Skin Basics, Part 1
Making The First Client Session Count with Proper Analysis
By Patricia Heitz
Originally published in ASCP's Skin Deep, February/March 2007. Copyright 2007. Associated Skin Care Professionals. All rights reserved.
(Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series on skin care analysis.)
Although the professional skin care market is growing fast, our profession represents only a small portion of the money spent. Why is that? As professionals, we know active ingredients in over-the-counter (OTC) skin care products are highly diluted to allow for maximum profit and minimal responsibility if the consumer misuses the product. Professional skin care lines yield noticeable results more quickly because of higher concentrations of active ingredients. We can succeed by partnering with clients, educating them about the benefits of our products, and helping them reach their skin care goals.
The smartest companies know the best way to market products is to develop personal relationships with consumers. We are so fortunate--we already have personal relationships with our clients. What could be more personal than touching?
Clients are eager to learn what to do to repair and enhance the health of their skin. By customizing treatments for your client's individual skin care needs, and following up to see that home care products are working, you will build a clientele that is loyal and willing to spend money with you.
So many skin care professionals come out of school, learn a few protocols, and become robotic skin care therapists. Each client entering your treatment room has an individual need. Even though you may have ten more clients with exactly the same problem, she doesn't know that and should feel the treatment protocol has been created just for her. This is what sets you apart as a specialized skin care therapist.
The first step in your customized treatment plan is the all-important consultation. A review of basic skin typing can help keep even experienced professionals on track in providing that personalized care.
Skin Types
Skin types are genetic and are classified by how overactive or underactive the sebaceous glands are, along with the structure of the skin. You cannot change someone's skin type, but you can enhance their skin's performance.
Skin Type: Normal
Goal: Maintenance and problem prevention.
Characteristics: The skin is clear and smooth and doesn't need much in the way of repair.
Protocol: These clients tend to take their skin for granted and are perplexed when aging begins to show. Because they have never had to take good care of their skin, they feel inept. Skin care therapists should discuss how to maintain a good moisture balance and prevent future accelerated aging, such as that which is caused by ultraviolet radiation.
Skin Type: Combination
Goal: Balance.
Characteristics: The client seems to have two different kinds of skin. The nose, chin area, and possibly the forehead have larger follicle openings, indicating more oil secretion. In other areas of the face, there are smaller, more compacted follicle openings with possible flaking.
Protocol: For these clients, balancing the two areas so they are not quite so severe in their difference is needed. Proper home care products and regular skin treatments will do the job. Many are out of balance because they use improper products, making oily areas oilier and dry areas drier. For example, if an oily area is the main problem, clients may use something to dry out their skin, causing the oily area, ironically, to be even oilier and the dry area to be drier through faster evaporation. With proper product use, the drier area will hold water better and calm down the oily area. If there is a great variation between the two initially, you should treat them as two different skin types. However, if one type is more of a problem than the other, treat the more serious problem.
Skin Type: Normal to Oily
Goal: Deep cleansing and hydration.
Characteristics: This skin is only slightly oily, but if the wrong products are used, the skin may become worse. This skin is characterized by larger follicle openings that fan out across the cheek area.
Protocol: It's easy to improve just by using the correct products with hydrating ingredients, not oil, to improve water content in the skin.
Skin Type: Oily
Goal: Deep cleansing and sebum management.
Characteristics: This skin is typified by fairly active sebaceous glands. The look of the skin is shiny due to sebum and will feel thicker than dry or normal skin. Oily skin has enlarged follicle openings (the first clue they have excess oil production) and these openings may be filled with dirt or grease or both. As we approach puberty, our sebaceous glands are stimulated, causing more oil production. The follicle openings start to stretch wider to make room for this oil.
Factors contributing to enhanced oil production:
* Alkaline products.
* Drying/stripping products on the skin.
* Hot humid weather.
* Overstimulation of the skin (too much massage or face washing, or both).
Oily skin can be manageable, if taken care of properly. Sebum is produced to keep skin lubricated and to help hold water in the skin. As a result, a person with oilier skin can
actually keep lines and wrinkles away longer.
Protocol: Clients not properly taking care of this skin are prone to breakouts, pimples, and possible low-grade acne. When the skin is not properly cleansed, the follicle opening becomes clogged, oil cannot drain out of the opening, and it becomes blocked. Bacteria within the follicle opening will grow and cause infection. It is vital for the health of oily skin to keep follicle openings clean and clear. Persons with oily skin should come in for deep-pore (follicle) cleanings (including exfoliation) every two to four weeks.
Skin Type: Normal to Dry
Goal: Keep moisture in the skin.
Characteristics: This skin type is similar to dry skin, but with only slight surface dehydration. Dehydration can be present in both oily skin and oily dry skin.
