Question about manual versus machine extractions for congested skin

I worked at a spa in Portland for three years that swore by those high frequency machines for clearing pores. When I opened my own place, I bought one for $800. After six months, I went back to just my fingers and a good steamer. The machine feels fancy, but I see more broken caps and less actual grit coming out compared to a slow, careful manual method. Has anyone else made this switch and noticed clients heal faster?

3 comments

3 Comments

hall.ruby2mo ago

Honestly, my old boss was obsessed with the machine extraction wands too. Tbh I bought into the hype for a while because it looked so professional. But ngl, watching those little red dots pop up the next day made me switch back. My hands just feel where the congestion really is, and I get way more actual stuff out without all the irritation.

reese1772mo ago

My sister's clinic in Austin switched to those wands two years ago. They tracked client results and found a 40% drop in repeat extractions for the same areas. The red dots are surface level, but the machine gets deeper plugs that don't come back next week. Your fingers can miss the root of the congestion, especially around the nose. The wand's suction is just more consistent and thorough once you get the settings right.

jakewhite25d ago

I switched over to using my hands full time about 6 months ago after dealing with the same red dots. Took me a week to get used to it again but now I can feel the difference between a sebum plug and just regular oil way better. I do a quick steam first to soften everything up and my extraction time actually went down by like 5 minutes per client.