For centuries woman have indulged in facials to hold back the signs of aging and to take a peaceful reprieve for the demands of daily life. Such acts of facial nurturing may include exfoliating the skin, extracting the pores and applying a mud mask.
While such facials create undeniably softer, brighter and healthier skin, woman can amp up the aesthetic impact of their facials by taking a cue from radio frequency skin treatments.
Radio frequency treatments, like Thermage, rely on applying electrodes to the surface of the skin. These electrodes heat the deeper layers of the skin tissue, which in turn tightens collagen fibers, and elicit a more youthful look to the skin. During the treatment, the skin is simultaneously cooled because radio frequency therapies demand large quantities of concentrated heat.
Radio frequency treatments, though helpful, have drawbacks that include the price and the pain associated with the deep heat currents. Happily, you can add more inviting levels of heat to your facial using a steaming washcloth.
Like a radio frequency treatment, a steamed washcloth emits (much smaller) packets of heat that can help tighten the skin. However, unlike radio frequency treatments, you can do use the steaming washcloth technique at home and it only takes two minutes to use.
Radio frequency treatment alternative with washcloth steaming
To benefit from washcloth steaming, cleanse your face with a mild cleanser. Now, place a clean, damp washcloth in the microwave on the high reheat setting for 45 seconds. Let the cloth cool for 10 seconds. Lay the washcloth over your whole face and allow the rising steam to remove impacted waste from your pores. You can rinse the washcloth and repeat the microwave steaming step again to give your skin another deep cleansing sensation.
Besides helping firm and deeply cleanse the skin, facial heat imparts another therapeutic effect. Externally applied heat helps minimize the pore size by reducing oil secretion.
Reduce excess oil secretion with heat
For example, a recent study in Dermatologic Surgery found that applying heat electrodes to women’s pores reduced their overall quantity of facial oil secretion by 31%. In the study, women received a touch with a 40-Watt emitting electrode for a split second.
Six months after this initial pore heating session, the returning volunteers noticed that their skin’s level of oil secretion was still reduced compared to the levels prior to the electric heat treatment.
Reduced pore excretion is a long-term benefit of consistent facial washcloth steaming. This is because as a report from the International Journal of Dermatology points out, one of the unexpected outcomes of a facial is unwanted acne lesions. With the application of heat, facial oil secretion can be reduced and pimple outbreaks minimized.