Your Life Matters to Me Moving Beyond Depression
Written by Linda Bertaut, L.E.
The following information is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The opinions expressed by the author are based on personal experience in healing from depression and offering energy healing treatments to clients. The purpose of this article is to help you feel comfortable addressing and talking about depression – a social epidemic and the strongest risk…
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Wellness
Diet and Lifestyle Changes Known to Improve Skin
Written by Rachael Pontillo, L.E., B. Msc., A.A.D.P., C.H.C.
Wellness is a growing trend in the spa industry. While it began with holistic therapies such as body wraps and hydrotherapy, it has now expanded beyond facial and body treatments and into a full health and lifestyle regimen that incorporates nutrition, fitness, meditation, environmental changes, stress management techniques, and more. Most of these methods can benefit anyone, but there are some that are particularly beneficial…
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Nutrition
Mind Matters
Written by Claudia Aguirre, Ph.D.
We are in the midst of one of the biggest movements the wellness industry has ever seen. In the beginning of 2014, TIME magazine published an article titled “The Mindful Revolution,” and 2014 has been dubbed the “year of mindful living.” The word mindfulness has been so pervasive in the media and social networks that you would think the biggest buzzword of the year was…
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Wellness
Detoxifying and cleansing are not new concepts and are often marketed with nutritional diets, juice cleansing, substance rehabilitation, antioxidants, and much more. Cosmetic ingredients can be integrated within anti-aging products with the significance of diminished detoxifying abilities that declines with aging as well as categories to provide balance to the detoxification process from breakdowns that occur from toxic overload. Intervention and continued rehabilitation is available…
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Ingredients
Sunscreens: Recent History and on the Horizon of Protection
Written by Diahne Patnode
As the trend of cross-category sun protection continues, sunscreens are now becoming synonymous with anti-aging.
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Ingredients
Bath Therapies
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Hydrotherapy, derived from the Greek words hydro and therapeia, meaning water and healing, is the application of water, either internally or externally, for the treatment of physical or psychological dysfunction. Bathing in water has been considered healing since the beginning of recorded time and across many cultures, from Hippocrates in the fourth and fifth centuries B.C., who used hot and cold water to treat a…
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Chemistry
Communication is an everyday occurrence in life. We constantly exchange messages, share data, and stay connected via social media and other rapidly evolving electronic means. We must have strong and flexible language skills to get our message across and ensure it is understood. We know many messages are exchanged across the layers of the skin and by using ingredients to increase our communication competency, we…
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Ingredients
Stem Cells: Rising to the Top
Written by
In everyday life our skin has to cope with a lot of wear and tear; it is in the process of constant self-renewal to replace the old with the new. It is the adult skin stem cells that are constantly at work for maintenance, renewal, and repair of the skin. As knowledge of skin stem cell function and biotechnology expands, the skin care industry has…
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Ingredients
A Year in Review: Lessons From 2014
Written by Irena James
This year has been an exciting one for the skin care industry. Trends, such as multifunctionality, age-defying, barrier-repairing, and hydrating, as well as nature-inspired ingredients that dominated skin care launched in 2013, have continued their strong influence into 2014. They solidified their dominance with the arrival of fresh innovations, new research, and more precise evaluation methodologies.
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Ingredients
Earlier this year, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), released its 17th annual multi-specialty statistical data, indicating a 12 percent overall increase in cosmetic procedures performed in the United States in 2013. According to ASAPS, Americans spent the largest amount on cosmetic surgery since the great recession of 2008.1 More than 11 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures were performed by board-certified plastic…
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Ingredients
How Does High Fructose Corn Syrup Affect the Skin?
