In Conversation with FaceGym

Beauty : Love

11 February 2020

We aren’t afraid to try new wellness trends at Because; our track record includes climbing into a -90°C glass chamber and using all the innovative equipment available in the Lanserhof at the Arts Club. So with weeks of international travel for fashion month ahead, accompanied with the frenzied rush of running across cities to get to shows, some prep is in need.

It’s no secret that a healthy gym routine can be a contributing catalyst for a better mind, and the post-workout glow that comes from pumping blood around the body is a welcomed reward for enhancing our fitness. But for Inge Theron, the body workout wasn’t enough. Four years ago, after a botched threading procedure, Inge decided to open FaceGym. “She realised, why do women have to feel like they have to do all these anti-aging things, and why does everyone feel like they have to look younger?” States Lauren Barnett, whose been a part of FaceGym since it started. “She wanted to find a way for us to look good but not feel like we have to change ourselves.” As empowering and idealistic as this sounds, don’t expect it to be your conventional beauty treatment. “We apply a training approach for a beauty result so it’s not just about going and having a facial, lying there listening to whale music and having products slapped on your face. We get in there, we sculpt, we lift,” expresses Lauren. “We work on the jaw to remove all the toxins caused by alcohol, sugars and carbs – they all get trapped and stored in your skin, which makes it look puffy – as well as stress, we work on all of that.”

Could this be the pre-fashion month treatment editors have been looking for? Well, I took the laborious task of volunteering myself for a session, half expecting my favourite workout, barre, to reign supreme in terms of working my body to the limit. I was quickly proven wrong.

After walking into the St John’s Wood branch, I was politely greeted by my FaceGym trainer and skin saver, Mischa. I was booked in for a Clean + Lift, which includes a blasting of vitamins into open pores through a pen post-workout. I’ve been subject to a vitamin IV before and had positive results, so the idea of a vitamin blasting didn’t phase me, and Lauren was quick to reassure my choices. “This is the most amazing thing for fashion week, it revitalises the skin ahead of shows, and afterwards when you’re exhausted, haven't been eating well and have been partying too hard, it’s the perfect pick me up.” After a quick skin consultation (where I was asked if there was anywhere on the face I wanted to work on in particular) the workout began.

The vitamin boosting machine that would look more fitting on a spaceship.

Everything started surprisingly relaxingly. My skin was lathered in numerous serums and cleansers (which I have a record of, thanks to Mischa handily highlighting the products on a personalised training plan), and soothed my face with a jade stone. Even when the muscles were being warmed up – which is done by a mixture of massaging movements and gentle pats – I was so relaxed, I very embarrassingly nearly drifted into sleep. It was when the FaceGym Pro was whipped out that I was proved that this definitely was exercising my face.

The device applies mild yet impactful EMS (electrical muscle stimulation) to the face, strengthening the muscle to visibly lift, tone and tighten. This did a good job of waking me back up, as one roll from the the Pro would send my muscles contorting in different directions. Mildly panicking and wondering why my facial muscles couldn’t seem to stay still, Mischa, whose seen a variety of expressions from this step, convinced me this was completely normal and kindly checked whether the pressure was to much for my nerve endings (which were darting minuscule shots of pain around my face) to take. The end result, was a visibly toned face, so much so, I could tell the difference between the side that had been done and the side that hadn’t. The finale was the vitamin boost I’d been waiting for. Despite the machine looking like something from a laboratory and experiencing a fairly blowing feeling on my face, I couldn’t fault its purpose for giving me a fresh and fruitful glow.

Leaving the store, my skepticism had completely vanished. The workout not only removed any toxins that had been stored in my face, and infused me with more vitamins than a Berocca tablet, but I’d left with naturally taught, healthier and fuller looking skin. I even had the endorphin rush I often experience after a round at the gym. While this won’t aid your body’s muscle development, this is definitely the more relaxing way of getting that fitness fix.