The Idiot’s Guide to Getting a Facial

I’m a self-proclaimed skincare fanatic. But the often-tossed-around jargon to take care of your body’s largest organ is tricky. Often, face treatments hide behind confusing titles, boasting ingredients like marine collagen, microdermabrasion and lymphatic drainage. You need a Rosetta Stone to interpret the language.

In a brief interview with my boyfriend (OK, it was really just us having morning coffee), he outlined the major pain points of the facial booking process. The simplest answer to all of his facial woes is this: The Dermalinfusion.

Dermalinfusion, created by the medical device innovators and dermatology experts at Envy Medical, combines all the treatments your skin really needs into an efficient, 30-minute session. Simultaneously, your skin is subjected to the clinically-proven three-in-one technology: Vacuum-sucking, diamond-exfoliating and serum-infusing. “If you have no idea what facial to book, this is the best place to start,” says Saime Demirovic, founder of New York’s GLO Skin & Laser.

While the top-most layer of your skin is being sucked of impurities, the diamond tip is sloughing off dead skin cells and serum is being infused (i.e. delivered at a high velocity) deep into the skin. This happens in one pass of a pen-like wand. The entire facial consists of two full passes of the wand across your neck and face. The gunk is drawn out and deposited into a glass jar, but more on that later. That’s it! No pesky manual extractions where someone squeezes the living daylights out of your pores, no laborious cleaning that takes hours and no manual exfoliation to get baby-soft skin.

We ventured to GLO Skin and Laser, a medical spa in New York City’s Financial District that opened a little over a year ago, to get the lowdown. If my boyfriend speaks for the everyman, you guys have some serious questions. So we drilled Demirovic, founder of GLO, on why she loves the Dermalinfusion for men in between strokes of the machine’s vacuum suction. Let’s answer them, once and for all.

Facials can be so long. Who has time for a 75-minute treatment?

In all likelihood, you probably don’t have 75 minutes to spend on your face. (And if you do, kudos. You rock.) Luckily, a typical Dermalinfusion takes about 30 minutes, requires zero preparation and leaves you looking amazing. You can book a service to take place during your lunch hour and be back in the boardroom (or wherever you need to be) by 1:37 p.m. No red splotches or side effects.

“The Dermalinfusion is one of my favorite facials because it is an all-in-one treatment, and it does the job so well,” says Demirovic. “Skin becomes hydrophobic when it gets wet, meaning it wants to close up and avoid water. This infusion process forcefully pushes serum into the skin, and no other device offers that.”

Which one do I book? The names are all so wonky.

With the Dermalinfusion, you know exactly what you’re getting. The service isn’t hiding behind fancy names or confusing monikers. You will be receiving two passes of the vacuum-powered, serum-dispensing machine across your neck and face. Depending on where you go, there may be some extras (like masks or follow-up services), but the bread and butter of your session will be with the Dermalinfusion machine. It costs between $150 and $300, depending on which spa you choose.

“The only competitor to the Dermalinfusion is a Hydra Facial,” says Demirovic. “But the benefits of what this can do for your skin, and how deeply it pushes the serum into your dermis, far outweigh the rivals.”

WTF are the benefits of these additional up-charges?

At some spas, you can choose add-ons like Jet Peel, Dermaplaning or oxygen treatments. Feel good turning those down, knowing that the Dermalinfusion exfoliates and penetrates the dermis so deeply, that anything else is a bit extraneous. In short, you don’t need it.

Can I stay in my work suit before, during and after?

100 percent yes. No need for stripping to your skivvies, big robes or towel wraps. Stay in your street clothes. The handheld pen mechanism is super targeted and exacting in its pore-sucking goodness. There is very minimal drippage, thereby no need to change your clothes. Maybe don’t wear a turtleneck that day, but all else goes.

“This is the kind of treatment where even though you had such a deep exfoliation, at most, you’ll be rosy for 15 minutes. Everyone walks out looking way better than they did,” says Demirovic. Proceed to grind.

Will my face look better when it’s done?

Absolutely. At the end of your treatment, bask in the glory of a full waste jar. You can physically see little chunks of blackheads, murky oils and other debris that was sucked out of your face floating in a beaker...Very satisfying. Also, the treatment is proven to plump the epidermis—or the layer just below your skin—by up to 70 percent. Your pores will be gunk-free, your skin texture will be improved and your overall glow will be increased.

How do I find the right spa?

Use Envy Medical’s search feature to find a provider near you. MedSpas around the country offer the service, either on its own or in conjunction with a longer facial. Every provider has the ability to customize the grit of the diamond-tip exfoliator and pick the most appropriate serum for your skin type, so you’re sure to be pleased with the results.

Can I start a monthly routine if I like it?

Look at you expressing interest! Yes, it would be great if you started a monthly routine. Though it depends on your skin concerns, experts recommend this kind of deep cleaning roughly every six weeks. If you’re targeting something specific, like acne, hyperpigmentation or melasma, you can come as often as every two weeks.

“Skin has a 28-day healing time, so it’s less aggressive to honor that cycle,” says Demirovic.

Who should do the Dermalinfusion?

The list of skin concerns that Dermalinfusion corrects is long. Sunspots, hyperpigmentation, dark spots, acne, aging skin with fine lines and wrinkles and more. So basically, anyone that wants great skin benefits from a Dermalinfusion, which is everyone.

Read more: 4 Regular Guys Describe Their Wildly Different Skincare Routines