Top 4 Esthetician Approved at Home Facial Devices & Which Ones You Should Stay Far, Far Away From

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So while we are all stuck at home during the pandemic and unable to go to the spa for any treatments, I have seen a lot of people purchasing devices for use at home. At the most basic level, I love this! Because I love that people are taking their skincare routine seriously and making sure to stay up with their treatments. While I believe there are a lot of really good at home devices out there, I believe there are some extremely dangerous ones as well. So I’m going to go through which devices I like for home use and which ones I think should be left to the professionals:

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Top 4 Esthetician Approved At-Home Devices:

- Silicone cleansing device

- Facial massage (eg. gua sha, jade roller)

- LED Light Therapy (eg. LightStim, Celluma)

- Microcurrent (eg. NuFace)

Cleansing is arguably the most important part of your skincare routine. It sets up your skin to properly receive the following products/treatments you will be doing. Additionally, if your skin isn't properly clean you of course can suffer from breakouts, irritation, and dull looking skin. I love using a silicone cleansing device to really get my skin clean. It is gentle enough to use every day, stimulates circulation and lymphatic drainage and works 35x better than your hands alone!

Facial massage is an incredibly effective and essential part of any skincare routine! It should be done frequently and consistently. Your hands are great massage tools, however, sometimes you just want a little something extra, and there are tons of great facial massage tools out there. My two favorites are Gua Sha stones and Jade Rollers. Gua Sha allows you to get a really beautiful contouring of the face almost immediately by manipulating the facial muscles and fascia to sculpt out cheekbones, jawlines, etc. Jade Rollers are going to be

amazing for lymphatic drainage (read: de-puffing!). With a roller you want to use a lighter pressure to gently flush lymph out of the face which will decrease puffiness throughout the face.

LED Light Therapy has been around for quite a long time but has been gaining a ton of popularity just recently, and rightfully so! LED Light Therapy is a non-invasive way to treat the deep structures of your skin. From collagen production, pigment reduction, and oil control - if you have an issue with your skin I can pretty much guarantee there is an LED light that will work for you! LED therapy needs to be done consistently for a period of time to see significant results. There are a lot of great brands for at home LED lights such as LightStim and Celluma. These do tend to be a pricey investment, but are so worth it if you can swing it.

Microcurrent is another hot ticket treatment right now! The way microcurrent works is by sending low level electricity into the muscles of the face to gently firm and sculpt the muscles in your skin. In addition to this, microcurrent is known to stimulate collagen production to further enhance a youthful look. Microcurrent devices that are sold for home use, such as NuFace, are going to be extremely safe and a much lower level of electricity than professional tools. However, when used consistently you can upkeep your professional treatments at home

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No Go for Home Use:

Microdermabrasion

Microneedling

There are SO many at-home microdermabrasion tools out there, it’s honestly kind of scary. Microdermabrasion is a professional treatment that uses either a diamond tip or loose crystals to buff away dead skin cells. There is an element of exfoliation as well as suction to these devices which makes them very tricky and not safe for all skin types. In most states estheticians are required to be certified in microdermabrasion, which means we have to go to a class specific to microderm in order to legally practice it. This should tell you just how precise of an art it is. If used incorrectly (ie. too much suction, too much pressure, lifting off the skin incorrectly, the list goes on) these devices can lead to broken capillaries, bruises, and even scarring of the skin. Some might ask “well aren’t the home devices a gentler version than professional?” and unfortunately the answer is no, any of these home devices can do damage if used incorrectly.

At home skin needling/microneedling has to be one of the scariest things that you can do at home. Note: I am not speaking of dermarollers, I am speaking of electric skin pens that use needles to repeatedly puncture the skin at a fast rate. I’m sure most of you can already see where I’m going with this - at home microneedling can lead to extreme damage such as infection, scarring, thickening of the skin, etc. The at-home devices that you can find online are not made to the quality that professional devices are, they aren’t easily sanitized, and they are just plain dangerous if used incorrectly. So please, if you take anything from this post, let it be that you will NEVER buy an at-home skin needling pen. TRUST me.

I hope this helps to clear things up on what devices are great, and not so great, for home use. Maintaining your results at home is of utmost importance, and I commend anyone that does so! As we say, getting a facial is like working out with a trainer once a month - if you’re not doing your own workouts in between you won’t be seeing any results. Just make sure you are running everything by your esthetician before implementing anything new into your routine!

Xoxo, Lauren