Technology and skin health have seemingly collided with the growing sector of skin care apps. Can an app really tell you and your clients how healthy their skin is or how effective your treatments and products are at combating concerns? Can this be the tool that finally gets your clients not only compliant but consistent with their homecare?

A quick search for apps returns with more than 50 available skin care downloads. The claims range from the standard of helping change habits, creating custom skin care routines, tracking progress with artificial intelligence, analyzing skin, scanning products for hazardous ingredients, linking to a home device, and integrating with cosmetic manufacturers to the more niche of tele-connecting with a licensed practitioner, self-checking moles, finding comparable product on a budget, receiving alerts for the ultraviolet light index, and even facial exercise programs all from the comfort of our smartphone.

These interfaces are obviously more consumer-driven and vow to give the user more empowerment and education with their skin. But can these claims be too good to be true? With clients spending more time than ever on their devices, this may be the point to shift our focus onto helping them appropriately use and integrate apps into their routines.

Elizabeth Brasher has been a licensed aesthetician since 2011 and has been practicing with a strive for advanced skin care education ever since. Brasher is an aesthetician at Premier Med Spa in Richardson, Texas. She continues to devote herself to helping her colleagues by offering expert training, heading online aesthetics forums, and writing contributions to industry magazines. At the beginning of 2020, Brasher became DERMASCOPE Magazine’s lead in-house aesthetician.

Business success is all about the numbers. If you do not have systems, processes, procedures in place, and a way to track your business analytics, you are setting yourself up for failure. Key performance indicators are specific things you will want to track. They are a roadmap to your medical spa or health care practice’s success. Identifying, tracking, and assessing your key performance indicators allows you to make better business decisions based on performance, not intuition. However, like any roadmap, if you do not follow it, it does not help you reach your destination. In other words, tracking the numbers is not enough. The information they provide must be acted on in order to be successful.

Internationally recognized aesthetic business development expert Cheryl Whitman is the founder and CEO of Beautiful Forever Consulting. She is a sought-after speaker and industry marketing specialist. With her seasoned team of professionals at Beautiful Forever, Whitman assists physicians and medical spas in creating new profit centers, developing profitable private label product lines, ghost writing articles and eBooks, and identifying and executing new business strategies aimed at improving their bottom line. A celebrated author, Whitman’s “Aesthetic Medical Success System,” a turnkey educational system, has assisted clients in opening or jumpstarting their current businesses. Her second book, “Beautifully Profitable, Forever Profitable,” provides solid, practical information on how to create, launch, and grow successful aesthetic medical practices and related businesses.

What kind of facialist are you? As I sit here quietly typing away in the early morning, coffee in hand, I realize that there are skin care specialists that perform like sunrises and those that perform like Starbucks. This sounds like an insult, but it’s not. One can walk into any Starbucks across the country and order a venti almond milk latte and get this exact drink made the exact same way as any other Starbucks location. There is beauty in this consistency. It is perfectly on brand, perfectly curated to positively reflect the product and not the service provider. Several high-end skin care lines that implement this well-oiled machine come to mind, and they have spas that are wildly successful.

However, the further along I get into my career, the more I find myself following a different path. The closest analogy I can come up with is a sunrise. It brings light into the world and fills the sky with lovely pastel hues. However, each sunrise is slightly different. No two will ever be the same even once throughout a lifetime. There is a simple and subtle allure to this type of facialist. They follow pathways, not protocols, customizing each treatment every time.

Kristen N.M. Johnson is an award-winning registered nurse, licensed aesthetician, and co-owner of The Eclipse Spa in Westminster, Maryland. With over 10 years of experience in the luxury spa industry, Johnson is passionate about creating an incredibly unique and indulgent experience for each client. She specializes in the development, education, and implementation of innovative treatment protocols. She holds advanced training and certifications in holistic and integrative health, microneedling, clinical skin care and treatments, nutrition, facial cupping, gua sha, hot stone therapy, advanced chemical peels, cosmetic injectables, facial reflexology, and is an usui reiki master and teacher.

