Day 1: A Day at the Spa

I HATE when people touch my face.  There, I said it.  I don’t care if you’re Joe Mauer, just.don’t.touch.mah.face.

A few months back, I was introduced to a local spa via a discount card program.  As a single mom, I couldn’t remember the last time I was pampered.

• The card was affordable (yessssssssssss)
• The card included four salon/spa services; a haircut, manicure, massage and facial (double yesssssssssss)
• The card HAD TO BE MINE (and it was…)

In a nutshell, for roughly $70.00 I would receive the four services listed above.  The only small catch was you could only redeem one service per day….a small inconvenience for some, but a GREAT reason for me to go to the spa/salon FOUR TIMES within a  year.

After redeeming three of the services, I knew I had to bite the bullet and schedule my facial (which, by the way, makes me giggle EVERY TIME I say “I’m getting and PAYING for a facial”…yes, I’m juvenile like that).

People, people, PEOPLE!  What I’m about to say is something I NEVER imagined would come out of my mouth….

FACIAL’S ARE AH-MAZ-ING! (insert giggles here…)

When I was first brought back to begin my facial, I’ll admit I was judgy-mcjudgerson.  The person who would be touching my painful, acne-ridden face had perfect skin.  My anxiety level shot through the roof.  Talking about my acne was something I hardly did with my mother, let alone a complete stranger.  When I get nervous, I tend to have verbal diarrhea.  I bluntly spewed “I’m going to be honest, I have never had one of these before an dI need all the help I can get” (come on people, I never said I was RUDE…just that I talk and talk and talk). Elle, the esthetician, looked slightly taken aback by my statement, and was EXTREMELY cool with me.  I could tell her “let’s help this chick out” wheels were spinning…and at that moment, my facial began.

Elle asked me questions about the products I had tried, and honestly, I’ve tried almost everything (and have the closet cluttered with half empty bottles to prove it).  Throughout the 60 minutes of bliss, here’s what Elle shared with me:

• I learned that my skin was actually dry.  Yeah.  I had always walked around thinking I was oily, hence the acne, but I guess I was wrong. 
• I learned that what my skin looked like today was a result of what I had done 90 days ago. 
• I learned that a true face toner comes in a spray bottle, and is meant to neutralize your face…unlike the mass quantities of toners sold at your local convenience store, which she kindly referred to as alcohol in a bottle.
• I learned that oil-free products aren’t necessarily good for me because some oil gland in my skin actually NEEDS the oil, and when you strip the oil away without replacing it your glands go into overdrive and produce even MORE oil.
• I learned that for the past 10+ years of trying to clear up my complexion I had gone about it bass ackwords.

Of course I sunk more money into new face p rocuts…but this time, I did so with a new heir of confidence. 

Fate, luck, timing, God…or a combination of all the above.  Call it what  you want.  Up until today, my quest for a clear complexion had never brought me to an actual esthetician…WOW was I missing out.

Mood:  Positive

Skin: Moisturized with many blemishes

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