Facials get rid of excess oil so that you can press your face against puppy-store windows without leaving a print. Look good up close with this Groupon.
Choose from Three Options
- $29 for a hot-stone back treatment, which includes a massage, exfoliation, and mask (a $60 value)
- $15 for a mini facial (a $30 value)
- $29 for a detoxifying body wrap (a $65 value)
The spa's exfoliating treatments open pores, helping them to absorb nutrients and moisturizers. Learn more about the tiny openings all over your skin with Groupon’s guide.
Pores: The Follicle's Abode
There’s a lot of oil and a collection of dead skin cells on your face right now. This mixture is traveling up hair follicles under your skin and out through your pores. Before you reach for the face wash, consider this: the oil and skin cells are actually protecting your skin from bacteria and keeping it moisturized. It sounds like the perfect breeding ground for acne, but it’s not causing you to break out. A breakout occurs when your pores become clogged and this mixture of oil and cells can’t get out.
A pore is the opening on the skin that allows a shaft of hair to get through. A hair follicle, which extends downward through several skin layers, emits this shaft of hair. Basically, if a follicle were a straw, the pore would be the opening at the top. Instead of emitting soda, the follicle emits the shaft of hair. Inside the follicle, skin cells constantly die. The dead cells escape the shaft to coat the skin by tagging along as oil travels up the follicle. The oil, also called sebum, is produced in the follicle’s sebaceous glands.
When dirt and excess oil collect in the pores, sebum and skin cells pile up. Soon, bacteria make their way to the blockage, causing inflammation and acne. Exfoliation—either manual exfoliation with something like microdermabrasion or a scrub, or chemical exfoliation with something like an acid peel or a retinoid—removes the debris to keep pores clear and bacteria free. Yet exfoliation must be done in moderation—too much strips away the oil and skin cells moisturizing and protecting the skin.
