“I imagine the face like it’s a dance partner,” she explains when I ask about how dance has helped her work as a facialist. “Each face is at a different stage and has a different story to tell. The moment I touch a face, I become that person, I immerse myself in their world and bring out the best in them and me too. It’s a place where you lose yourself and discover yourself at the same time, just like a dance.”
Okay, I’m sold on that. Su-Man tells me that the treatment she’s chosen for me is The Digital Damage Resculpt facial, a 70-minute treatment that costs a hefty £350. She often picks the treatments for clients herself. “Sometimes, people book what they want, but I might change it on the day and tell them it’s not suitable for them. I want them to get the best treatment for their skin – what their skin actually needs.”
The treatment I have is made up of ten set steps, but it’s still bespoke: “I will change up parts as I need to, and concentrate more on the different areas that are more congested than others,” she explains, adding that she is trained in both Chinese and Western methods. “I vary the level of pressure I use too. I’ll give you the facial that your skin needs to reverse the digital damage.”
She begins by warming up my neck muscles with a deep massage, leaning into her Shiatsu training. “When people sit in front of the computer or on the phone, their necks are thicker, and shoulders and chest become tighter,” she explains as she works on a mountain of tension in my neck and shoulders. “When I then touch the head and face, the skull feels tighter, so all this area becomes congested. It’s difficult to explain but when I touch it, I can sense the stagnation in the skin.”
The treatment is about “trying to release stagnation and open all the energy channels so everything can flow,” she adds. “When the chi flows, the blood can flow and skin can feel happy and alive. Then, the face can be more expressive.”
The massage is followed by a double cleanse, steam and extractions. After that, she exfoliates my skin, while explaining what our digital devices can do to our skin: “When you’re looking at screens all day, you strain the delicate skin around the eyes, leading to fine lines, wrinkles and dark circles.” That, combined with blue light exposure, means the strain can accelerate the ageing process: “It can cause hyperpigmentation and overall skin damage.”
