Beauty Therapist’s Facial Goes Wrong

Beauty blogger Juli says her skin was so destroyed by her beauty therapist, she was unable to leave the house without a mask on for days…

When it comes to facials and skincare treatments, beauty bloggers have tried most of them.

As reporters of the latest, greatest beauty services available, bloggers make themselves voluntary guinea pigs for trialling the newest trends to hit the market, be it laser sessions or anti-ageing products. And most of the time, it’s an added perk to their jobs.

But when Singaporean beauty blogger Juli ‘Bun Bun’ of bunbunmakeuptips.com innocently fronted up for a facial at a salon she’d been asked to review, little did she know, she was about to experience an ordeal that she’d go on to describe as anything but a perk.

Soon after leaving the salon where she had her facial performed by a beauty therapist, Juli’s skin started to break out in what appeared to be acne.

Then, horrifyingly, days later, her skin took a turn for the worse, with what had initially looked like acne spots transforming into a thick, inflammed bumpy rash the blogger described as reminiscent of barnacles growing on her face, thought to be an allergic reaction to her facial.

Traumatised and afraid to leave the house, Juli put on a mask to cover her disfigured appearance and made a run back to the salon to see if her therapist could fix the damage.

But convinced the now widespread rash was merely an acne breakout, Juli says her therapist began to squeeze at it, reassuring her that once the puss had been removed, the bumps would disappear.

“The facial therapist simply said I have sensitive skin and extraction of the pus would solve everything,” said Juli.

Except that the extractions Juli’s beauty therapist performed on her skin only seemed to make it more angry.

“I sent images of my deteriorating skin condition to the people at the facial salon and they asked me to go down and have the pus extracted again, this time to their HQ, where their director was around. I don’t know how people who have been in the industry for 30 years couldn’t tell this was not your normal acne breakout or post-facial sensitivity.”

At home after further extractions, Juli says her skin condition continued to deteriorate.

“From the first round of extraction, they kept lying to me that ‘tomorrow your skin will be better’. It never did… I had to wear a mask because I was starting to feel very self-conscious.”

Finally, Juli says the salon recommended she consult a dermatologist, who eventually prescribed her medication, though informed her it could take many weeks for her skin to heal, and that she may be left with hyperpigmentation.

“My self-confidence plummeted to rock bottom. I cannot remember the last time I was so depressed over an external condition,” Juli told her blog followers of her experience.

Now recovered after undergoing steroid treatment, Juli says her facial ordeal has taught her not to be so quick to judge others going through their own personal skin condition battle.

“I used to literally have goosebumps when I see people with a skin condition. I’d think to myself ‘Why doesn’t she see a skin doctor?’… This ordeal has shed light to the fact that actually, there could be plenty of reasons why people look… well, different. Most of the time, they didn’t choose to look like that… I have learnt not to judge people by the result of their actions. I will learn to see more of what’s inside a person – a good nature, a pure heart, a fighter.”

To date, Juli has not revealed the name of the salon or the beauty therapist who performed her facial and has vowed to keep it private.

“I will not reveal the name of the facial salon…not in the interest of protecting its reputation, but because I truly believe that no sane organization would intentionally cause harm to its customers.”

Have your say: Do you think the salon or the beauty therapist involved in this case should be held accountable?