Skin Care, Esthetics, and Facial Massage

Skin care, esthetics, and facial massage: The art and science of deep skin cleansing, muscle toning, increasing circulation, and exercising the muscles of the face.

Overview: This chapter provides you with the preventative and corrective methods, application, and procedures for treating the skin.

Behavioral objectives – student goals: After completion of this chapter, and after instruction, study, and practice, you will be able to perform and demonstrate competency in skin care, esthetics, and facial massage by demonstrating the application and procedure for: 15 facial massage movements, the acne facial, facial mask, eyebrow shaping, peelings, and a cosmetic face lift. You will also be able to demonstrate the competency by identifying, explaining, and/or listing the implements, supplies, and equipment required for professional skin care.

Facial massage is an effective means of exercising the muscles of the face and increasing circulation. The cosmetologist is limited to the following skin treatments:

• Cleansing the skin
• Massage
• Preventative treatment, such as maintaining healthy skin by cleansing, increasing circulation, activating skin cells, and relaxing nerves.
• Corrective treatment of minor conditions, such as blackheads, whiteheads, acne, oiliness, and dryness.

Massage is one of the most effective therapeutic treatments practiced in cosmetology. It should never be undertaken by anyone who does not have a thorough knowledge of the anatomy affected. The correct names of all muscles and nerves should be learned so that they will always be recognized. To become familiar with the sensations produced by scientific massage, cosmetologists should practice the movements on themselves and locate all the motor points with a sure touch. The accuracy with which the operator can locate a motor point and induce the proper stimulation contributes substantially to the patron’s relaxation.

Facial treatments may be given once a week. The facial area in the salon should be as quiet as possible so that patron can enjoy the relaxation and stimulation of the massage.

The cosmetologist does not treat skin diseases. However, he or she must be able to recognize the various skin conditions for which the cosmetologist can provide treatment. All other skin conditions should be referred to a medical doctor.

All full service salons provide skin care services but less than 50% of the salons use specialized skin care equipment for the deep cleansing treatments employed in the practice of esthetics.

Sanitary and safety precautions for skin care, esthetics, and facial massage

Use only sanitized towels.

• Do not treat sensitive skin tissue.
• Do not put alcohol or astringent on eye pads.
• Avoid hard or heavy stroking movements in bony areas.
• Protect the patron’s eyes with cotton pledgets when using the infrared lamp.
• Use tweezers that have been disinfected.
• Tweeze one hair at a time.
• Do not allow tweezed hairs to fall into the patron’s eyes.
• Maintain a clean and orderly arrangement of supplies.
• Fingernails should be kept short.
• Avoid using lotions containing alcohol or dry skin.

The most important aspects of disinfection are the removal or foreign matter (loose hair, dandruff, etc.) and a good scrubbing of the instrument (s) and hands with soap and warm water followed by a thorough rinsing. Instruments must be totally immersed in 70% isopropyl alcohol or other E.P.A. approved disinfectant for a minimum of 10 minutes, then wiped dry before use. These procedures should also be used before disinfecting implements prior to storage for use.