Your First Week, Learning the Technique
Medically reviewed by
4 independent reviewers
Andrew Conrad Barile, PT, DPT
Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) | Licensed Physical Therapist (PT) | CEO and Founder, Xtreem Pulse LLC
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Dr. Andrew Conrad Barile is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and the CEO and Founder of Xtreem Pulse LLC, the engineering company behind PureLift. He earned his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Daemen College and is a licensed physical therapist.
He brings over two decades of clinical and entrepreneurial experience across physical therapy, craniosacral therapy and medical device innovation, built on a working knowledge of human anatomy and muscle physiology.
For PureLift LAB he reviews how current is delivered across all ten levels, from sub-sensory nanocurrent and skin-level microcurrent to motor-level EMS, and how the Infuse pass fits into the same ten-minute routine.
Bertica M. Rubio, M.D.
Board-Certified Physician, Dartmouth Medical School | Medical Director, Antiaging Regenerative Medicine Clinic
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Dr. Bertica M. Rubio is a board-certified physician and Medical Director of the Antiaging Regenerative Medicine Clinic in Redlands, California. She earned her Doctor of Medicine from Dartmouth Medical School and completed her pediatrics residency at UC Irvine Medical Center.
With decades of clinical experience, she specialises in age management medicine, regenerative medicine, wound healing and growth factor therapies, and her practice integrates evidence-based medical science with advanced aesthetic treatment.
For PureLift LAB she reviews articles for medical accuracy across the whole dial, from the gentle nanocurrent and microcurrent settings through to muscle-level EMS and the Infuse pass.
Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS
Board-Certified Otolaryngologist | Head and Neck Surgeon | Fellow, American College of Surgeons | Mount Sinai
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Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS is a board-certified otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon at ENT and Allergy Associates in West Nyack, New York. He earned his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
He completed his otolaryngology residency at New York University Medical Center, serves as Assistant Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and is a Fellow of both the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Otolaryngology.
For PureLift LAB he brings a wider clinical lens, connecting at-home facial stimulation from microcurrent to EMS to the anatomy underneath, with the same rigour we apply to every device specification.
Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann
Chair of Angiology, Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg | Clinic Director, University Clinic for Angiology
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Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann is Chair of Angiology at the Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane and Clinic Director of the University Clinic for Angiology at the Brandenburg University Hospital.
He trained at the University of Hamburg, was a Max Planck Society Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, and held senior consultant posts at the Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin before his appointment as Chair in 2016.
One of Europe's leading authorities on arteriogenesis, with over 150 peer-reviewed publications and US and EU patents, he reviews for PureLift LAB how the evidence on electrical stimulation is read and where its limits lie.
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The first week is about learning to use the device, not about results, and treating it that way makes the next eleven weeks work.
This article covers what actually decides the answer, such as:
- Before day one
- Days one and two, level 1 only
- Days three to five, find your level
- Days six and seven, settle the routine
- What is normal in week one
and many more!
Expect your first few sessions to be clumsier than the later ones, which is normal rather than a sign of anything.
Key Points:
Take the baseline photograph before your first session, because you cannot take it later.
Start at level 1 even if it feels like nothing; the first week is for technique.
Read the contraindications in the instructions for your model before you start at all.
Mild muscle soreness the next day in week one is normal and settles.
Do not start a new serum or a retinoid in the same week.
Before day one
Read the instructions for your model, particularly the contraindications. An implanted electrical device rules a session out entirely, and a history of seizures or pregnancy means asking first.
Charge it fully.
Take the baseline photograph: daylight with the light in front of you rather than above, neutral expression, chin level, no makeup, and note where you stood. A straight-on shot and a three-quarter turn each side. This is the single most common regret three months in.
Have a plain water-based serum ready, one you have used before. Not a new one.
Days one and two, level 1 only
Apply more serum than feels sensible. Levels 1 and 2 on PureLift are nanocurrent and microcurrent and contract nothing, so you are learning the glide rather than working the muscle.
Work one area at a time, from the chin along the jaw toward the ear, then from the corner of the mouth up and outward across the cheek. Never downward along the jawline.
Notice how long your serum lasts before the probe starts feeling sticky. That number is different in every room and every season, and knowing yours is half the technique.
Clean the probe with a damp cloth afterwards and dry it.
Days three to five, find your level
Move to level 3, where the current crosses the motor threshold and the muscle contracts. Watch the mirror; visible contraction is the check that you are actually doing EMS.
Move up one level at a time across these days, and stop where you can hold it comfortably for ten minutes rather than where you can just tolerate it.
Slow down. Most people move the probe about twice as fast as the contraction cycle wants, so no area completes a full contraction before the probe has moved on.
Three minutes per side is the maximum and the session ends itself at ten minutes.
Days six and seven, settle the routine
Pick your slot and attach it to something you already do: after cleansing, with the kettle on, before bed. A habit without a fixed cue stops firing within a fortnight.
Decide your cadence, which is four or five sessions a week for most people and three if your skin runs reactive.
Add the neck pass, drawing down toward the collarbone at the end of every session.
What is normal in week one
A flushed, fresher-looking face for a couple of hours after each session. That is drainage and it fades, and it is not the cumulative work.
Mild muscle soreness the next day, the way unfamiliar exercise feels anywhere else. It settles within a week or two.
Feeling clumsy. Holding a probe at the right angle while keeping skin damp and moving slowly is a small skill and it takes a few sessions.
Nothing visible in the mirror beyond the flush. That is correct for week one.
The five mistakes
Letting the serum dry and turning the dial up instead of reapplying. A dry patch pushes current toward whatever is still damp, so raising the level sends more to the wrong places.
Starting at level 6 because level 2 felt like nothing. Levels 1 and 2 are supposed to feel like almost nothing.
Moving too fast.
Dragging downward along the jaw, which is wrong for the muscle work and wrong for drainage.
Starting a new serum, a retinoid or a new routine in the same week, which makes any reaction impossible to attribute.
What comes next
Weeks two to six are where the immediate effect stops feeling novel and the cumulative work is invisible, which is where most people quit.
Kavanagh and colleagues ran a 12-week protocol and measured an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness (10.1111/jocd.12007), so twelve weeks is the horizon.
For the month-long expectation, see the first 30 days, and for the full technique, how to use a PureLift device.
Two related questions come up often alongside this one, and we have answered both in full: where to move the probe, and the procedure in full.