To Salon or Not to Salon? What Beauty Treatments Should We Try at Home?

The coronavirus pandemic has affected us all in one way or another. Whether through loss and bereavement, actually having and surviving the virus ourselves, missing loved ones, cancelled holidays and events or the worry of job losses and financial woes, we’ve all had our fair share.

Now, with lockdown restrictions easing, face masks becoming ubiquitous and things getting back to a weird kind of normal, many of us are facing a different type of anxiety - the threat of a second peak and a new wave of strict lockdown measures.

It seems the key to avoiding a second peak is to ‘minimise our risk’ and that means, however vague or confusing, taking a measured risk each time we decide we’re going to do something such as go shopping, see friends for a meal, go to the local pub or have a salon treatment.

But with that calculated risk and minimising our contact comes two other things - our desire to support local businesses (that have struggled beyond belief in the past few months as they were forced to close their doors) by using their services, and our desire to feel normal and pamper ourselves again.

As it stands, certain beauty treatments are now allowed again (whilst others still aren’t). So now that salons are reopening, it’s up to us as individuals to decide whether or not we want to visit them for treatments.

Should we be having facials and eyebrow waxes? Can we? The advice can be confusing, changes often and is specific to what country you live in. (So please don’t use this article as a legally standing document on what you are allowed to do and what you’re not!) Should we support our salons or hold off a bit and stick with the DIY skin treatments and hair cuts?

If we decide to go it alone a little longer, what’s safe to do at home and what’s a big no no and should be left to the professionals who know what they’re doing?

Here at Sönd, we absolutely support personal choice and, as far as you’re sticking to the spirit of the law, there is no right or wrong and we certainly don’t condone any kind of judgement on someone choosing a different path.

We support anyone going to a salon if they feel comfortable, but if you don’t then you can still do some beauty treatments at home. So, which ones..?

At home facials

Currently, any treatments touching another person’s face is still restricted in the UK. This is set to change on the 1st of August.

Instead, a simple facial where you deeply cleanse your skin, put some cucumbers on your eyes and wear a face mask whilst relaxing in the bath is divine and is absolutely something that can be easily done at home (and should be as part of our self care).

We have exciting news here at Sönd - on Friday we launched our new Clear Out Face Mask, made from the same nourishing, alkalising ingredients such as silica salts that are the stars of the show in our cleanser, day and night moisturisers and serum. That will make your in house facials even more nourishing and beneficial for your skin!

Of course, there are some types of facial that are best left to the professionals and they include any kind of laser or resurfacing facial or one that requires professional extractions (basically someone who is trained to squeeze blackheads and other spots safely without causing scarring).

Waxing, threading and other types of hair removal

Perhaps hair related troubles have been top on our beauty problem list for the past few months with pictures of home hair dye disasters and dodgy fringe ‘trims’ circulating far and wide on social media.

But what about hair removal? At home waxing is reasonably safe when performed on the legs or underarms (and the bikini area if you’re brave enough) but we really wouldn’t advise practising threading on yourself (if you’ve never done it before) or using facial waxing strips. The risk of bruising or damaging your skin is far too great.

As it stands, salons are still not allowed to perform facial waxing, threading or sugaring treatments (although body hair removal at a salon is now permitted) so it looks like we’re all going to have to wait a little longer before taming our eyebrows and facial hair.

If you have one or two chin hairs or your eyebrows are really unruly, then try plucking the hairs with tweezers. It will help to place a warm face cloth onto the area first to soften the hair and make the hair follicle larger, making the hair easier to pull out.

Eyebrow and eyelash tinting

On the subject of eyebrows, salons aren’t yet open for tinting brows, or lashes. Tinting kits designed to be used at home are available from chemists and beauty counters. We’ve also seen entrepreneurial salon owners and beauty therapists selling kits on social media too.

These are safe to be used at home, but we can’t express enough how important it is to follow the instructions included in the box, to the letter. Not following the directions properly can at best leave you with oddly tinted brows or lashes and at worse, a severe problem with your eyes or eyesight.

For this reason, we think it’s probably best to leave this one to the experts and for now, use eyebrows pencils and mascara.

Nails

Getting your nails done in a salon can either be a simple once in a while treat, or for some, a necessary routine to ensure the upkeep of their manicure. While there are plenty of at home kits available these days, some elaborate manicures that involve gels or shellacs can be hard to maintain yourself.

For now, if you aren’t comfortable with heading off to a salon to freshen up your hands, perhaps it’s best to pare down your routine to a file, buff and air drying polish to keep things simple and easy to maintain. If however, you are happy to don a mask and embrace the salon, you can visit today and enjoy the skilled artistry of a professional manicurist - nail art and diamonds included!

Fake tanning and sunbeds

Using fake tan at home is simple and easy (even if you have acne prone skin as many of our readers do). If you’re new to fake tanning, or have always had a professional spray tan, then you may get a few streaks when you first start using fake tan at home.

Many of the newer brands of fake tan are now much better than the ones of old. They tend to streak less, come with an application mitt and don’t smell like biscuits.

We really wouldn’t recommend buying a tanning bed for use at home, as the temptation to overuse it is simply too great. Tanning salons have now been given the green light to open, so this is one visit you should definitely make if the urge for a tan is too great to ignore!

Like all coronavirus related disruption, we truly hope that things in the beauty world get back to how we knew them soon. And as ever, stay safe.