Written by Rachael Pontillo, L.E., owner of Holistically Haute
Inflammatory conditions such as acne, rosacea, eczema, and psoriasis seem to be more prevalent now than ever. While certain conditions such as acne used to manifest mostly during specific times of life, it, along with some of these other conditions are now seen in all ages starting with children and extending into the post-menopausal years. Despite the many prescription medications, advanced treatments, and ever-developing product…
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Wellness
Common Allergens and Irritants
Written by
One of the most dreaded client complaints is one involving a reaction to product. Potential problems can range from simple rashes to full-blown allergic reactions. Skin reactions to product make clients distrustful of future recommendations, leaving aestheticians helpless and frustrated in their often futile attempts to figure out what is happening and why. To complicate matters, symptoms of a reaction to a cosmetic product cannot…
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Ingredients
When dealing with cancer, risk factors can estimate how high of a risk a person has, but cannot actually predict if someone will develop a certain cancer. Many women and men who have multiple risk factors for breast cancer never develop the disease, and many who develop the disease have no risk factors at all. The following are common risk factors you and your clients…
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Wellness
Common thoughts about breast cancer are sometimes old wives tales or myths. Here we dive into the most commonly heard myths about breast cancer. Inform your clients about the truth in these statistics.Only women can get breast cancer. There are 2,000 new cases of breast cancer in men each year, according to the American Cancer Society. About 450 of those men will die from it.…
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Wellness
Preservatives: Why we need them and why we should not have products without them
Written by Irena James
There is nothing that causes more grief and dismay to a cosmetic chemist or a formulator than being told which specific preservative to use or being asked to create a preservative-free skin care product. As more brands are joining the “does not contain” movement, the claims regarding preservatives have escalated from paraben-free to formaldehyde-donor free, and in some instances, preservative-free… the scariest claim of all.
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Ingredients
The Many Faces of Silicones
Written by Irena James
Over 50 percent of all new cosmetics introduced globally in the last 10 years contain at least one silicone. Slowly, but surely, silicones are becoming one the most valued ingredient categories used in the luxury skin care products. They have become critical in many high-end, high-performance skin care formulations, giving them never-before-seen glide, spreadability, and ultra-smooth application and finish for a luxurious, silky, comfortable-skin feel…
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Ingredients
Ingredient Trends to Watch: Energizers, Water-channels and Retinol Alternatives
Written by Irena James
Skin care ingredient trends have behaved much like fashion trends, with each decade giving rise to particular leanings and inclinations. The 1980s saw an obsession with collagen masks and creams. In the 1990s, we fell in love with glycolic acids, which were then replaced with the organic and natural trend of the 2000s. Over the last decade, an astounding number of ingredients have come in…
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Ingredients
Stem Cell Products in Skin Care: Fact, Fiction, and the Future
Written by George Taylor, M.D.
Human stem cell science is frequently in the news with stories about how these amazing cells hold promise to treat disease, slow aging and even extend life. There are also stories about how stem cells can be useful in skin rejuvenation, adding an aesthetic benefit to their promise of improving health. Unfortunately, unscrupulous operators have exploited the mystique of stem cells by creating skin products…
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Ingredients
Ingredients and their Bad Reputations: Wading Through the Fact and the Hype
Written by Ahmed Abdullah, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.I.C.S
Compared to generations before, today’s consumer takes a far more active interest in understanding the ingredients that comprise the products they buy and the manufacturing practices utilized to create them. Beyond the food industry, nowhere do we see more evidence of this practice than in the personal care industry. Recognizing that cosmetic and skin care ingredient lists can be overwhelming to the average consumer, various…
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Ingredients
The Science of Skin: Skin Care from the Inside Out
Written by Tasha Manigo-Bizzell, L.E.
Skin care companies constantly tout various nutrients as the next great thing for skin. But how do these ingredients really benefit the skin both topically and internally? This article focuses on the micronutrients that directly impact its function. The skin’s role is complex, but in order to fully understand how each micronutrient affects the skin, it is necessary to know the skin’s various functions.
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Nutrition
Surfactants and Emulsifiers
Written by Irena James
Most chemists openly express their concern over how little time is spent studying surfactants in college given their considerable importance in so many industries, especially the skin care industry. According to Perry Romanowski, coauthor of the acclaimed textbook, Beginning Cosmetic Chemistry, “surfactants are the workhorses of the cosmetic industry and all cosmetic chemists would benefit learning the basic principles of surfactant chemistry.” 1 Most often,…
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Ingredients
Wellness Categories
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Professional Program Insurance Brokerage / PPIB...Description: The medical spa industry has been enjoying an explosive growth in both popularity and the number of spas now in operation. This huge growth has led medical spas to now seek insurance for their service needs. Taking into consideration the many services t ...
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