Skin care is at over $100 billion in market opportunity, and there have been a few trends at the forefront of the industry’s momentum – the topic of sustainability and the notion of natural or clean, meaning better for people and the planet. Consumers have come to believe that natural ingredients don’t pollute the environment and have the added benefit of being less harmful or harsh to their skin and bodies. What is indisputable is that all industries are responsible for the impact they bear on the environment and the planet, and the beauty industry is not unique. 

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

According to the latest reports from Zero Waste Week, beauty packaging amounts to 120 billion units every year. That includes plastic, paper, glass, and metals, all of which end up in landfills year after year. Aside from packaging, there aremany botanical ingredients with incredible skin benefits whose high demand by brands and manufacturers has caused a strain on the supply. One example is bakuchiol, which comes from the Psoralea corylifolia plant originating in India. A2018 study showed it to be similarly efficacious to retinol for aging concerns and therefore, a safer alternative to retinol. 

Karen Raghavan currently leads brand development, marketing, and public relations at Purissima, a leading, multi-patented health and wellness biotechnology company. She started her career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong and New York before pivoting to the beauty and wellness industry. Raghavan brings decades of beauty sales, marketing, and international experience from her work in senior leadership roles at major brands, such as Biossance, Benefit Cosmetics, and Estée Lauder. Raghavan has a bachelor’s from Dartmouth College and master’s from Stanford University in East Asian Studies as a recipient of its Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) Fellowship. 

When you work in the service industry, which applies to any job that requires interaction with clients or consumers, you must know how to communicate appropriately. In the beauty industry, you want your clients to understand how to care for themselves. Proper aftercare can ensure you can do your job more effectively. Here are some ways to convey this message to your clients, so they will be more receptive to information and more likely to take your advice.

BREAK IT DOWN
Communicate with your clients in a way that makes it easy for them to understand and follow instructions. Tailor each message to the particular service they are receiving. For example, if your client’s preferred method of hair removal is waxing, you will want to explain the correct protocol for that type of hair removal.
After you wax and cleanse your client’s skin, you can discuss the benefits of each step they can take in their post-wax care, like moisturizing daily. Follow up with your client about what they should avoid, such as going to a sauna and being in the sun, and then explain why.
If you tell your client to avoid the sun without telling them how sensitive their skin is post-wax and how easily it can irritate them, they might not be as likely to listen.1 Ensure you break down the information so your clients understand why they shouldn’t perform specific actions after hair removal.

Mia Barnes is a health and wellness freelance writer with over three years’ experience covering beauty and skin care related topics. Barnes is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Body+Mind Magazine, an online wellness publication.

Chemical peels are versatile, simple, and effective ways to improve skin and help clients succeed on their journey to healthy and more youthful-looking skin. Chemical peels were ranked among the top five minimally invasive cosmetic procedures in 2019 by The American Society of Plastic Surgeons. This procedure is excellent for improving tone, texture, hyperpigmentation, acne, wrinkles, laxity, and acne scarring. There are many devices and treatments that promise to soften and smooth skin and address acneic, hyperpigmented, and aging skin, but chemical peels can treat all these issues and are often more affordable for clients.

Sometimes the words chemical and peel can conjure trepidation; however, there is no need to fear this treatment. There are several ways to become confident in chemical peel application and process.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION

Find out what the client’s skin concerns and goals are. They may want to improve conditions of acne, sun damage, hyperpigmentation, aging, sagging, wrinkles, and firmness, or a combination of these concerns. Discuss options and ensure the client commits to proper homecare in addition to receiving chemical peels, as the two go hand in hand. Have the client complete a client history form that includes all mediations, health concerns, diseases, allergies, and surgeries to see if there are any contraindications before administering chemical peels.

Preparing skin for a chemical peel is ideal and can help achieve better, more predictable results. Homecare products containing anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties like shea butter, vitamin E, and plant sterols like aloe vera are good choices. Before the first chemical peel, have clients read and sign a consent form and a periprocedural care form.

MaryJo Reeves is a beauty industry leader, licensed aesthetician, writer, and speaker with over 18 years of experience in the medical aesthetic field. Reeves has a Bachelor of Science degree from Northern Arizona University and shares her passion for clinical education and business development with fellow aestheticians, physicians, and skin health providers nationwide. She is a contributing author at Professional Skin Care Training. Reeves lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband and their Shih Tzu, Francesca.

Chemical peels have been around since the ancient Egyptians applied sour milk (lactic acid) to their skin to enhance their appearance. With a long list of benefits, such as exfoliation, acne reduction, improved skin texture, and the reduction of hyperpigmentation and fine lines, chemical peels have become an increasingly popular treatment of choice because they offer a solution for a variety of clientele. Chemical peels are especially helpful for skin care professionals who are not able to perform microneedling or laser services but still want to focus on corrective skin treatments. With varying strengths to treat a range of clients, chemical peels allow you to make impactful changes in skin’s appearance. Because not all clients should be treated with the same level of peel, you will need to take note of any sensitivities that occur pre-treatment, and this will allow you to customize the service to the client’s desired results and lifestyle requirements.

