Facial At Home in 9 Steps – You Owe It to Your Skin!

You don’t know how to do a facial at home? Let’s do it together, step by step!

Are you one of those girls who always pays attention to what she eats? Starts a day with warm lemon water? Sleeps 8 hours each night? Regularly exercises? Is consistent with skincare and always – always -removes makeup before going to sleep?

If you are, please just move along and continue doing whatever you were doing. Not only because you’ll have less use of this article, but also – I kind of hate you right now :).

For the huge majority of us (you know – us who feel guilty just thinking about all these things) – I totally get you! Not saying you should keep neglecting all this stuff. But I do get it.

I, for once, barely make myself open my eyes in the morning; just the thought of putting scrub, toner, serum etc. at 8 am makes me wanna weep. There’s no help about it.

So I do the next best thing – every once in a while I treat my skin with a really nice facial at home. As an apology for mistreating it. And as a please-don’t-become-all-wrinkled-and-ugly-before-I-even-turn-30 plea.

And I think it’s important to occasionally take a couple of hours and dedicate them to a facial. At-home facial spa day might be just the right thing to make your skin happy and glowing.

It’s not even that hard. Just light up some aromatic candles and relax. Treat your skin with a nice, fresh meal. Pamper it a bit. Buy something nice for it. Show that you understand and appreciate it despite neglecting it occasionally. That you know it deserves better. That you truly care about it…

Who knows? Guys are getting away with that for ages :-).

Seriously though, an occasional facial at home shouldn’t be a substitute for a regular beauty routine. But, it is a great way to refresh your skin, deeply cleanse it and supply it with the good stuff.

So, here’s what a full facial at home should look like:

1.  Start With Cleansing

Cleansing is always the first step of any beauty routine. It doesn’t matter how luxurious, expensive products you plan to use in the next steps – if they cannot reach the deeper layers of your skin, you may as well not bother.

Choose a mild cleanser that will remove all the dirt but won’t harm the protective barrier of your skin. Or, you can try cleansing your face with an oil. It is my personal favorite way to wash my face, and it even helped me finally get rid of my acne.

Popular Korean beauty regimes and many professionals suggest that you should cleanse your face twice. And though double cleansing may sound off, especially if you have dry skin, this technique actually gives great results. Make sure to try it out.

2. Scrub Off That Dull Layer

Just like cleansing, scrub will help all the following products to penetrate deeper into the skin. Scrub is a significant part of your beauty routine – it removes oils, dirt and dead skin cells, reveals young and healthy skin underneath, improves skin tonus and gives you a fresher, younger look.

Which scrub you should use and how harsh it should be depends on your skin. Start trying out with gentle scrubs and if they don’t do the job, you can consider using something stronger.

You can use mechanical scrubs, which physically exfoliate the skin with harsh particles, or chemical scrubs, which do the same thing using chemicals, such as acids or natural enzymes.

You can even make your own scrub and completely customize it to your liking. Whatever your skin type is, there’s a DIY face scrub perfect for it.

3. Facial At Home Is Not Complete Without a Steam

Steaming your face can be a tedious, long-lasting process. Let’s face it – by contemporary standards, spending over 30 minutes on only one product sounds like a lot. Which is why many girls skip this step.

But, steaming opens up your pores, allowing you to cleanse them thoroughly. It also allows your skin to easily absorb the nutrients from the products you follow your steam with.

The quickest, easiest way to steam your face is to soak a towel in hot water and wring out the excess water. Then lay the towel over your face. It should be warm enough to open up your pores, but not too hot so that it doesn’t burn your skin. Keep it on your face for several minutes, then proceed with your facial.

And then, every once in a while, treat your face with one of these DIY Facial Steams.

4. Extractions – Yes, But Properly Done

Now that your face is steamed and your pores are wide open, it’s the right time to deal with blackheads (if you have any).

Your hands need to be completely clean and your nails short. The best would be to wrap tissues around your index fingers.

Don’t over-squeeze, otherwise you risk inflammation and even scarring. Treat only blackheads that come out easily; leave the rest alone until your next facial. At-home extraction might be easier and more efficient if you use a blackhead extraction tool.

5. Detoxifying Clay Mask

Clay masks have become very popular lately due to the clay’s ability to collect even the slightest trails of dirt and oils. Clay heals, soothes and deeply purifies the skin. It detoxifies the skin and makes it soft, supple and matte.

You can make your own clay mask:

Mash a strawberry. Add 1 teaspoon of kaolin clay, ½ teaspoon of coconut oil and ½ teaspoon of Aloe Vera gel. Mix well. Keep the mask on your face for 15 minutes, then rinse off using lukewarm water.

Or try out this amazing DIY clay mask for acne-prone, oily skin.

If you have dry skin, it might be better to entirely omit this step.

6. Hydrating Mask

As you may have noticed, every step so far was primarily about cleansing your skin and removing everything that shouldn’t be there. But this is where things change.

Now it’s time to supply your skin with everything it needs to function optimally. A quality nourishing mask will provide your skin with moisture, nutrients and antioxidants. It gives you plump skin, even complexion and a healthy glow.

Try out some of these DIY Face Masks for Luminous Skin.

7.  Toner Makes a Difference

No one can fully explain to you all the benefits of using a face toner until you try it out and see for yourself.

Toner, as well as all the following products, shouldn’t be used only as a part of an occasional facial at home. You should use it once or twice a day, every day, no excuses.

As its name says, toner tones the skin. It also reduces the appearance of enlarged pores, refreshes the skin, hydrates it and helps to balance its pH.

8. Serum to the Rescue

Serum is a super easy way to quickly supply your skin with a whole bunch of luxurious active ingredients.

There are many kinds of serums adjusted to different skin types or skin problems. Its small molecular weight helps the serum to penetrate deep into the skin and nurture the deeper layers.

The difference that serum makes is noticeable after a very short period of use. That is why serum has become one of the most popular skincare products and the demand for it only grows.

9. Finish With a Moisturizer

As always, finish with your day or night face cream, depending on when you’re doing your facial at home.

Moisturizer seals in everything you have previously put on your face. It also hydrates and soothes the skin, softens it and creates a protective barrier on the surface. This barrier prevents water loss and protects your skin from pollution, UV rays and other harmful environmental influences.

Use a moisturizer suitable for your skin type. Take 2 – 3 minutes to massage the moisturizer into your skin, using only upward circular movements. Massage will further tone your skin and help it to better absorb the moisturizer.