Throughout the course of any beauty procedure, an expert will likely give you some advice that you'll use later, at home, where you're usually left to your own devices. An example, for your consideration: when Emily Ferber got a haircut and learned that curly hair should be treated like denim—and how to blow dry accordingly. Less practical, but more immediately life-altering, see: Oribe's advice to Emily Weiss a while back.

I knew something good was coming my way when Carrie Lindsey, the lead aesthetician over at Shen in Brooklyn, broke out two of the Allegra Beauty Globes. I mean, at first, I was confused because they're glass globes on handles. And they're going on my face? The idea is that you can stick the globes in the freezer and then swirl them all over your face via their convenient handles a la Jasmine Tookes to cool down your skin. Carrie uses them after every facial, but they work at home, too—and they come with interesting benefits. “They're great for calming redness, tightening and firming of the pores, and locking in moisture,” she says. “I also use the globes to lightly stimulate the blood vascular and lymphatic system by beginning on the center of the forehead and rolling our to temples, then following this pattern from inner to outer corner of eyes, inner cheekbone to outer and all down the face, ending with movement from the chin to the jawline,” My globe movements are less precise for sure, but they feel good on your skin, especially when applied after moisturizer or face oil. They set everything in place and leave your skin feeling tighter, in a nice way. Just be gentle when leaving them in your freezer—closing your fridge door with too much force might knock them off kilter, or worse, shatter them.

Another time, back at Skin Remedy in San Francisco, aesthetician Tarren Brooks used a mix of zinc and hyaluronic acid to break down dead skin that was all congested in a terrible way on my face. Zinc can kill acne-causing bacteria, and the mixture cleared me out the same way that eating a hot pepper gets rid of a stuffy nose—we're talking powerful stuff. When I left the spa, I started taking a supplement that contains Zinc whenever I feel my skin getting stressed. It's not a cure-all that leaves me with perfect skin every time (is anything?), but I have noticed fewer nasty breakouts along my chin, which has historically been a problem area.

Enough about me though—what about you? Tell me which tips have made a difference in your life, skin, hair, nails, or whatever after leaving the salon. Because as much as I'd like to get every facial out there, that's definitely not happening.

—Claire Knebl

Photo by Emily Ferber.

Game to learn another facial technique? Try the inner massage.