Protocol: Clients will need to keep an intact lipid structure to improve how skin maintains its moisture. Dry skin can be separated into two categories:
* Oily dry skin refers to underactive sebaceous glands with insufficient skin lubrication and not enough oil to keep water from evaporating. Clients with oily dry skin often will use heavy oil-based products to moisturize the skin. However, if too much oil is applied, the skin will slow down its natural oil production, relying on the topical product. When clients switch to products that don't replace the skin's natural oils, but instead enhance it, the skin may undergo a slight withdrawal process before it starts reproducing the amount of oil it should for its metabolism. Using natural products with the same chemical makeup as the lipid barrier of the skin will help enhance its function. Oily dry skin needs some oil in a product, but only a small amount, in order to keep water from evaporating out of the skin.
* Dehydrated dry skin lacks water on the skin surface. You can see from a client's fine lines their skin needs water and a little oil. Skin that is water-dry will have only fine surface lines, not the deeper lines caused by lack of lubrication (oil). Oily skin can also be dehydrated skin. It is common for those with oily skin to use products that dry skin out, dehydrating the surface and causing more oil production.
Skin Type: Sensitive (can be both a type and a condition)
Goal: To calm, nourish, and manage a healthy lipid and moisture content in the skin.
Characteristics: As a type, skin is thinner with less of a stratum corneum for protection, therefore, nerve endings can be felt more acutely. (A simple way to test for sensitive skin is touch blanching: apply gentle pressure to an area of the face and release the pressure. If the skin color changes to white, the skin is sensitive.) The visual appearance is pink to red in color and is usually clear with a smooth appearance, having almost a parchment look and feel.
Protocol: Many times the skin is dehydrated as fearful clients don't use products that actually might help. Sensitive skin is becoming more common as the population ages and many manufacturers are responding with sensitive skin products. It's good to keep in mind that sensitive skin can be irritated by perfumes, certain preservatives, and high-reactivity ingredients.
***
After you have finished the consultation and understand their concerns, begin to analyze the skin, discussing with them what you see, as well as their expressedconcerns.
Patricia Heitz holds a CIDESCO diploma and is an esthetician, cosmetologist, empowerment trainer, author, consultant with KRS Salon/Spa Consulting Group, and consultant to Gerson/Lehrman, Financial Analysts in New York. She can be reached at pheitz@nycap.rr.com.
Note
1. Mary Leber, "Skin Care for Today's Consumer," Summer (2005): 24-31.
(Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series on skin care analysis.)
By customizing treatments for your client's individual skin care needs, you will build a clientele that is loyal and willing to spend money with you.
Anyone who works in the beauty and skin care market can tell you skin care is booming. In fact, skin care is the fastest-growing segment in the cosmetics category today. The future is bright--people aged fifty and older represent more than one third of the U.S. population. Mary Leber, founder of an industry consulting organization, says in Healing Arts Guide magazine, "We are in the beginning of a major trend in skin care."1Although the professional skin care market is growing fast, our profession represents only a small portion of the money spent. Why is that? As professionals, we know active ingredients in over-the-counter (OTC) skin care products are highly diluted to allow for maximum profit and minimal responsibility if the consumer misuses the product. Professional skin care lines yield noticeable results more quickly because of higher concentrations of active ingredients. We can succeed by partnering with clients, educating them about the benefits of our products, and helping them reach their skin care goals.
The smartest companies know the best way to market products is to develop personal relationships with consumers. We are so fortunate--we already have personal relationships with our clients. What could be more personal than touching?
Clients are eager to learn what to do to repair and enhance the health of their skin. By customizing treatments for your client's individual skin care needs, and following up to see that home care products are working, you will build a clientele that is loyal and willing to spend money with you.
So many skin care professionals come out of school, learn a few protocols, and become robotic skin care therapists. Each client entering your treatment room has an individual need. Even though you may have ten more clients with exactly the same problem, she doesn't know that and should feel the treatment protocol has been created just for her. This is what sets you apart as a specialized skin care therapist.
The first step in your customized treatment plan is the all-important consultation. A review of basic skin typing can help keep even experienced professionals on track in providing that personalized care.
Skin Types
Skin types are genetic and are classified by how overactive or underactive the sebaceous glands are, along with the structure of the skin. You cannot change someone's skin type, but you can enhance their skin's performance.
Skin Type: Normal
Goal: Maintenance and problem prevention.
Characteristics: The skin is clear and smooth and doesn't need much in the way of repair.
Protocol: These clients tend to take their skin for granted and are perplexed when aging begins to show. Because they have never had to take good care of their skin, they feel inept. Skin care therapists should discuss how to maintain a good moisture balance and prevent future accelerated aging, such as that which is caused by ultraviolet radiation.
Skin Type: Combination
Goal: Balance.
Characteristics: The client seems to have two different kinds of skin. The nose, chin area, and possibly the forehead have larger follicle openings, indicating more oil secretion. In other areas of the face, there are smaller, more compacted follicle openings with possible flaking.
