[Review] I Tried the HydraFacial MD® Signature – Before/After Photos
Very well known in North America, the HydraFacial treatment has been considered the most spectacular, non-invasive treatment for over a decade, THE solution for gorgeous skin. Naturally, I tried it out for you, in Montreal.
This post is not NOT sponsored
It’s always while looking for niche products that I stumble upon interesting beauty salons. Last time, it was in Chamonix, this time, it’s in Montreal.
I went to etiket to sniff the fragrance-free perfume Molecule 01 (which I told you about here), before asking them about their facials. 5 minutes later, I’m leaving with an appointment for a HydraFacial MD® Signature. I’ve always wanted to try this treatment ever since I heard about it. But there were too few HydraFacial salons in France, and I never felt like making the effort and thinking about booking weeks in advance.
Here, the constraint I have is the weather. Good thing it’s gloomy all week. This treatment is a mix of gentle peeling, microdermabrasion… so when you’re looking to reduce hyperpigmentation, sunbathing is not an option.
HydraFacial is a registered trademark, so a special machine must be used to offer this treatment (the blue thing in the photo). According to the salon, they’ve had so much success with it that after buying a first machine, they had to invest in a second one right away to meet the demand from their clients.
So, what’s so special about it? Thanks to its special tips, the machine delivers specific products deep into the skinto address the following issues:
- Wrinkles and fine lines
- Elasticity and firmness
- Unified complexion and vitality
- Skin texture
- Dark spots
- Oily and congested skin
- Enlarged pores
Since I don’t have any particular issues (according to the esthetician, hallelujah, I haven’t heard that in years) apart from an uneven complexion (from sunburns in the desert, hyperpigmentation from my old acne…) I opted for the cheapest treatment “Signature”, a 45-minute session which consists of 4 steps:
- Cleansing: makeup removal & manual cleansing with products from Tata Harper, the deep cleansing is done with the machine
- Exfoliation: in my case, it was a clever mix of AHA/BHA/Vitamin C, I can’t remember the order in which the machine delivered all these serums, but it stings a bit
- Impurity removal: blackheads are removed with the machine using a suction tip that doesn’t hurt at all. Stubborn blackheads are removed manually
- Hydration: a special tip delivers a hyaluronic acid serum deep into the skin
Each time, the esthetician connects a serum tube to a specific tip, and the machine makes the entire cozy bed I’m lying on vibrate (I wonder if that’s meant to open the pores, like the sonic movements of the Clarisonic). This very quick treatment ends with spreading on moisturizer & sunscreen from Tata Harper (a very trendy organic brand). Hydration is extremely important because, as the esthetician explains, the machine sucks out all the skin’s sebum.
Normally, after using a suction nozzle to remove blackheads, the esthetician will show you a tube full of yellowish liquid (yuckkkk), explaining that the yellow stuff is your sebum, and the white stuff floating around is blackheads. That’s the signature gory moment of the Hydrafacial, when you’re torn between being ashamed of having so much sebum and blackheads, and feeling relieved & victorious for getting rid of all that gunk.
In my opinion, that’s partly why this treatment is so popular: you SEE, THE tangible proof of the little machine’s effectiveness.
Results
The result right after the treatment is astonishing! I feel like my pores have never been this clean; on the nose, the skin is super smooth because the pores are completely emptied of blackheads/sebaceous filaments. In the before (left)/after (right) photo, you can see my forehead is a bit shiny because of the cream, but there’s also less texture than before. Well, the sebaceous filaments came back within a few days on my nose, but on the forehead, they’re gone for good. Yayyy
We’ll have to wait a few days to see the effect of the very gentle peel that the acids provide during the exfoliation step. Already, I had a little purge, which happens to me every time I use BHA.
Then, I noticed that my facial skin matched my neck a tiny bit more (before, the neck was much whiter than the face), which proves the peel worked well. However, the effect on hyperpigmentation is not super visible yet. Normal, otherwise it would be too good to be true. Let’s say the complexion is more even, so you notice it less.
However, after this treatment, the skin is parched and for several days, I had to moisturize it way, way more:
- by slathering on anti-thirst serum and anti-thirst mask, SOS Hydra from Clarins (Sephora link, Marionnaud link), the best products in the world to restore a fresh complexion and hydrated skin overnight.
- by covering myself in Japanese moisturizing masks (I recommend the pack of 7 masks from Lululun that you can use daily)
- and by slathering on hyaluronic acid cream (I recommend Daily Renew Facial Cream by Evolve)
Conclusion
For this treatment, I paid the equivalent of €150 (tip included), which is reasonable compared to the mind-blowing prices I’ve seen at some Parisian or American spas.
I think for a “glow” treatment, it’s really top-notch; the results are there as soon as you leave the spa, and you can put on makeup, go to work right away because it leaves no redness.
However, given the price and the purge it gave me (even though it was partly a good thing because the textured area took the opportunity to get rid of deep-down gunk), it’s not the facial I’m going to treat myself to every month.
Having fewer and fewer issues (my adult acne is goooone), I no longer need such intensive treatments packed with active ingredients, I’ll use it for special occasions, or at most once a year.
If you’re in France, you can find treatments at slightly discounted prices on promotion on Treatwell, for example for €150.
Update January 2020: 6 months later, in Mexico, I found a spa offering 45 minutes of HydraFacial for €75. I went for it without thinking twice. This time, I didn’t have a purge (just 2 mini pimples), the treatment is still just as excellent. Combined with the products SkinCeuticals that I really like, there was a spot that lightened right after the treatment (I probably hadn’t exfoliated it enough before)
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