Cosmo Investigates: Extreme Facials

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‘I’M GOING TO DO the most painful area first,’ my aesthetician Ashlee said as she lowered a hi-tech needling device towards my forehead. In the split second that followed, I questioned every decision that led up to that moment. I was about to undergo a micro-needling treatment, a facial therapy that promises to make skin noticeably smoother, plump and more radiant in a matter of days. The only catch? It requires sitting still for 10-15 minutes while thousands of tiny needles puncture into your face.

Micro-needling is just one of a handful of extreme facials gaining popularity among millennial women. Vampire facials (more on that later), chemical peels and extractions are also becoming cheaper and less time-consuming. But just because you can afford to pop out for a lunchtime extraction, does that mean you should? I’ve weighed up the pros and cons – and I have the puncture marks to prove it.

Micro-needling

Over the past year, micro-needling has gone from an obscure procedure to a must-do for anyone with acne scarring, pigmentation or rosacea. Skinstitut’s resident skin expert Zoe Devine says it’s all because of social media: ‘Everyone’s talking about it so much more,’ she says. ‘I think in the past everybody was a little bit scared of it.’