I was about ten days shy of my 40th birthday when I had my first facial. This was about a week ago, at the Four Seasons Spa. I felt like I needed to admit my inexperience and my age right away when Christine Domenden, the spa’s lead esthetician, came to get me after my pre-treatment warm-up in the steam room and cedar sauna.

I’m not concerned with denouncing the years I’ve spent on this planet but when the downtown spa told me they wanted me to check out their Ultra Age Defying Facial it occurred to me that it is indeed about time to get on with some preventative measures.

I knew going into the treatment room that the Ultra was not about relaxation and pampering. We were there to get some work done.

Step one was a light exfoliation cleanse, the most hands-on, let-me-just-lie-here-while-you-take-care-of-things aspect of the treatment. Domenden says this process (which doesn’t differ greatly than what you do in the shower with a product like Kate Sommerville’s Exfolikate) helps prepare the skin for resurfacing, extractions, ultrasound. If those things sound intense, consider the manual lead-in a mental preparation, too. Domenden was warm and professional, and super informative. She let me know what she was seeing without making me feel like a 40 year-old getting her first facial. If you know what I mean, and certain among you will.

From there, the remaining components center on the Ultra Machine, also known as CACI or Computer Aided Cosmetology Instrument. First, ultrasonic resurfacing feels a little bit like a light, airy shave with a gentle electric razor. It’s actually a deeper exfoliation process that uses sound vibration to get rid of dead cells and dirt. Domenden says the results are similar to microdermabrasion’s, but there is no abrasiveness. Because of the sound vibration, changes happen “topically and deep within the skin,” with positive affects on “collagen and elastin, nutrient absorption, oxygenation, and cellular metabolism and renewal.”

Next up: a delivery of microcurrents that teach muscles to firm and lift—like pilates for the face. The technology used is based on treatments developed for stroke victims who experience falling of their facial muscles. From my point of view, stretched out on a warm and comfortable table, it seemed like a choreographed dance with two wands gently pushing, pulling, and shaping. Domenden says estheticians have been borrowing the technology from the medical world since 1992—you might have heard it described as a non-surgical face lift. There’s obviously a lot to understand about how this kind of thing accomplishes a facial workout, but in short, in the Four Season’s lead’s words, “the two wands are working in the origin, insertion, and belly of each muscle. They work together to help either shorten or lengthen the muscle, and to re-educate and remind the muscle to ‘lift’ as opposed to whatever our habits or tendencies have [taught] our muscles to do.”

It was then time to address the fine lines that tell stories about my smiling and frowning habits. Domenden searches out the most visible offenders and gently zaps them with a LED and microcurrent … well, let’s just call it a gun. It definitely didn’t hurt, at all, but the word ‘zap’ did come to mind. Even Domenden uses the ‘z’ word: “this essentially zaps the deepest part of the wrinkle to help stimulate collagen and elastin production in the area, which will in turn plump that area,” she says.

The Ultra facial ends with an ultrasound infusion; estheticians customize serum for your skin and use sound vibration to penetrate cells and get ingredients in deep. This delivery system is said to be 4,000 times more effective than a manual application, which makes me feel a little like ‘oh why bother’ before I climb into bed each night. But only a little.

Overall, the experience was a great reminder that there’s stuff going on in and on my face that I need to pay attention to. Obviously, science has been paying attention to it—and women all over Seattle are, too. The Four Season’s Ultra Age-Defying Facial goes for about $300 a pop (buying packages of multiples helps the bottom line). A lot has been invested on both sides.

Domenden says the best way to see long-term results is to get the treatment once a week (I’m amazed that people do this; if you’re doing it, call me, let’s have lunch), or to go through a series of intensive treatments and then stagger your visits after that. But if you’re about to say, get married or go away for a special vacation or … I don’t know, get on a paparazzi-lined red carpet (again, if that’s you: call me, we’ll have lunch), singular treatments are reported to have immediate short-term results. Domenden says the improvements are visible on the day of the facial and for three to five days later.

Over the weekend that followed I polled all my girlfriends to gauge their facial experience and decided that my newness wasn’t altogether abnormal. Although there’s a certain woman who starts early—say, 28 or so—most of us start thinking about wrinkles and extractions around the time that such things threaten to become in-your-face problems. In talking with friends about all this, we addressed ideas about visible aging, too. Does any treatment actually defy age? I think that’s probably a strong word. And I don’t think that modern women are interested in holding back the proverbial hands of time. I think we’re interested in working with them, not against them, though. And when the partnership includes steaming and sauna-ing in a highrise on the edge of Elliott Bay? Yeah, I think we’re pretty into that.