A thorough skin analysis and consultation sets the tone for the client relationship and is the key to your success. In order to provide your client with the most appropriate treatment, there are five essential forms that I feel are necessary to create client files. Using these forms will help build your relationship with the patients, establish clear communication, and gather necessary information to develop effective in-clinic and daily skin care regimens that ensure optimal client results. Read More

As skin therapists, face mapping is our bread and butter. While most clients turn to us to help them offset the evidence of aging, skin in fact records and reveals much more than the mere passage of time. Our skin reflects every facet of the client’s health, habits and lifestyle. In order to accurately perceive and interpret the myriad of messages delivered via this most dynamic asset, it is helpful to visualize the face as a series of zones as well as a collective whole. Imagine the face divided into zones via invisible dotted lines. This will allow you to map and examine every millimeter of the landscape, while also serving as an invaluable resource to you and your client. In fact, for optimum accuracy, create a literal numbered “map” of the client’s face and note the condition or anomalies found in each zone on your dated record. Read More

One of the most important steps in your practice is to take the time to perform a thorough skin analysis with a client (whether old or new). A brief look at their face does not provide enough information to sanction a more insightful, comprehensive profile to establish a more accurate pathway for long-term skin correction. Old paradigms no longer work. Statements such as normal-dry, combination, and sensitive are understatements when establishing the leading causes of these conditions and their effects on cells and systems. Furthermore, treatment and product choice is based on this analysis service. Your goal is to bring your client's skin health into a more balanced state. Read More

The appearance industry speaks to all age groups. Trendy fashions, makeup, and beautifully packaged skin potions splash their message across page after page of magazines and tabloids. Sound bites of beautiful airbrushed youthful images with convincing close ups pan across our media screen. Millions of dollars are spent to promote youth in a bottle or the latest breakthrough of anti-aging, or a remedy for acne. A total of over $7 billion are spent each year on cosmetics in North America.1 According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, almost 9.5 million dollars was spent in 2010 for surgical and non-surgical procedures including fillers. Read More

All your life, your skin has been making a first impression for you. It can reveal whether you are hot or cold, tired or rested, sick or healthy. Your skin provides protection from potentially lethal bacteria and viruses, and shields you from the sun's ultraviolet rays. To some extent, your genes determine how well your skin stands the test of time. As the population ages, more and more people approaching middle-age will be diagnosed with skin disorders, some that will be life-threatening. Read More

Create an at Home Skin Program for Your Clients to Build a Robust Business Enormous changes have rocked the worlds of the skin care center, salon and spa since 2008. While we take hope in the news that the economy may be sparking back into life, it is fair to say that professional service bookings are still not what they were. As skin care professionals, we need to view this not as defeat, but as a call to action to step up our game! Read More

Old is a relative term with a definition open to interpretation. People view the meaning of “old” differently, and it is usually used as a generalization. To children, the term typically falls under a different spectrum in their mindset. To a child, old typically defines anything that is older than them, meaning essentially everything. However, once childhood recedes to youth, and youth recedes to young adulthood, the concept of “old” begins to take on a new definition. Eventually the idea of “old” becomes inevitability… becoming old is the process of time, and because time is a natural progression of what currently is, there will always be older generations. Read More

Carefully crafted client relationships build businesses. Studies show that younger consumers increasingly cite excellent customer service and personal identification with a business as primary reasons for selecting one business over another. Clients want to know that a business cares about them, not just as consumers of products and services, but as people. Forgetting that yours is a personal business focused on individual needs is one way we get off track. Instead, you must understand your patients, let them know that you hear them, and show that you value them on a personal level. Read More

Communication is essential in all aspects of life, whether interaction is achieved through words, writing, or actions. Without effective communication there can be no mutual understanding between individuals, exchange of information, nor expression of true feelings thoughts or ideas. It is so often taken for granted that when we speak to others what we say is actually perceived in the manner in which we meant for it to be interpreted. Too often we speak without forethought or consideration and our message is misconstrued by the recipient resulting in confusion or insult. Communication goes beyond the spoken word. Read More