How to prepare for a facial

Stop any strong active a few days out. Retinol, glycolic and salicylic acids, benzoyl peroxide and prescription creams all thin the surface layer, and skin that is already stripped cannot take extractions or steam comfortably. Three days off is enough for most people, five if you use a prescription retinoid nightly.

Do not wax, thread or shave the area within 48 hours of your appointment. Freshly cleared skin is open skin, and product placed on it stings and can lift colour in the days after.

Come with a clean face if you can, but do not scrub. We double cleanse at the start anyway, and arriving with a freshly exfoliated face only reduces what we can safely do in the room.

Eat something and hydrate before you come. A facial is 45 to 75 minutes lying flat with warm steam on your face, and it goes better on a body that is not running on an empty stomach.

Tell your esthetician everything: medications, isotretinoin history, allergies, recent injectables or lasers, and anything you are trying to fix. That conversation changes the protocol more than any product on the shelf.

After: no makeup for the rest of the day, no sauna, no gym, no direct sun. Sunscreen the next morning is not optional — freshly exfoliated skin pigments faster than skin you did nothing to.