Since the pandemic began, we at Regenix have seen a significant increase in the number of people all over the world speaking about their hair challenges after contracting COVID-19.

While the vaccines don’t cause any issue with hair, a common side effect of a COVID-19 infection is a noticeable increase in shedding. It didn’t matter if a client was asymptomatic or if their COVID-19 experience was severe. Increased hair fall was almost always a side effect, and it didn’t discriminate based on gender, age, and race. For those who didn’t experience any COVID-19 symptoms, the effect on their hair often came on quicker but didn’t last as long. For clients who saw mild to severe COVID-19 symptoms, the negative effect on their hair took more time to happen – up to three months – and tended to be longer lasting and more extreme, with effects lasting up to six months.

The treatment of cellulite is trending with the global cellulite management market sitting at $1.3 billion. As a result, there are many choices when it comes to reducing the appearance of dimples and lumps on skin of the body.¹ While it is a normal occurrence, and about 80% to 90% of all women encounter it, the desire for flawless skin causes many women to seek the ultimate solution to smooth and tightened skin around their thighs, butt, stomach, hips, and more.¹

As a millennial, I have repeatedly experienced “technology of the future” with the eruption of social media and smart phones happening fairly early in my life. I was there for the rise and fall of Myspace, when iPhone became king, and when beauty tutorials were not a click away but a trial-and-error process that resulted in many unflattering, low-resolution photos.

Today, clients and prospective clients have never been more interested in investing in their well-being, and as a result their appearances, because of the accessibility of education thanks to technology. By taking this concept a step further and moving it inside the treatment room, beauty professionals essentially have their careers on a string.

The first article that delves into this concept is “Upper Hand,” an article

by Sarah Jane McGrath. The pandemic bought on many new ways of life, including the growing popularity of skin care and many hand-held gadgets that can help clients’ skin goals along. While the right at-home device can work wonders, clients may be tempted to waste their time on the latest toy taking over TikTok or Target, so it is important to have the right recommendations ready.

The next article tackles the many specialty equipment possibilities available to spas. Because devices such as full-body LED beds, flotation tanks, and infusion devices require a robust investment, it is in a spa’s best interest to do as much research as possible when considering bringing on specialty services. Get started on this process with the article “Side of Beauty” written by Courtney Sykes.

The closing article for this issue’s theme dives into the topic of low-laser light therapy. Low-laser light therapy devices are also called cold lasers because the power densities produced are low compared to other lasers, such as ablation or surgical. Learn more about these devices that have been used for decades to treat a wide variety of health and skin conditions in Elina Fedotova’s article, “True Color.”

It is getting abundantly clear that technology picks up where the touch of a licensed professional leaves off. Smartphones, televisions, and speakers are well integrated into the lives of many, so why would treatment rooms be any different? And while many amazing client results have been and will continue to be the result of a skilled practitioner’s magic hands, perhaps it is time take advantage of the equipment of the future.

Professionals rely heavily on their body when working at a spa and treating clients. By ensuring their treatment rooms are set up for comfort, flow, and their body mechanics, professionals can prevent aches in the back, hands, and wrists with a few tips and tricks. (Must be logged in and hold an active AIA membership to view video below)

It can be frustrating to stay positive when dealing with negative client experiences. Professionals can apply steps to rise above the negativity on social media and other situations and show clients that they do not give in to conflict but engage appropriately and find fair solutions. (Must be logged in and hold an active AIA membership to view video below)

 LED Secrets Exposed: How to Get the Most Out of Light Therapy

Scroll down for on-demand video. 

