Facial Steamers: An Essential Beauty Investment

There are many conventional methods with which you can steam your face, this includes the hot towel method, as well as placing your face over a bowl of hot water. Electronic facial steamers get rid of the faff and make at-home facial steaming an easy process, that being said here’s why facial steamers are an essential beauty investment;

What is a facial steamer?

A facial steamer is an electronic device that generates hot steam. You rest your face over the steamer for a few minutes and it effectively blows hot steam onto your face from a safe distance.

What are the benefits of using a facial steamer?

Deep cleanses

By steaming your face, you’re effectively opening up the pores and allowing any hard buildups of sebum and debris to soften. By doing so, extractions become easier. Cleansing your pores can help to minimise their appearance.

Prevents and reduces acne

Acne is often a result of bacteria, oils and dirt that clog the pores and trigger the natural inflammatory immune response. By facial steaming you can achieve a deep cleanse, breaking up any of these pore plugs therefore preventing acne from forming.

Improves blood flow

When warm steams hits your face your blood vessels dilate, this improves blood flow to the skin. Oxygen and essential nutrients can then be transported to the skin, and toxins can be removed. This dilation can also give you a temporary vibrant, glowing complexion.

Improves absorption of skin care products

By promoting blood flow and opening up your pores, absorption of skin care products is drastically improved. Active ingredients and serums can penetrate deeper into the skin to be more effective where they’re needed.

Facial steaming is hydrating

As the temperature of your face increases and your pores open up, the sebaceous glands begin to produce more sebum; the waxy secretions responsible for hydrating and protecting the skin.

Clears your sinuses

Most of us have put our faces over a pan/bowl of hot water at some point in order to clear our sinuses and nasal passages. Whether this have been down to a cold or just allergies, steaming is certainly beneficial. Facial steamers make clearing your sinuses easy, this can provide immediate relief and release tension that could potentially lead to a headache.

It’s cheap

Entry-level facial steamers are cheap but the results you receive are priceless. This is an at-home spa treatment for a cheap-as-chips price.

Therapeutic effect

What you’re basically doing is giving yourself a little at-home spa treatment. The steam hitting your face is relaxing, and this can reduce overall stress levels. By decreasing overall stress you can indirectly be improving the quality of your skin by improving sleep quality, as well as reducing hormone fluctuations.

Anti-aging

By improving blood and oxygen flow to the skin, you could also be promoting the production of collagen. Collagen is responsible for the skin’s firmness and elasticity, by increasing the amount of this protein available you’re slowing down or even reversing the aging process.

How to use a facial steamer

1. Fill up your facial steamer with water. Every steamer is different so it’s best to use the manufacturer-supplied manual to get this right. *Optional: Add a few drops of essential oils. These oils can help calm you even more, and certain oils even have skin rejuvenating properties.
2. Wait until the steamer begins to generate steam, this can take a few minutes. Cleanse your face thoroughly during this time and pat dry with a towel.
3. Gently place your face over the steamer, around the supplied conical attachment. This is essential as this attachment is what keep your face a safe distance away from the steam.
4. Wait a few minutes, I like to steam my face for about 4-5 minutes in total and this works really well for my skin. If this is your first time using a facial steamer, perhaps do it in 2 minute intervals to see how your skin is handling the process.
5. Follow up with serum and moisturiser. Use any serums you’d like to first, product absorption will be drastically improved. Ensure you follow up with a gentle non-comedogenic moisturiser.

To sum it up

Should you be using a facial steamer? Certainly. It’s a cheap-as-chips at-home spa treatment with excellent skincare benefits and therapeutic effects. Make sure you follow the correct procedure as supplied by the manufacturer, and follow up facial steaming with serum and moisturiser. Stay beautiful people.