My Facial At Laya Spa

Thanks Google Images for this pic

I haven't been posting here lately because I've been busy working on articles that I actually get paid to write (none on beauty unfortunately though I'm certainly open to the idea if you're interested in hiring me and yes, I will do custom/corporate work). I've been so busy lately that on Saturday I decided to treat myself to a facial.

I live near easily a dozen different places where I can get a facial. I decided to go with Laya Spa on Queen due its great reviews and because it looks accessible. I was right about that last part. The whole place has a casual, hippie chic kind of feel (and smell) to it. This isn't a fancy spa but that's okay by me.

Laya offers an extensive spa menu including dozens of different kinds of massages, manicures, body wraps and facials. I decided to go with the 75-minute long Shankara facial. It's known as "Laya’s Signature Facial" and the spa describes it as, "Using Shankara products (a brand we trust and recommend to our clients and friends) we create a personal blend of aromatherapy oils for your face and body. While the ingredients get to work on your skin, enjoy a light massage to the face, neck, scalp and feet, including a light foot scrub to remove dead cells."

BlogTO took a much better pic than I did of my
treatment room

After being offered tea or water, and filling out the usual paperwork, I waited a bit in the small waiting area. It was busy, as you would expect on a Saturday, but despite all the people, the spa had a chill vibe to it. Eventually I was ushered by my aesthetician into a small but clean room that had easy-to-find coat hooks (yes, this is important to me). It was also surprisingly quiet even though my treatment was located near the front of the spa.

My aesthetician introduced herself and asked if I had any special concerns. She wasn't very chatty, which made me happy, I'm not at the spa to talk. She did give me a heads up on any of the facial steps that she thought might concern me. For example, she let me know when she was covering my face in fresh aloe since that product has an odd smell. But other than that, she didn't explain any of the steps she was doing or say, give me a heads up that she was about to touch my feet. I have mixed feelings on this approach. I kind of wish she had explained what she was going but on the other side, I liked the silence.

Apart from the aloe vera, I know that some kind of exfoliating product was used as one of the first steps on my face. But those were just two of multiple products that were slathered on my face and then wiped off with hot towels. Everything felt quite nice on my face and at no point did I feel any kind of irritation or pain.

Even the extractions were comfortable, which is perhaps why I was slightly disappointed with this part of my facial. I say slightly because the extractions that were done were great; it's just that crap could have been pulled out of my pores. I had told the aesthetician that my primary concern was congestion and had given her the okay to do what she had to do on my non-sensitive skin to clear it up but I guess she decided to err on the side of being gentle. And while I didn't love that approach, I can understand it since I'm a new client and one who hasn't had a facial in awhile.

Speaking of massage, here's the couple massage
 room; pic from the spa's website

I was much more impressed with the neck/scalp/shoulder massage portion of my facial. This part was surprisingly long and thorough. It felt fantastic and was the highlight of the treatment.

There was also a foot/lower leg scrub and massage that can best be described as adequate. It was good but nothing impressive. Honestly, I wish that a good chunk of my foot scrub time had been spent on extractions.

My time at Laya Spa flew by and before I knew it, I was being offered a goodbye grapefruit juice. I also received a free skincare sample that my aesthetician said would help me with a patch of millia that recently popped up on my forehead. Despite giving me the sample, she didn't push products or future treatments on me, which was nice.

The immediate results of my facial was a brighter, smoother, healthier looking complexion. Several hours later, those results are still in place, so whatever the aesthetician put on my face worked. It also soften up my face and created the perfect texture to let me get in there and do some further extractions.

Looking at Laya's website, I see that my facial included "a complimentary wet steam." I was not reminded of this fact, which is kind of odd. Despite this, I think I'll probably return to Laya Spa. My aesthetician told me that it offers a mini version of the treatment I had, which is shorter and foot-scrub free, so maybe I'll give that a shot.