Electrical Muscle-Stimulating Facial

What is it like to have an electrical muscle-stimulating facial?

If you’ve ever made the mistake of touching a live electric socket – relax, it’s not like that. Here is how I found two of the leading electrical muscle-stimulating facials:

Face Gym Signature Electrical Workout.

The facial workout is divided into a ‘warm-up’, which is a nice firm massage, followed by a ‘cardio’ section where the therapist thrums her fingers across my jawline and up my cheeks at such speed and in such a continuous flow that all tension is forced out of my face. Then there’s even ‘strength training’ to pep up flagging face muscles. For the finale, my face is worked over with the FaceGym Pro device, which looks like some futuristic insect and whose metallic antennae deliver mild electrical charges to the face, to make my dozy face muscles contract and tighten. It tingles, but it’s not unpleasant. Afterwards, my face looks both more relaxed and more awake than before – my cheeks sit a bit higher, and my eyes seem more open. It’s everything that a great facial massage should deliver, and I could see the benefits of a more consistent skin colour (from improved blood flow and lymph drainage) and of relaxed face muscles for several days.

CACI Synergy facial.

This facial feels ‘electrical’ rather than pampering. It’s tingly, having electricity passed through my skin, but no worse than that. I had thought it might make my muscles spasm or twitch, but the treatment is much subtler than that. I get a metallic taste in my mouth, too, as the electricity is stirring up the metal in my fillings, which is strange but again, not too bad. After the prongs, the therapist uses a ‘wrinkle comb’ which helps to soften and relax the muscles that are making some frown lines set in. The facial finishes with light treatment, involving both red light, which helps calm inflammation in the skin and stimulate collagen production, and blue light, to bring down levels of bacteria on the skin. At 90 minutes, this is a long treatment – but it gives a terrific result. All those tiny microcurrents have achieved a noticeable effect, lifting and smoothing my face, and my skin looks impressively smooth and glowing, which must be from the combination of improved circulation and the light therapy.