Tune into this webinar to learn the science and myths of light parameters, the applications and benefits of working with Celluma, the benefits beyond the treatment room, integrating LED into any aesthetic practice, and the Celluma Difference

MEET THE PRESENTER: Patrick Johnson

Patrick Johnson is the CEO and President of BioPhotas Inc. and the inventor of the award-winning Celluma SERIES of light therapy devices. With an extensive background in the medical device industry, Johnson saw the potential for bringing the significant therapeutic benefits of low-level light therapy affordably to the masses, leading to the founding of BioPhotas. He now speaks internationally and writes extensively on the science and benefits of low-level light therapy.

Professional Beauty Federation Partners with GVC Health Tech to Offer Virtual Healthcare Membership Services to Spa and Beauty Professionals

May 2, 2022 — Sacramento, CA — The Professional Beauty Federation (PBF) is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with GVC Health Tech and it’s disruptive App product, Give Virtual Care, to offer for the first time to spa and beauty professionals a turn-key affordable virtual healthcare membership solution that includes unlimited, on-demand, virtual urgent and general care medical appointments through industry leader Teladoc.

Give Virtual Care is a bundled Virtual Healthcare Membership, not insurance. The membership provides immediate or scheduled telehealth visits for general med diagnosis, discounts on prescriptions, expert second medical opinions, tele-mental health and immediate Crisis Care as a completely bundled service for one low monthly cost. The affordable non-insurance solution offers 24/7 care for non-emergency conditions like cold and flu, sinus infections, sore throat, allergies, dermatology, sexual health, pediatrics and more. The Give Virtual Care App is available for all mobile devices and iPads. The Cares Act allows for HSA funds to be used for telehealth.

Eric Taylor, Founder/CEO of Salon Republic and Board Chairman of PBF states, “It has always been the goal of the Professional Beauty Federation to continue to roll out new services and offerings to benefit beauty professionals in everything we do. We’ve had tremendous success helping the beauty and barbering industry with PPP, PPR, lowest-fee merchant credit card services, competitive low interest micro-loans and now affordable virtual healthcare membership services. The GVC mobile platform is also a powerful tool for full-service salons, spas and barbershops to attract and retain employees, booth renters and commission independent beauty professionals as a competitive workplace benefit.”

Crisis care services allow the beauty community to connect with a trained mental health professional when they need it the most. Counseling professionals are on- demand to assist with anxiety, depression, crisis personal issues or suicide prevention for the member and their family. The low-cost membership also includes the ability to request a second medical opinion for the most challenging of issues at no additional cost. Beauty professionals can have a leading specialist evaluate an existing condition or give someone guidance on their medical concerns.

“We could not be prouder to partner with the Professional Beauty Federation. Having a mission to assist those that truly work so hard every single day is in our DNA,” said Founder & CEO of Give Virtual Care Tim Ummel. “GVC is excited to work alongside the PBF team to truly change lives. Now there is a very real Virtual Healthcare solution for all stylists, barbers and beauty professionals and even more importantly, their respective families.”

Membership is made to protect up to 17 members within the member’s household with the same benefits, all at no additional cost. A typical family of four can save roughly $1,280 a year if they are insured and over $4,200 if they are not. There is an additional benefit that elderly parents or non-dependents that fall under a caregiver situation can use the family Teledoc account with a small consultation fee.

For more information go to https://www.givevirtualcare.com/group/professional-beauty-federation


About Professional Beauty Federation
The PBF is a nonprofit trade association that was formed in 1999 to give voice to the over 600,000-licensed barbering/beauty professionals in California and to raise the professionalism of the beauty and barbering industry. While the PBF mission has never changed, their scope of representation has expanded in recent years to include the whole country, as they blazed the reopening trail for all Personal Care professionals through two successive federal lawsuits and a coordinated #OpenSalonsNow grassroots campaign that directly confronted unjustifiably prolonged Covid restrictions. The PBF has helped over 10,000 beauty professionals receive over $25 million in Covid PPP relief. For more information, please visit www.beautyfederation.org






310-739-8485  https://www.givevirtualcare.com/group/professional-beauty-federation