The British-born ‘non-surgical facelift’ treatment.

Of all the celebrity facials available in skincare-obsessed Hollywood, the one that actress Michelle Williams relies on to keep her skin red-carpet ready (and one of the first things she requested when she flew into London to promote her new film this week) is the CACI facial, a brilliant British treatment also known as ‘the non-surgical facelift’.

 

Here to publicise the Steven Spielberg-directed coming-of-age epic The Fabelmans, Michelle requested an early-morning CACI treatment ahead of a busy day of press junkets and filming an appearance for The Graham Norton Show. Now a CACI devotee, she was first introduced to the tech-driven treatment by celebrity aesthetician Lena Bratschi, who took CACI from London to her chic day spa in West Hollywood, where she treats celebrity clients including Jodie Comer, Jennifer Anniston and Eva Mendez. 

 

So why such a hit with Michelle? CACI (which stands for Computer Aided Cosmetology Instrument) is a needle-free treatment that makes skin glow and gives tired-looking faces incredible lift by using microcurrent and LED technology to stimulate muscles. It’s painless (a mild tingle is all you’ll feel) and the effects are instant - though the more often you have them, the longer the results will last. It’s also - thanks to the beauty world’s growing obsession with gadget-heavy facials and glowing endorsements from vocal fans such as Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez – about to have a real moment.

 

"Although CACI facials have been around for over 20 years, they’ve just been discovered by a whole new audience, which wants more from its facials than a massage and a face mask," says Good Housekeeping’s Senior Beauty Editor Alexandra Friend. "I can’t remember the last time I had a facial that didn’t involve some kind of tech. They might not be as relaxing as more traditional treatments, but I’d happily trade in the 'drifting off' element for walking out with skin that has a really clean-looking and almost other-worldly gleam."

 

The buzz surrounding facials such as CACI also tap into the growing trend for ‘notox’ beauty treatments. Non-invasive alternatives to dermal fillers and muscle-relaxing injections, these promise to tighten and lift without a needle in sight.

 

Oh, and the best bit? This one won’t break the bank. While some of the most talked-about skin treatments can tip into the thousands for a short course, a CACI Synergy Facial starts at £60 for one hour. "I’ve just tried it, and found that while my skin looked great afterwards, the effect it had on my jaw and cheekbones was incredible," says Alex. "It was as if everything had been hoiked up by a centimetre. I’ll be booking in again as soon as I can."

 

With CACI flying Lena Bratschi into the UK next month to look after the celebrities treading the Red Carpet for the 2023 BAFTA awards, and a new Micro-Touch Facial - in which therapists uses gloves rather than a metal probe to sculpt muscles even more precisely - launching this spring, we predict a very busy year for this home-grown, high-tech brand…