What Montse Discovered When She Asked for a Skin Diagnosis
Prepare Your Skin for Summer
What Montse discovered when she asked for a free skin diagnosis before summer
Montse arrived at the Wellness unit of the Instituto de Benito convinced that she needed "another facial cleansing" before summer. She left with something very different: a diagnosis, a protocol designed for her specific skin, and a treatment detail that almost no beauty center bothers to do. We tell you exactly what happened, step by step.
"Not all skins are the same": why the diagnosis changed the conversation, comments Eva
Before touching the skin, nothing. That is the first rule of the Wellness team and, also, the first thing that surprises most new patients. At the Instituto de Benito, the initial skin diagnosis is free and without obligation, and is carried out before recommending absolutely any treatment.
During Montse's consultation, the team analyzed five key parameters:
- Skin balance and pH: to detect if the skin barrier was altered by winter, heating, or usual cosmetics.
- Photoaging: spots, loss of uniformity, and accumulated sun damage from previous summers.
- Hydration level: dehydrated skin reacts worse to sun, chlorine, and summer heat.
- Fine expression lines: mild, but much more visible when the skin is dry.
- Incipient sagging: especially in the jawline and cheeks.
With that real map on the table, the treatment ceased to be a generic protocol to become the protocol that made sense for her, in May, just before summer.
The Wellness Protocol that Took Montse's Skin from "Dull" to "Ready for the Sun"
It wasn't about leaving the skin clean and that's it. The philosophy is different: repair before treating. That is, never attack the skin without having prepared it first. It sounds obvious, but almost no one does it.
Step 1. Makeup Removal and Toning: Start from Scratch, Really
Deep cleansing in two phases to remove makeup, accumulated sunscreen residues, pollution, and excess sebum. The toning returned the pH to the optimal level, leaving the skin receptive without altering its natural barrier.
Step 2. The Uncommon Secret: Repair Mask BEFORE the Exfoliant
Here is the real differential. The professional cosmetic brand with which the Wellness unit works is the only one that applies a repair mask before the exfoliant. Why does it matter so much?
Because when the skin is exfoliated without this prior preparation, it feels attacked: it reddens more, the barrier takes longer to recover, and in the following days tightness appears. With the prior repair mask, Montse's skin reached the next step strengthened, calmed, and much less reactive. A difference that is noticeable in the cabin and, especially, during the three following days.
Step 3. Deep Exfoliation (This Time, Without Aggression)
Once prepared, the exfoliation removed dead cells, refined the skin's texture, and allowed subsequent actives to penetrate uniformly. On repaired skin, the step was much more comfortable and much more effective than any exfoliant applied "cold".
Step 4. Manual Extraction: What You Need to Do Before Summer (and Almost Never Done Right)
Manual extraction of blackheads, comedones, and small impurities accumulated during winter. A "truly clean" skin before summer means less shine, fewer imperfections in the sun, and a better base for the tan to look even.
Step 5. Eucalyptus and Menthol Mask: Immediate Relief
After extraction, the skin is warm and may show slight inflammation. To reverse it instantly: eucalyptus and menthol mask that decongests, refreshes, and deflates. Montse described it like this: "as if the skin breathed again after months of heating".
Step 6. SPF 50 Before Going Outside: It's Not Optional, It's Part of the Treatment
The final, non-negotiable step. No patient leaves the Instituto de Benito's cabin without SPF 50 sunscreen applied. The skin has just been exfoliated and treated, is more receptive to UV radiation, and just before summer, photoprotection stops being advice to become part of the medical protocol.
Montse's result: skin that no longer faces summer "to see what happens"
At the end of the session, Montse saw in the mirror a more luminous, more even, more rested, and visibly juicier skin. But, as she herself says, the important change was not the immediate one.
The treatment left her skin:
- Balanced in pH, ready to better tolerate the sun, sea water, and pool chlorine.
- Deeply hydrated, with the skin barrier reinforced to reduce tightness and redness throughout the summer.
- Free from the impurities accumulated during the winter, preventing outbreaks during the hotter months.
- Protected from the first moment, with SPF 50 applied during the consultation.
For Montse, it wasn't a whim before the holidays: it was a preventive decision, exactly what the Wellness unit recommends doing at least once at each change of season.
Why Montse wouldn't return to a conventional beauty center
Beyond the protocol, there are three reasons Montse repeats when she tells her friends:
- The diagnosis was free, detailed, and without sales pressure: no one tried to sell her a 10-session package before looking at her skin.
- Each step had a specific clinical reason, it wasn't a standard treatment repeated for everyone.
- Behind the Wellness team is the medical signature of the Instituto de Benito, integrated with aesthetic medicine, dermatology, and surgery. A security that conventional beauty centers do not have.
Questions you (probably) are also asking
Why should you prepare your skin before summer?
Because summer subjects the skin to more sun, more heat, more sweating, and more chlorine and salt. Dehydrated skin, with impurities or an altered barrier, enters summer less protected and more reactive, increasing the risk of spots, breakouts, and dehydration.
What exactly does the free Wellness skin diagnosis include?
It is free, detailed, and without obligation. It evaluates skin balance and pH, photoaging, dehydration, fine wrinkles, and sagging to recommend the treatment that makes sense for your skin at that specific time of year.
Why is a mask applied BEFORE the exfoliant? Isn't it the other way around?
To repair and strengthen the skin before exfoliating it. Most protocols exfoliate "cold," which harms the skin and increases redness. The prior repairing mask reduces that irritation, improves the exfoliant's tolerance, and makes the result more even and more comfortable.
Why is a mask applied BEFORE the exfoliant? Isn't it the other way around?
To repair and strengthen the skin before exfoliating it. Most protocols exfoliate "cold," which harms the skin and increases redness. The pre-repairing mask reduces that irritation, improves the exfoliant's tolerance, and makes the result more even and comfortable.
What is the purpose of the eucalyptus and menthol mask at the end?
After extraction, the skin is warm and may become slightly inflamed. The eucalyptus and menthol mask cools, decongests, and deflates immediately, leaving a sensation of clean, fresh, and calm skin just before the SPF.
Is it mandatory to go out with sun protection after a facial cleansing?
Yes. After a deep cleansing, the skin is more exposed to UV radiation. The final application of an SPF 50 is part of the treatment, not an extra. Going out without photoprotection would nullify much of the benefit of the protocol.
How often should I get a wellness facial treatment?
Ideally, once per season change, especially before summer and winter, the two times when the skin undergoes the most abrupt changes in sun exposure, temperature, and environmental humidity.
Is it just for women? Can men do it too?
Both. Male skin with more sebum, more visible pores, and usually less cosmetic routine especially benefits from extraction and the pH balance step before summer.
How does it differ from a facial cleansing at any beauty center?
In three specific ways: the prior medical-aesthetic diagnosis, the use of a professional cosmetic brand that repairs before exfoliating, and the support of the medical team at the Instituto de Benito. It is a wellness protocol with clinical criteria, not a standard cleansing.
How long does a complete session last?
Between 60 and 75 minutes, from the diagnosis to the final SPF 50. It depends on the initial state of the skin and the amount of extraction needed.
When is the best time of year to book it?
From April to June, before the first prolonged sun exposures. This way, the skin reaches summer balanced, hydrated, and protected from the first week at the beach.
And your skin? Does it reach summer prepared or "let's see what happens"?
If you want to reach summer like Montse with your skin prepared, balanced, and protected, the first step is to know exactly what it needs. And that, at the Wellness unit of the Instituto de Benito, is free and without obligation.