Bring Back Spa Days

I used to treat my “spa days” like a product clearance event.

Every almost expired mask collecting dust that was bought on an impulse. Exfoliating toners that had been sitting in a random drawer for months. A clay mask I used once that became thick as a rock because I forgot about it.

Because it was a spa day, so more is more.

And every time, I’d wake up the next day with one of those deep under-skin pimples on my nose because I’d stuff as many products as I can and overload my skin.

All that TLC, and my skin’s response was “what the f*ck was that. No, thank you?”

But a proper booster routine, when done right – and one that makes sense for you – is one of the most underrated things you can do for your skin.

If not the most underrated thing.

And if you know me, you know I don’t say these things lightly. Especially when it’s concerning products.

It’s an extra layer on top of your skincare, separated from your skincare – but still contributing to your skincare – that handles the gaps 99% of daily skin routines can’t handle efficiently.

Of course, as long as you approach it correctly.

I have these booster days once or twice a week. Without a hard schedule and literally whenever the evening makes sense for it.

I finally look forward to it too.

And it’s one hell of a way to just decompress and reset.

That’s not a small thing. Because most skincare habits that actually do something also feel like a chore.

A proper spa day shouldn’t feel like anything except a good evening.

A daily routine works because it’s the same thing every night.

(Ideally,) the same products (steps), in the same order.

Especially if you’re in the (*ehm* superior) camp of us that believe a routine can be done in under 3 minutes (2 in the AM), then this is your jam.

It leads to consistency, good skincare habits, on top of being infinitely cheaper than those fancy routines where people try to stuff 8 products that mostly do nothing.

These simple effective routines also have limitations – the main one being that they are simple.

Instead of forcing 10 products into the same routine, these routines cap out at 4. 5 at the most, and mainly if you have prescription medication.

Because of that, certain things never make it in.

Take a BHA. I have never – for the life of me – been able to stick one into my routine. And I know it works. And I know it works well for me. I’ve bought probably four different bottles over the years that expired and got chucked away 90% full.

I just updated the Notion template with the spa routine. You can check the newest version here. (affiliate links inside)

So when a normal person that’s trying to have better skin sees “use it two or three times a week, not on retinol nights, after cleansing, ideally wait 30-60 minutes before the rest of your routine, add a hydrating buffer if you’re sensitive, and ideally not right before moisturizer” is more than enough friction to make most people completely give up on it.

Though, I might be self-projecting again.

I’m lazy with skincare, so I prefer it to be boring. Boring, for me = reliable, enjoyable, consistent = good results.

And I don’t want to deviate from my daily 4-product routine. Because this simplicity also allows it to feel like a real, mindful ritual. One where each product was carefully chosen by me, not bought on an impulse.

My point is, no matter how simple or how complicated a routine you’re running, it will most certainly have a ceiling.

Which in my mind is one more argument for an ultra simple, ultra effective routine that fits your skin and lifestyle context. No more, no less.

Anything that needs more nuance than that, i.e. in the above BHA example, or anything with conditions attached, is, put simply, a pain in the a**.

That’s where a booster routine comes in.

Because it’s in a different container, there’s no sequence to protect.

It’s just anywhere between 20 minutes and an hour where you do the stuff that doesn’t belong anywhere else, a couple times a week.

The best thing and the number one reason for why I am such a big proponent of booster routines is that they create an imaginary line between your daily routine and your booster one.

They help you to “test” new products and dip your toes into new territories.

Which makes having a simple daily routine all the more attractive.

i.e.

The BHA does land on your face and starts doing its job. The masking actually happens. And you didn’t have to restructure your entire routine to make it work.

I could write 6,000 words on just why I think a booster routine is the right play for most people. For the sake of actually keeping people around by the time I get to the remaining important bits you need to know, I’ve kept this ultra short.

Here’s 5 reasons why a spa-day-booster-routine-call-it-what-you-will might create the perfect structure for your own routine.

Using the BHA example from earlier (which has been a big thorn in my own skincare):

A spa day, even just once, ideally twice a week, means your BHA gets used 50-100 times a year.

That’s 50-100 times more than zero, which is how much it was getting used in my own case.

Even when it did get used occasionally back then, I don’t recall ever enjoying it.

Now I do. Because I found a way to make it consistent without forcing it into my daily routine.

Because consistency, even at low frequency beats perfect intent at zero frequency.

Which is the whole point of slow skincare.

A regular spa night gives your skin a predictable time to recover and be treated, rather than randomly throwing actives at it whenever you remember.

