I’ve Just Seen a Face

Steven Miller Skin Care is located in an unassuming office building next to the Roxy on the Sunset Strip. Miller himself sits at the front desk dressed in sweat pants, assessing a client’s post-facial product needs. This isn’t exactly the Golden Door, but the lack of salon-style frills hasn’t deterred stars Winona Ryder, Julianna Margulies and Sigourney Weaver from frequenting Miller’s treatment room. In fact, his no-nonsense, hands-on techniques have brought some of Hollywood’s most overexposed faces to his door.

The 39-year-old Miller describes his approach to skin care as clinical rather than classical, meaning his facials aren’t just pampering sessions. “Gone are the days of clients having nothing better to do than languish all day on the facial table,” says Miller. “I have an hour and 15 minutes to get results, and then I have to send people off to work or lunch or a meeting.”

Miller performs every facial himself to guarantee quality. His non-invasive process consists of a deep pore cleansing--using strips of cotton rather than metal extracting tools--followed by a small amount of galvanic current applied through a soft mask to regenerate cell growth and disinfect.

Miller’s treatments, which run $100 and up, omit some traditional staples of spas. “I do not massage the face. I don’t believe in it. There’s more than enough circulation in most people’s complexions.” He also avoids acid peels. “Most of my clients come in every week and I just maintain their skin,” he says. His intimate relationship with said skin is his notion of true pampering. “I see myself as positioned between the cosmetic counter and the dermatologist,” Miller says. “But no one is going to take the amount of time with your skin that I do.”