The Benefits of Regular Facials
By Lisa Elaine Held for Well+Good
When it comes to your skin, you’ve probably got a triple threat of cleansers, toners, and moisturizers keep it looking healthy every day. But getting a facial can be something most of save for special occasions, like when you get a gift card for your birthday, or you need your skin to be at maximum glow levels, like before a wedding (where you know you’ll run into your ex?).
Heyday, a new skin-care destination that opened June 1, 2015, in New York City’s Flatiron District, wants to change that, and make facials a non-negotiable, routine step in your healthy life.
“Facials should be like your gym membership,” says co-founder and CEO Adam Ross. “This is something that the active, on-the-go person should be doing to look after themselves. It’s not just beauty, it’s part of an overall health and wellness plan.” (Hey, if the experts say so…)
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That’s why with Heyday, Ross and co-founder and chief brand officer Michael Pollak have taken the classic facial out the splurge-y, luxe world of spa pampering and made it way more accessible, with lower prices, shorter, more targeted treatments, and longer opening hours.
The concept doesn’t present a novel treatment to help you put your best face forward, like fast-facial competitor Skin Laundry, it simply streamlines the tried and true treatment.
“We’re not reinventing the facial, we’re reinventing the facial experience,” says Ross.
Convenient amenities, no spa music
That starts with the space, which is more of an urban, functional oasis than a gauzy, fluffy-toweled day spa. Treatment rooms are actually small, curtained stalls with a lofty, modern feel, and they offer convenient amenities like phone chargers and a space to do your hair or touch up your makeup—they’re open from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. on weekdays, so chances are you’ll be heading anywhere from work to dinner after your facial. In lieu of harp-filled spa music, pop plays over the speakers.
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The simple menu offers two options: a 30-minute facial for $60 and a 50-minute for $95 (plus “add-ons” like microdermabrasion and phototherapy for $35), a relative steal in an industry that doesn’t blink at charging $250 for a treatment.
The services follow the classic facial script, with cleansing, exfoliation, and hydration, and the longer version will get you extractions, a mask, and a massage. Pollak says customization is essential to each experience. “We have a team of experts who can assess your skin and help you figure out what’s going on and craft a treatment,” he says.
To make that possible, they stock a mix of natural and organic brands like Naturopathica, Grown Alchemist, One Love Organics, and more cosmeceutical brands like Image Skincare. “We use the term “skin-safe,” so there are no parabens, no sulfates, no artificial fragrances or dyes,” Pollak says.
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There’s also a lot of attention put on helping you figure out how to take better care of your skin at home (in an entirely not pushy-buy-these-products way). During my visit, for example, my incredibly knowledgeable facialist explained why I really needed to up my exfoliation game and gave me few different ways to do that. So I walked out with a significantly improved, glowing complexion and also some tools for preserving that luminosity…at least until a return visit.
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“We’re turning facials into something that happens more regularly,” says Pollack. “We want people to see those results they’re looking for and maintain their skin over time.”
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(Photos: Heyday)
