facials can be stretched back out again.

We also tailor homecare specifically for oily skins – you may need to exfoliate every 3-4 days instead of once or twice a week. Conversely, if your skin is very sensitive we may recommend exfoliating only weekly or even fortnightly.

Any good, experienced beauty therapist will create and recommend a healthy skincare routine for you and your skin at the end of your facial, once they’ve had a chance to assess and work with your skin.

This home care routine only helps with the benefits of your facial. You wouldn’t go to the gym and then spend the rest of your week eating junk food and expect results! Skin care should be approached in the same way.

The quality of ingredients and time spent caring for your complexion at home will pay dividends for your in-salon visits.