A HydraFacial is a cleansing, exfoliating, and hydrating skin treatment using a single proprietary tool. That’s the short answer.

The long answer is that it’s a facial that draws together facial treatments into one—the deep exfoliation of a microdermabrasion, the renewal of a chemical peel, and the extraction and hydration of a traditional facial—except it’s all kicked up a notch, yet at the same time, more soothing and gentle. A hydrafacial is noninvasive and nonsurgical, and instead of lasers or harsh chemicals, it uses water and serums to renew and refresh facial skin.

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So how does the HydraFacial work?

A true HydraFacial happens in just four steps: exfoliation, chemical peel, extraction, and hydration. But the key is what the company calls its Vortex Technology, encapsulated in a single tool that performs all four steps.

What are the steps of a HydraFacial?

The aesthetician simply has to exchange the device’s tip to perform the four steps described above, with each one calibrated to your particular skin type.

1. Cleanse and Exfoliate

Traditional microdermabrasion uses microcrystals or some other abrasive to release dead skin cells. A HydraFacial uses a gentler agent: water. This means that the treatment is more soothing than a microdermabrasion and requires no downtime.

2.  Peel

Your face might tingle slightly, as the aesthetician applies a chemical peel to the skin. It’s a gentler version of a traditional peel, and the blend of glycolic and salicylic acids deliver a peel’s effects without the skin scaling that can occur afterwards.

3. Extraction

After another serum is applied, the extraction tip works to pull out whatever is clogging pores, be it dirt, dead skin, or cupcake sprinkles. Like a giant with his kitten, this process is powerful, yet gentle—and mostly painless.

4. Hydration

Finally, the HydraFacial’s bread and butter: skin is infused with a special medical-grade serum rich in antioxidants and peptides. This serum is designed to even skin tone, firm and tighten, as well as hydrate.