Just like tons of guys out there, the reason why I’ve never had a facial before is because I’ve just never had the need for one.

I’m lucky enough to be blessed with pretty good skin, and the only time I’ve had any problems were some breakouts during college (of all times, right?). It’s been a source of great consternation for many jealous female friends of mine, who for some reason believe good skin is wasted on guys.

So anyway, Niki Cheong found out about me never having a facial before (and being a firm believer in them) and decided to hook me up with some friends over at L’Oreal who were kind enough to offer me a free Biotherm facial!

There were posters of Takeshi Kaneshiro outside the Biotherm room. I was expecting to look like this after the facial, but the Biotherm people said it was out of their hands...

Now those of you who watch our YouTube videos might remember me getting a facial in one of our old Jobscope episodes, but actually, that was a fakecial. My good friend Joyce Tan was the beautician, and because we were short on time, I asked her to just demonstrate each step for a couple of minutes.

(FYI, because my friend Joyce is such a hottie, and dressed in a beautician’s uniform, that video broke R.AGE records – it got more than 4,000 hits in TWO DAYS, in spite of my ridiculous intro)

Video of Joyce giving me my “fakecial”. Don’t get the wrong idea, peeps… =P Her part is in the second half of the video. And sorry guys, she’s already dating 15Malaysia Shoot&Win short film competition winner Joshua Chay

Anyway, before my first FULL facial, I met up with Eunice Phang from L’Oreal, and we talked a bit about men’s skincare.

If you’re a guy who thinks that facials are for girls cos all men will age with character like Richard Gere, Bruce Willis or Harrison Ford, Eunice has this to say to you (as she did to me): girls age gradually from age 30, but with guys you look fine all the way till your 40 and then BAM!!, your skin suddenly gives way. It’s a more drastic ageing process for men.

I told her the only skincare I have is facial wash, and she says to avoid looking like you’re 40 going on 50 when the time comes, it would be best to at least start using a moisturiser and go for occassional facial treatments. Ain’t no shame in it, guys.

She then introduced me to Christine, my skincare therapist for the day.

My therapist Christine working on some other lady. Don't worry, I didn't take this picture...

Now I’ve never had a proper facial before, so I don’t really have any frame of reference to compare the experience with. But what I can say is that it was very relaxing, and my skin felt much more – and it pains me to use this word on myself – supple.

It was nice just to lay in that cozy room for more than an hour, with new age dolphin music (ok, so there weren’t exactly dolphins, but you know what I mean) playing next to me, and an experienced therapist gently massaging my face.

Before the treatment started, I thought it would be a nice chance to gather some thoughts for my next Ian-ything Goes column (like a not-so-lame column title, maybe?). But while I was lying on that treatment table, it was just so relaxing that my thoughts just kept drifting away…

And it wasn’t just a relaxing experience. Immediately after the facial, I realised what Christine meant when she said my skin was a little dehydrated. When I touched my face after that, it felt as if I had been touching cardboard all this while! You’d never know that you’ve got it bad until you’ve had it good…

Where all the relaxation took place.

Ianyway… I’ve always thought that there’re people out there who are so vain, they can’t get themselves to admit they are vain. I’ve tried not to be that guy by just putting it out there – I am very conscious about the way I look; and I spend hours every other week shopping to buy stuff in an ironically vain attempt to help make me look slightly better, and subsequently, less self-conscious and able to go about my day with at least some semblance of confidence.

Now, I think I’ll start getting better skincare too. It is more relaxing than shopping after all…