I had a facial once, and eh, I don't know that it did anything of value for my face. I suffer from acne, though, so YMMV. As for the "relaxation" aspect, there's a little too much prodding and poking for it to truly be relaxing- just like having my nails done. I do it for the end result, not the process.

I had one recently that was fantastic. It was a gift, at a very fancy salon, and it cost much more than I would have paid myself. I've always found facials to be really relaxing and enjoyable. There's usually a lot of pressure at the end of the treatment for you to buy the products, which really ramps up the cost, but if you can resist that, then it's worth the money.

For the salon, it's a bit of a loss leader, designed to get you in to sell you stuff. But I always say "well, my skin's very sensitive, so I'll have to see how it feels during the rest of the day, to make sure there's no reaction to the products you've used" and then I'm out the door. A good salon will give you some samples of the products for you to test at home.

Ooh, Senyar, that's good - I was stressing about how to handle it when they try to sell me stuff, I never do well under that kind of pressure.

Well, I ended up canceling the appointment I had made for a $120 facial because I found a salon that does it for $60. I'm having it after work, we'll see how it goes... As long as it doesn't make my break out I'll be happy.

I've enjoyed every facial I've had (not that many), even when I've opted for the pore cleaning bit which can be pretty painful. If I could afford it I'd get one regularly.

Semi-related question:

Biore strips are mentioned twice in the Friday night thread; are they any good? Do they work? Will they take the skin off my nose?

Those things are awesome! You can see on the strip the little forest of dirt that they remove.

I buy the Ultra, because I think they work the best. I also find that they "work best" (i.e. show the most gunk on the pulled-off strip) when you haven't done one in awhile.

Yes, definitely! the first time I ever used one was the best and grossest!

Yes, definitely! the first time I ever used one was the best and grossest!

Exxxxxxxactly. I don't know how well Biore strips work, but the only time I used one, it was marvelous (by which I mean "fascinating and revolting") to pull it off and see all the little upright sticks of pore-yuck that pulled out of my nose.

I will never forget the look of horror on my then-husband's face the first time I used a Biore strip and showed him the little plugs of gunk it had pulled out of my nose. Heh.

*giggle*

I'll show myself out.

*giggle*

Ewwwwwwww, I just pulled my Biore strip and looked at the horror. Clearly, I am a revolting creature. Yippee!

You WERE a revolting creature! Now your revolts are on the strip.

Oh, they'll come back, my pretty. They allllllways come back.

And then I can pull them out again and gaze at them in gleeful horror.

So the verdict: This facial was awesome! Totally relaxing, done in a massage room with dim lights and soft music. In addition to the facial-y part, she also massaged my face and hands and arms and put my hands in these warm mitt things with moisturizer in them. And she did an enzyme peel on my face which evidently removes a lot of gross dead stuff. And she didn't even hard sell me the products after. A total success!

And now, a new and wonderful discovery: Chocovine!

Yay!

I will say that my Biore strip was a little sparse. Come on nose, give up the dirt!

oooh, it's been ages since I used one of them strips. Must get some and see my dirtforest.

So glad to hear you enjoyed your your facial! I love them but never have them as often as I'd like.