I love trying new beauty tips and tricks, especially when they’re celebrity-approved and can be done with items you can find in your home. This is exactly why I *had* to try Jennifer Aniston’s at-home ice water facial.
While the Friends actress admits her amazing skin is thanks to good genes, keeping stress low, and the occasional professional facial; she has one DIY hack for when she needs her skin to look good STAT. “Just get a bowl of ice water and splash your face 25 times,” she told Vogue. “It’s an old school trick that Joan Crawford used to do—it just wakes your skin up.” Is that really all I need to have a quick skin pick-me-up?
Since my schedule gets hectic and I don’t always have the time to do my full skincare regime, I decided to work Jen’s hack into my routine a few times during the week. Below is a breakdown of when I tested it out based on when I thought my skin might need this the most:
- First thing in the morning
- After taking a workout class
- Before going out at night
I tried each method over the span of a week to really make sure I could see the effects of doing the facial at different times. I also consulted dermatologist Dr. Hadley C. King, MD, FAAD in New York before trying the experiment, and she emphasized that this is something someone should be doing for short-term results, not something that needs to be done consistently. Therefore, I did the facial every other day instead of consecutively.
The Set-Up
Setting the facial up was super simple. I grabbed a large bowl from my kitchen and filled it about halfway with water. To make the water extra cold, I added about four to six ice cubes. (I really wanted to see what it was like if I made it super frigid!) I then put the bowl in my bathroom sink and splashed my face 25 times.
Attempt #1: First Thing In The Morning
On the first day of this experiment, I woke up and headed straight to my bathroom with my cold bowl of ice water. I was feeling groggy since I had stayed up late the night before. The ice water was a HUGE shock and woke me right up. I counted each time I splashed my face, and to be honest, by the time I got to the tenth or fifteenth splash, it was difficult to try and do 10 to 15 more. But, when I was done I felt extremely alert and ready to take on my day. I let the water sit on my face rather than wipe it off immediately. I figured I would really let it set to see if it would have any effects on my skin.
Dr. King believes this method works best in the morning. “Puffiness of the face and eye area from interstitial fluid tends to be most pronounced in the mornings,” she says. FYI: Interstitial fluid is found in the spaces between the cells. It comes from substances that leak out of blood vessels and it eventually drains through the lymphatic system. This is caused by increased salt intake, not drinking enough water, or poor quality of sleep—which is why you might notice puffiness is worse in the morning and better by the evening on most days.
Right off the bat, I didn’t notice anything different about my skin except it got a little red from the cold water. That redness went down super quick. I was also dealing with a PMS breakout on my skin, and I noticed, for a couple of hours after the facial, the pimples weren’t as enlarged as they were when I first woke up.
Attempt #2: Post-Workout
During the weekend, I usually take a workout class in the late morning and then go to run my errands as my sweaty self (gross, I know). Since I didn’t want to do my full skincare routine after my workout, I figured it would be best to see how the ice water facial would help my skin in the few hours before I would eventually take a shower. I should preface this by saying my workout classes are typically high intensity, so I leave these classes with a pretty red face.
This time around, since I was all warmed up, splashing the ice-cold water on my face felt extremely refreshing. I can’t say it took away my redness immediately, but I do feel like I got a lot of moisture back in my face after doing all that sweating. Within 10 to 15 minutes after, I didn’t even look like I had just worked out and I felt extremely fresh-faced to head out.
“If your face tends to get red when you exercise,” Dr. King says, “then cold water can help make the skin less red because it causes vasoconstriction of blood vessels.” (This means that the blood vessels narrow and blood flow is reduced).
In terms of moisturizing, Dr. King explains that while splashing water on your face doesn’t have direct moisturizing properties the way putting cream on it does, cold water won’t strip the skin of its natural oils and dry it out as much as hot water—which is most likely why I felt this.
Attempt #3: Before going out at night
The final test for this facial would be how it prepped my skin for a night out. After a long day of work, I grabbed the bowl and headed to the sink before putting on my makeup. Similar to when I did it in the morning, the facial gave me a slight mood boost after feeling tired from work all day. Combined with putting on moisturizer right after doing the facial, my skin felt super moisturized and was glowing! Because of this, I decided to nix putting on foundation. I definitely loved the effect the ice water facial had when pairing it with skincare products.
The Bottom Line
- This is definitely a quick relief for your skin when you’re feeling puffy.
- I will keep doing it, most likely in the mornings as a part of my a.m. routine.
- It felt like a cheat to get my skin more moisturized.
- When I did my skincare routine after the ice water facial, I felt it absorbed the products more easily.
- I preferred doing it first thing in the morning or right before going out. I felt doing it after a workout made my skin even more red.
- The added bonus was that it was a mood boost that helped me become alert before the workday.
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