ACIDS & BENEFITS

Multi-acid peels are an especially popular choice because they take several different acids with varying benefits and combine them into one formulation, targeting multiple concerns with one solution. An example of a highly popular multi-acid peel is the modified Jessner’s. Made up of lactic, salicylic, and citric acid (and sometimes trichloroacetic and other alpha hydroxy acids), this medium- to deep-depth peel can help reduce the appearance of scarring, hyperpigmentation, and wrinkles. This is an excellent choice for someone seeking to reduce acne scars and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation or someone wanting to combat the signs of aging.

Alex Hernandez has held several roles over the years with Face Reality Skincare and now serves as the lead educator for the brand. In her role, she oversees professional educational training material, protocols, and classes on a national level. She has been in the skin care industry for the last decade and has been a Certified Acne Expert since 2018. Hernandez has worked with hundreds of acne clients throughout her aesthetics career and is a daily witness to the impeccable results that can be achieved when clients partner with a licensed aesthetician.

Perhaps you’ve heard of or even received the heralded “Hollywood Facial,” also marketed as the “Porcelain Doll Facial.” Regardless of its title, these treatments are all cut from the same cloth: the carbon peel facial. Delicate enough for all skin types, this nonablative treatment promises a porcelain-smooth complexion while boasting a host of other antiaging benefits. Touting a low-pain factor, minimal downtime, and a cost-effective price margin, the carbon facial has become a staple procedure in the aesthetics industry.

CARBON PEEL FACIAL

Improving the look of enlarged and clogged pores, addressing pigmentation issues due to acne scarring and melasma, and reducing the prominence of fine lines and wrinkles are among its list of achievements. The carbon peel facial exfoliates skin deeply, stimulates collagen remodeling, targets photoaging, and leaves skin looking firmer and feeling more hydrated. Not reserved for the face alone, this treatment can improve the neck and chest area, as well as the back of the hands. Ideal candidates for this treatment include those with sensitive skin types that are prone to bouts of acne, rosacea, and eczema.

The main difference between the carbon facial and traditional chemical peels lies in how these results are achieved. Using a significantly gentler approach than a traditional chemical peel, the carbon facial rejuvenates skin by harnessing the power of controlled heat delivery by way of a laser. This approach draws out impurities, causing a peeling effect without damaging the outer layers of skin, as opposed to a chemical reaction which employs a fine acid composite to cause rapid skin proliferation. Results are visible immediately, all while remaining noninvasive, pain-free, and with minimal recovery time.

With over a decade of experience in aesthetics, Suzanne Whigham has immersed herself in exploring the most challenging aspects of skin care and conditions. As a regular contributor to DERMASCOPE magazine, she has a passion for writing and passes that knowledge on to her clients at her clinic, Epiderme Aesthetics, where she encourages a whole-body approach to skin health and wellness.

Inspired by mother nature’s natural regenerative power, S²RM technology is a scientific breakthrough in skin and hair care. Designed to help improve the quality of life for people suffering from a myriad of skin concerns and conditions, this technology is safe, healthy, and contains no genetic material. From severe trauma such as burns, oncology treatments, and wounds to chronic and aesthetic concerns, stem cell-released molecules provide a natural approach to an effective, professional skin care regimen. 

The oncology community has played a significant role in the development of this breakthrough technology, due to the intensity of damage done to skin’s barrier and deeper cutaneous and subcutaneous layers. Formulated on robust, evidence-based science, these products were developed to provide an oncology-safe, natural approach to preventing and healing the painful burning, scarring, and long-term side effects of treatments like chemotherapy and radiation.  

With an estimated 1.6 million people diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States, this skin-identical technology is not only disrupting the medical standard for oncology aftercare but also the skin and hair care industry as a whole.2 

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With various light therapy devices flooding online shopping channels and the plethora of misinformation available on the internet, it is time to define what LED light therapy really is, specifically near-infrared light therapy (NIR) and its therapeutic effects on the body.  

Many professionals can think back to a time before they accumulated their perspective knowledge surrounding skin, enough to remember a time when they were taught that exfoliation is the key to good skin. It seemed to be the answer for anything plaguing skin, whether acne, pigmentation, or combating aging skin. Unfortunately, this concept became not only abused within the professional realm, but it also made its way into the well-intentioned but often ill-informed hands of consumers. A scroll on Amazon or a walk through Sephora now has the average person assaulted by alpha hydroxy acids and has tools previously exclusive to the professional within grasp for the average person to use and abuse at home. From handheld microdermabrasion to acids in every step of their regimen, it is now common to see clients with raw, sensitized, and inflamed skin thanks to this unrestricted access.  

Before discussing birth control, it is important to understand the female hormone cycle. The average female hormone cycle lasts about 28 days, with the menstrual cycle taking place roughly between days zero and seven and ovulation occurring around day 14 or 15. The three main hormones involved are testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen. Testosterone is highest during the menstrual cycle while estrogen and progesterone are lower.  

When clients turn to their spas with skin issues, they may not take into consideration how their birth control may affect their skin health as many do not understand how exactly birth control works. Practitioners must not only be aware of clients being on birth control, but they also need to understand how clients’ skin is affected when they come off the medication.