Just because a cleanser has a gentle formula doesn’t mean it’s going to work gently on your face. If you work a cleanser in with too much pressure, a basic facial is just that much more stressful. You’re making your skin redden, warm up, and tighten, long before you get to the toner, serum, facial mask, and moisturizer. The pressure should be gentle to get the full benefits of the product.
You’re trying to spread out the product and loosen up impurities, not scrub and scrub. You’re using your fingertips to apply the product to the face with little contact, especially on the cheeks, nose, chin and forehead. You’re not dragging the skin or pulling at the skin. If you can feel your face moving under your fingertips, you’re using too much pressure. This is especially true if your skin appears to be dry, sensitive or red on the surface. When a person cleans with too much pressure, they’ve made their next product choice much more difficult to decide.
A few students think they are getting to a cleaner level if they rub more with the product and apply more pressure. Sometimes that squeaky clean feeling is not what it seems. The feeling of tightness after the face has been cleansed may or may not mean the face is better prepared for other products. It may be just as simple as decreasing the amount of product, the amount of pressure in applying the product or the method of removal to be gentler. A cosmetology student should know the difference between clean, tight, oily, and irritated, and not expect all of the skin conditions to feel the same.
A simple way of learning to reduce the amount of pressure is to practice on the back of the hand or forearm. Dispense a small amount of gel cleanser or cream cleanser. Use the pads of your fingers to apply the product to the face. First apply too much pressure. Then apply less pressure until you barely can feel the skin shifting below the pads of your fingers. Next, use damp cotton pads or a soft towel to remove the product. Again, note your method of removal, whether you wipe the face, press to remove product or rub against the skin. The amount of pressure used to apply product to the face is important, but so is the amount of pressure used to remove product.
There are certain areas of the face in which students tend to apply too much pressure during the basic facial cleansing routine. The most common area are the nose and chin areas. These are areas prone to more oiliness, pores and uneven skin texture. But applying too much pressure to these areas is not the best way to treat them during a basic facial. Using a light pressure to apply the cleanser product in a small circular motion is safer for practice than rubbing in the product over and over again. If a product is not moving from the face, the amount of product and amount of water used and softness of the towel should be reviewed before using increased pressure.
A gentle approach to cleansing also helps with product choices for the rest of the routine. When the skin is not overwrought and irritated during the first part of the facial, you are in a better position to determine how a cream facial mask feels against the skin, whether a toner tightens the skin or whether a moisturizer feels too heavy on the skin. If the face has been rubbed and reddened to that point, then it is hard to tell the difference. This is why many cosmetology programs will stress the importance of learning how to properly cleanse the face in a basic facial, and not just as a necessary step in a basic facial.
At the end of your practice, do one last pressure check. Ask yourself: did my client’s skin look more relaxed at the end of the facial as compared to at the beginning of the facial? Are there any areas of the skin which seem warmer or tighter as compared to the rest of the skin on the face? Do the cotton pads or towel leave a red mark on any skin area? Jot down one brief note in your routine that describes the next product you want to use with slightly less product, less fingertip pressure, a gentler method of removal, or a slower application process. With enough practice, you’ll be able to gauge the proper amount of pressure with your fingertips long before your client’s skin has a reason to say “ouch”.