I was steaming faces for way too long and a client's skin told me

For about two years, I ran my steamer for a solid 10 minutes on every facial, thinking more time meant better product penetration. I read it in a textbook once. Then a regular client, who usually has calm skin, came in with visible redness and tiny broken capillaries on her cheeks after her usual service. She didn't complain, but I saw it. It clicked that I was probably overheating her skin and weakening those vessels over time. Now I keep it to 5 minutes max, and only for certain skin types. I feel like some schools still teach the 'long steam' method, while newer research points to shorter, targeted steaming. Has anyone else had to unlearn a core technique from their training?

3 comments

3 Comments

emerym361mo ago

My old spa manager insisted on a ten minute steam for every single client, no exceptions. She said it was the only way to properly prep the skin for extractions. I started noticing that my acne clients would look way more inflamed after their treatment, not less. I cut the steam time down to three minutes for them and the difference was instant. It made me question a lot of the one-size-fits-all rules they drilled into us at school.

margareto261mo ago

Sounds like you figured out what actually works instead of just following orders.

murphy.aaron1mo ago

Man, that reminds me of the whole "scrub till it's tight" thing they used to push. My instructor was all about that harsh granular scrub, said redness was just the skin "waking up." Took seeing a lot of irritated faces to drop that habit fast.