Your skin responds better to rhythm than to random bursts of “attention”.

A lot of people’s actives come out whenever they remember, which for a lot is almost never, then all at once.

A dedicated spa night gives those ingredients a base.

Two nights a week of BHA, done consistently, will way do more for your skin than using it daily for two weeks straight, every two months.

You stop buying things impulsively because you now have both a daily routine and a container on top of that, which can also serve for trying new things.

Spa night assumes the role of that. If you can’t fit it even in your spa routine, you shouldn’t buy it.

Again, if you want a starting point, check the updated Notion doc.

Lastly, having a dedicated night for trying new things means you stop panic-buying products you’re not sure about.

Because the BHA and mask have their own night, your regular routine stays sharper and “cleaner”.

Fewer actives overall = less chance of irritation, less barrier disruption, and less potential nukes.

I hate making assumptions. Especially in skincare.

(Example: skincare gurus that tap on your phone and yell at your screen are – very likely – making assumptions in each video.)

One thing I will say with a high degree of certainty however:

You will enjoy it WAY more than the way most people approach their spa nights.

Most people actually look forward to it, so they actually do it, and in the majority of cases, they stick to it.

One reason why the most effective skincare habits fail is because people don’t enjoy them.

Not that there is a right or wrong approach in any of this, but I have become convinced that there is a better approach.

With that said, here’s my own spa night routine.

My girlfriend and I have been binging Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul for the past few months. I’m embarrassed to admit I’d never watched either until now.

Anyways, that’s become our spa night.

Here’s what mine looks like:

• Wash face under shower to open up pores or use a steam towel
• Nose strip (optional. I’m a kid when it comes seeing the gunk that comes out)
• Hydrating toner on the nose area (if doing nose strip)
• Modeling pack [this is the one I use, although it’s like $12 in Korea, so almost 3x cheaper than in the US….] [http://amazon.com/Lindsay-Cool-Modeling-Powder-2-2lb/dp/B08FLSXQ58/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2QE7RXPXX4SWR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.GltYR_C-BCwuMU7yiJUxMZwwWGP_kNHJJ7mSXe2UfjwzQVMPIV5V_IqjWEkihHaDm6B_ZTGj77TQtEczr8OKhQk87AJIVfGoQG9tiKHi20dzR9KWGGwncjw4FCkrqOImPZjZlzkgtprQkyD887fk9mvBZhrcA8jExy25NVrvwdwXBJls3AnF__rY0oBrhH89g26Oig24mzm58gCEogOc2T4l5nlmtRkSeNa83Lh5j7Y3tmKQq30g2yBTCxseLtLNiQwraemHt_QK3a2dLGHC81ItgbJ-6raXie59WV5jd9w.eZlDdIhYbbfE9ZEs64aX2Kz-56om8uLLeHsv1OfJDXs&dib_tag=se&keywords=lindsay+modeling+mask&qid=1780373746&sprefix=lindsey+modeling+pack%2Caps%2C345&sr=8-1]
• Wash off, quick cleanse any leftovers of the pack
• BHA
• Red Light Therapy
• Moisturizer

This might look like a lot of steps, but when you strip it back, it looks like this:

Modeling Pack -> BHA -> Barrier Repair -> RLT -> Moisturizer

I’m not counting the nose strip, because it doesn’t get absorbed.

And it’s more of a fun step than anything else.

Some nights if I’m lazy it’s either the modeling pack or the RLT.

My whole booster routine takes about an hour. Most of which I’m binging Netflix.

Yours might look different, depending on whether you have a specific skin goal you’re working towards.

Retinol is an active too, sure.

And you can make an argument for the fact that it doesn’t get used every day.

But it’s exactly because of that, that I don’t put it in my booster routine.

Retinol is, like sunscreen, something that will give you a compounding effect over the long term.

And I count it as a (at this age, way) higher priority than a BHA. That’s why, even though it’s technically not used daily, it’s still part of The Daily Routine for me.

A BHA, at least with my own skin context, is a welcome extra step that, if I had to, I could live without it.

The Daily Routine should always dictate the booster routine. Not the other way around.

That’s it for this post. See My Skin Library if you want to know what I use on my spa nights. If you want me to help you understand your skin context faster and help you build your Daily and Booster routines, see My Skin Consult.

In 3 short sentences, a booster routine is:

Two or three things that don’t belong in your daily routine. Once or twice a week. Without a fixed schedule.

See you in the next post. Thanks for reading.

K. Hoe