SPF, Heat and Pigmentation: A Malta Beautician’s Guide to Skin in the Sun

Zsuzsanna Lovasz-Nagy is Hungarian, arrived in Malta at twenty with no English and a job in hotel housekeeping, and now, together with Mikki runs the beauty side of Alpha Hair & Beauty in Birkirkara — fourteen years in the industry, ten of them at one spa, where she went from the reception desk to managing the place and then qualified as a beautician herself.

With Locals Insider she shares what heat, humidity and air conditioning actually do to your face here, the treatment everyone arrives frightened of, and her own Malta at the end: a winter hike, a 5,000-year-old temple and three places to eat.

Do You Need a Facial in Summer? Yes — Especially Then

The thing I hear most often, usually around June, is that there’s no point having a facial in summer.

I understand why. It’s hot, you’re sweating, you’re in and out of the sea, and the last thing you want is something else on your face. But summer is exactly when it matters. Our sun is strong enough to cause pigmentation and premature aging, and the months when your skin is taking the most punishment are not the months to leave it alone.

What people miss is that skin here has two seasons, and they do opposite things. In summer it’s humidity and temperatures above 40°C, and the heat pushes the skin to produce more oil. In winter it’s wind outside and air conditioning inside, and the skin ends up dry and dehydrated instead. Almost everyone only plans for the first one.

What Heat and Humidity Do to Your Skin: Two Seasons, Two Problems

Living and working here shows you what the island does to skin, and it changes by age.

Younger clients come in with breakouts and acne. The heat makes the skin produce more oil, and everything that follows from that — congestion, inflammation, the marks left behind afterwards. It frustrates them, because they’re doing everything they’ve read about and the weather is working against them.

Later in life it’s pigmentation and sun damage. Not from lying on a beach necessarily. From all of it — walking to the car, sitting outside for lunch, the ten minutes here and there that nobody counts. Sun exposure, heat, humidity, air conditioning and our love of being outdoors all add up to dehydration, pigmentation, sensitivity and the early signs of aging.

“It isn’t the beach days that do it. It’s the ten minutes nobody counts.”

Choosing a Facial in Malta: Why I Don’t Give Everyone the Same One

Every skin is different, and the same person’s skin changes through the year. The face in front of me in July is not the face I saw in January.

So I don’t believe in one facial for everyone. I customize every treatment to what the skin needs on the day, and I use different techniques and technologies depending on the concern — dehydration, pigmentation, congestion, acne, sensitivity, signs of aging. That’s not a sales position. It’s just what the work requires if you’re paying attention.

It’s also why I work with two skincare brands rather than one. I wanted products that feel light and comfortable in a Maltese summer, and products that can nourish and protect through the colder, drier months, and no single range does both well. Two brands means I can move with the season, and more importantly with the individual.

I’ve personally tried and tested everything I use.

“I don’t want to sell a brand. I need to believe in what I put on someone’s face.”

Deep Cleansing Facials: The Treatment Everyone Is Frightened Of

Deep cleansing is the one people arrive nervous about.

Nearly always it’s because of an experience somewhere years ago that hurt, and they never went back. They tell me before we start, sometimes apologetically, as though being frightened of it is unreasonable. It isn’t. Somebody hurt them.

A good treatment should be personalized to your skin and your tolerance, and you should be comfortable the whole way through. It does not have to be aggressive to work. When someone who has avoided it for years sits up afterwards and realizes it was fine — that’s the part of this job I enjoy most.

The other misconception is that a facial is something you do when your skin already looks bad. In reality it works like the dentist, or like keeping your hair in condition: regularly, as maintenance, supported by what you do at home. Rescue work is always harder than upkeep.

What Makes a Good Facial: My Superpower Is a Massage

If clients come back for one thing, it isn’t a machine.

It’s the neck, shoulder and face massage I do inside the facial. I’ve had people tell me they have never had a massage like it, and I’m not going to pretend that isn’t the compliment I like most.

For me a facial should not only treat the skin. It should change how you feel walking out. I want people to leave relaxed, cared for, refreshed — and ideally feeling they got a little more than they came in expecting.

“A facial shouldn’t only treat the skin. It’s how you feel when you walk out.”

A Skincare Routine for Hot Weather: Ninety Seconds in the Morning

If you want to look fresh quickly, start simple.

Cleanse with lukewarm water, not very hot, and finish with cooler water if that’s comfortable. Moisturize. Then SPF, every day, without negotiating with yourself about the weather. Sun protection is the single simplest thing you can do to prevent sun damage and premature aging, and in this country it is not optional.

If you have two minutes more, massage your face, neck and shoulders while you’re applying everything. It feels wonderful, it wakes you up, and you leave the house already feeling looked after.

“Beautiful skin isn’t one miracle treatment. It’s consistency.”

How I Got Here

I came to Malta at twenty. I’d just applied to university in Hungary when my boyfriend — he was twenty-three, he’s my husband now — and I decided to take a chance and move. Neither of us knew what would happen.

I couldn’t speak English. My first job was housekeeping at the InterContinental, which was physically very hard; I came home destroyed after every shift. For months I practiced by reading children’s books out loud to my husband, whose English was already excellent. It wasn’t the easiest start to island life.

Four months later I moved into catering, and worked my way toward better jobs as my confidence grew. My last one in hospitality was at Zen Sushi in Portomaso. I liked it there, but I kept wondering about doing something completely different.

Then a spa job appeared at the right moment. I started as a receptionist and within a year I was managing the place. That’s when I fell in love with this industry — from the inside, not from wanting to be in it. I qualified in spa management, then trained as a beautician, and stayed ten years, learning the whole time.

In May 2024 Mihail (Mikki) offered me the chance to build something together, and Alpha opened. Ten years as a spa manager and therapist gave me the foundation, but owning a business has taught me far more — about the work, and about myself. I’m still learning daily.

“For me beauty has never been about looking good. It’s about taking a little time for yourself.”

For anyone coming for the first time: don’t stay in the tourist areas. Walk around the old villages, find the coastline, eat the local food, let yourself get a bit lost. That’s when the island starts to make sense.

Book a Facial in Birkirkara

Zsuzsanna treats skin at Alpha Hair & Beauty, a few minutes from the middle of Birkirkara — every facial built around what your skin is doing that week rather than a fixed menu. Call or message to book, and tell her what your skin has been like this season; that’s where the consultation starts anyway.

Alpha Hair & Beauty · 12 Triq il-Karmnu, Birkirkara · +356 7794 3206 · alphahairandbeautymalta@gmail.com · @alpha_hairandbeauty