I recently got a facial, and it was long overdue. The “me time” was awesome but waking up to tons of breakouts wasn’t. I phoned the salon and they told me that it was my skin purging. I was a bit skeptical so I decided to see if this was just a myth or it actually happens. The last time I had this experience was when I was using the Clarisonic for the first time. I contacted my esthetician and she told me to immediately stop using it, but I have always been curious. So purging does happen but here's why and when it’s not just a bad reaction. 

They say your skin has to get worse before it gets better, but that all depends. First off, it can take about a month or so for skin to improve if you are using something that speeds up turnover. Did you know that a pimple’s lifespan is not really just a week or so but actually 8 weeks!? Basically, it starts off as a clogged pore, and let’s say you start exfoliating when you didn’t before, that 8 weeks turns into maybe one week, and all of a sudden, all these new pimples show up. So they were going to show up anyway, but what you did just sped up the process.
Is your skin detoxing? Well, not necessarily. In my experience, a good esthetician will know your skin well enough to use products that your skin can handle. You can still have clean and clear skin and not go through a purge. The best thing to do is talk to your esthetician about your skin in detail and discuss your concerns. Some people want fast results and don’t mind the downtime of a big breakout. I always believed if you leave looking red and irritated something is wrong. 

Aline Agopian