My post will be really long because I'm a living example of what a facial can do to your skin.
In my personal experience, facials, depending on where you get them, and which one you get, can do wonders for your skin or cause severe breakouts.
Generally speaking, it takes more than 1 or 2 sessions to make your face flawless.
With any new treatment many people see breakouts and adverse effects the first session. It could be because they are allergic to certain ingredients, or the facialist didn't use sterile equipments/hands, or their skin is reacting to stimuli.
Getting a once in a blue moon facial on your vacation is not really going to give you wonder results. It may give you temporary glowing skin by peeling off dead skin cells, it may give you breakouts.
The main reason facials benefit ppl is the deep cleaning effect that you simply can't achieve at home by yourself. So.. it's an accumulating effect.
You clean your pores out, control oil production with the right product, and go back to keep your pores from clogging up too much...
Since I hit my mid twenties my skin changed drastically. I thought I had developed dry skin, and purchased/put on all the serious moisturizing products, but I was getting tiny pimples all over my face, leaving behind dark spots and red scars..
My current aestetician would not do any of the fancy facials on me. She said it was a waste of money and getting it done once or twice would not benefit my skin in anyway. She only gives me the basic acne facial because my skin is sensitive and still young, very good extraction, which is $70 for 90 minutes. Once she said she was going to give me some vitamine C boost and that was it. She also mentioned that some ppl react to vitamin C when they put it on for the first time.
She recommended one cleanser and toner product because she said they are the most important. Later on, after seeing drastic improvement on my skin after 4 biweekly facials, I purchased a moisturizer too. I get no acne, no pimples, no nothing.. just clean smooth skin that is so oil free but never dry!!
How did I find her? by word of mouth. I tried Elizabeth Arden, some medispas in DC, without much improvement.
Key point is: you need to find a good trained aestetician that is meticulous and give yourself several sessions rather than expect a miracle on your first time. Also, if you don't intend to keep up, your face will return to how it was before unless you change your diet, lifestyle etc.
