If you are a boy, stop reading right now since the contents would cease to interest you. If you still want to read this, read it at your own risk as the contents carry a major threat of being boring halfway. If a girl, you better read this, since it is always nice to have more than one dimension before deciding.
Now I ask a basic question - Why do we go to beauty parlor? Think. You have a primary answer with you "to look and feel beautiful." Is that the only reason? I think, it is not just that but to pamper yourself. Now, imagine, you have time. And you wonder about that cleansing milk cream and scrub which you bought when you went out for shopping with that cosmetic-crazy friend of yours. It is an unexpected holiday and you do not have much to do at home. You are going to catch up with old friends. You look yourself at the mirror and rule out the possibility of going to parlour. It is not worth the money. Ok, go ahead. Switch on the music and make your room as the temporary parlour.
Step 1:
Tie your hair up neatly so that no hair comes in the way while cleansing your face.Wash your face with warm water. Now apply on the cleansing milk (if it is not available, you can mix the milk cream or malai with a few drops of lemon juice) and apply it to the face. Buy the kind of cleansing milk, which you think would suit you. Many find Lakme good. Massage your face and neck in a circular and upward motion. If you do not know how long, then do it for a no. of times; say 10 times which is normal. This is basically done to relax your muscles and stimulate blood circulation. This step would take about 2-3 mts. Rinse your face.
Step 2:
Now, removing the dead skin i.e. exfoliating. This would need a scrub. Almond based scrub is the best. I personally recommend Avon scrub. Even better would be homemade scrub (mix green gram powder with a pinch of turmeric). Apply the scrub all over the face. Keep massaging with your fingertips. After a min, it would get dry. Do not worry. Take a few drops of water and again massage your face. This would take approximately 3-4 mts. Rinse your face again.
Step-3
Steaming: Heat up water in a pan. Stop heating before water boils. Sit at a table with your face over the bowl and a towel over your head. Keep your face a comfortable distance from bowl, not so close you hurt from the heat, but not so far that nothing happens. This should open your pores. In case this is difficult, take a clean cloth, dip it into hot water and pat on your face. Make sure, it is not very hot. When you’re ready to begin the extraction process lay the looped side on top of the blackhead - basically encircling this area with the loop. Apply slow and even pressure lightly until the trapped sebum is forced out of the follicle. The blackhead — oil and all — will ooze up and out of the pore. Do not continue to attempt the extraction if the trapped sebum is not released easily. Applying too much force can cause infection and scarring. When piercing a whitehead with lancet (Pointed end), wait until the whitehead breaks open, then gently roll the tool over the whitehead. Be sure to disinfect the area when finished and clean your tool off with alcohol or hot water. A deep, cystic pimple should not be opened with the lancet. If the whole blackhead removal process is a problem, do not try at all. It is better not to try at all rather than scar your face. The moment you finish extracting at one area, press the area with a toner or warm water.
Step -4 People generally apply a mask made of multani mitti. But it is enough if washed with cold water for closing the pores.
The whole process may take forty minutes for the first time. But then if you get used to it, it won’t take more than 20 minutes. The general perception is that one has to look attractive. But the main purpose is to allow proper flow of circulation and to clean the face. And most importantly, feel rejuvenated. But always give a gap of one week before thinking of another clean-up. So, go ahead, pamper without paying. Do not start with high expectations, but do not lose hope. For there is a parlior still awaiting you.