Protocol: For these clients, balancing the two areas so they are not quite so severe in their difference is needed. Proper home care products and regular skin treatments will do the job. Many are out of balance because they use improper products, making oily areas oilier and dry areas drier. For example, if an oily area is the main problem, clients may use something to dry out their skin, causing the oily area, ironically, to be even oilier and the dry area to be drier through faster evaporation. With proper product use, the drier area will hold water better and calm down the oily area. If there is a great variation between the two initially, you should treat them as two different skin types. However, if one type is more of a problem than the other, treat the more serious problem.
Skin Type: Normal to Oily
Goal: Deep cleansing and hydration.
Characteristics: This skin is only slightly oily, but if the wrong products are used, the skin may become worse. This skin is characterized by larger follicle openings that fan out across the cheek area.
Protocol: It's easy to improve just by using the correct products with hydrating ingredients, not oil, to improve water content in the skin.
Skin Type: Oily
Goal: Deep cleansing and sebum management.
Characteristics: This skin is typified by fairly active sebaceous glands. The look of the skin is shiny due to sebum and will feel thicker than dry or normal skin. Oily skin has enlarged follicle openings (the first clue they have excess oil production) and these openings may be filled with dirt or grease or both. As we approach puberty, our sebaceous glands are stimulated, causing more oil production. The follicle openings start to stretch wider to make room for this oil.
Factors contributing to enhanced oil production:
* Alkaline products.
* Drying/stripping products on the skin.
* Hot humid weather.
* Overstimulation of the skin (too much massage or face washing, or both).
Oily skin can be manageable, if taken care of properly. Sebum is produced to keep skin lubricated and to help hold water in the skin. As a result, a person with oilier skin can
actually keep lines and wrinkles away longer.
Protocol: Clients not properly taking care of this skin are prone to breakouts, pimples, and possible low-grade acne. When the skin is not properly cleansed, the follicle opening becomes clogged, oil cannot drain out of the opening, and it becomes blocked. Bacteria within the follicle opening will grow and cause infection. It is vital for the health of oily skin to keep follicle openings clean and clear. Persons with oily skin should come in for deep-pore (follicle) cleanings (including exfoliation) every two to four weeks.
Skin Type: Normal to Dry
Goal: Keep moisture in the skin.
Characteristics: This skin type is similar to dry skin, but with only slight surface dehydration. Dehydration can be present in both oily skin and oily dry skin.
Protocol: Clients will need to keep an intact lipid structure to improve how skin maintains its moisture. Dry skin can be separated into two categories:
* Oily dry skin refers to underactive sebaceous glands with insufficient skin lubrication and not enough oil to keep water from evaporating. Clients with oily dry skin often will use heavy oil-based products to moisturize the skin. However, if too much oil is applied, the skin will slow down its natural oil production, relying on the topical product. When clients switch to products that don't replace the skin's natural oils, but instead enhance it, the skin may undergo a slight withdrawal process before it starts reproducing the amount of oil it should for its metabolism. Using natural products with the same chemical makeup as the lipid barrier of the skin will help enhance its function. Oily dry skin needs some oil in a product, but only a small amount, in order to keep water from evaporating out of the skin.
* Dehydrated dry skin lacks water on the skin surface. You can see from a client's fine lines their skin needs water and a little oil. Skin that is water-dry will have only fine surface lines, not the deeper lines caused by lack of lubrication (oil). Oily skin can also be dehydrated skin. It is common for those with oily skin to use products that dry skin out, dehydrating the surface and causing more oil production.
Skin Type: Sensitive (can be both a type and a condition)
Goal: To calm, nourish, and manage a healthy lipid and moisture content in the skin.
Characteristics: As a type, skin is thinner with less of a stratum corneum for protection, therefore, nerve endings can be felt more acutely. (A simple way to test for sensitive skin is touch blanching: apply gentle pressure to an area of the face and release the pressure. If the skin color changes to white, the skin is sensitive.) The visual appearance is pink to red in color and is usually clear with a smooth appearance, having almost a parchment look and feel.
Protocol: Many times the skin is dehydrated as fearful clients don't use products that actually might help. Sensitive skin is becoming more common as the population ages and many manufacturers are responding with sensitive skin products. It's good to keep in mind that sensitive skin can be irritated by perfumes, certain preservatives, and high-reactivity ingredients.
***
After you have finished the consultation and understand their concerns, begin to analyze the skin, discussing with them what you see, as well as their expressedconcerns.
Patricia Heitz holds a CIDESCO diploma and is an esthetician, cosmetologist, empowerment trainer, author, consultant with KRS Salon/Spa Consulting Group, and consultant to Gerson/Lehrman, Financial Analysts in New York. She can be reached at pheitz@nycap.rr.com.
Note
1. Mary Leber, "Skin Care for Today's Consumer," Summer (2005): 24-31.
