Skin Care and Facial Services
Skin types and analysis
Classify skin as normal, dry, oily, or combination, and note sensitivity separately - sensitive is a condition, not a type. The Fitzpatrick scale (I-VI) predicts sun response and guides treatment intensity; types I-II burn easily and need conservative exfoliation and wax temperatures. Analysis happens under a magnifying lamp after cleansing and includes checking for dehydration, oiliness, comedones, and contraindications.
The basic facial
Cleanse, exfoliate, steam briefly, extract only visible comedones and pustules with proper technique, massage, apply a mask matched to the skin type, then tone, moisturize, and finish with sunscreen. Massage uses the same manipulations as scalp massage - effleurage, petrissage, friction, tapotement, and vibration - always in upward and outward directions on the face and neck.
Contraindications
Do not perform a facial over sunburn, active infection, open lesions, recent chemical peels, or skin waxed the same day. Ask about prescription retinoids and isotretinoin, which thin the skin and make exfoliation and waxing risky.
Traps
Exam questions like to test the difference between a comedo (a plugged pore) and a pustule or cyst: cysts are never extracted in the salon. Another trap is assuming oily skin needs no moisturizer - it does, just a lighter one. A third is treating the steam step as a fixed rule rather than a product- and skin-dependent choice.
Rule of thumb
If a lesion is inflamed, deep, or bleeding, treat the surrounding skin, leave the lesion alone, and refer.