We all experience those clients who love coming in for facials every month, yet never seem to find the time to stick to their skincare routines. As aestheticians, those clients are frustrating, so how about teaching them to shift their mindset toward their skincare routine to see if they stick to it? Let’s shift the word routine into a ritual. The word ritual means “done in accordance with social custom or normal protocol.”

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CREATE & EMPOWER

A normal protocol can turn into a client’s skincare routine, but it changed up a bit the desire for them to make it a point to add this into their daily routine may be possible. I don’t know about you, but when I hear the word ritual, I think of soaking in a hot bath wearing a good face mask, with candles lit and soft relaxing music playing and no care about the outside world.

Skin care professionals are in the self-care industry, and their goal is to empower clients to take control of their skin in a loving way. Teaching clients to create a loving skincare ritual twice a day will help give them the love they deserve. Tips to guide clients to create a skincare ritual are to simplify their routine, help them fit skincare into their daily schedule, and educate them about the importance of daily self-care.

SIMPLIFYING SKIN CARE

First, let’s start with simplifying their skincare routine. Aestheticians tend to complicate routines when sending clients away from their appointment, usually with an entire line of products. This can be great if the client buys the whole store, but before you do this, think about what the client is telling you. If, during their facial, they mention that they get tired at night, frequentlyforgetting to wash their face before bed, or the last thing a skin care professional want to do is sell the clientfour or more skincare products. This client is not going to do their routine. While you are going to educate them, start simple and build from there.I’ve had great success when sending clients home with a cleanser, exfoliant, and moisturizer; then telling them their homework is to use the cleanser and moisturizer twice a day for one month, the exfoliant one to two times a week, and then revisiting their ritual next month.

Giving clients a simple routine to start with will ensure they stick to their routine. As they get comfortable with these steps, begin to slowly add in toners, serums, masks,and sun protectant factor. This creates trust and happy clients.

A DAILY ROUTINE

The next step is to teach clients to fit their skincare rituals into their daily routines. In a perfect world, every client would wash their face right before bed, but skin care professionals all know that most clients get lazy, fall asleep on the couch, or just plain forget to wash their face at night. How do we solve that problem? We fit their skincare routine into their busy schedule.

 Due to COVID-19, many clients now work from home, but many still head off to an office or are working outside the home. If you have these clients, suggest that they wash their face and incorporate their night skincare ritual as they are changing out of their work attire to get ready for the night ahead. Another option for clients that work in the home or are busy with kids during the evenings, is to create a skincare ritual before sitting down to watch television at the end of the night. Through my own experience, I was able to create this ritual for clients out of my own busy schedule. 

CONSISTENCY

Lastly, let’s teach clients to create a daily ritual that they fall in love with and stick with. This creates consistency in their daily life and teaches them to enjoy taking care of their skin. Aestheticiansknow the importance of self-care and hopefully, their clients do too, which is why they come in for facials. However, they don’t always think of self-care as a daily ritual. The goal is to educate them about the importance of doing something each day, to build a self-care ritual by teaching clients to put themselves first. In my own practice, I’ve taught clients to create a five-minute self-care ritual that gives them some one-on-one time with themselves and empowers them that the act of self-care means self-love. Encourage clients to light a candle, dim the lights in their bathroom, and play some soft music that inspires them as they begin to do their skincare ritual. This empowers the client to look forward to this part of their night and subconsciously understand that their time matters.

To conclude, aestheticiansknow the importance of self-care and doing adaily skin care ritual. Teaching clients to create a skincare ritual they love and can incorporate into their busy lives will ensure that they stick to their ritual and enjoy what they do every single night.

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Samantha Dench is a 16-year licensed aesthetician, owner of Skin Deep, author, and speaker. Dench’s passion stems beyond treating the skin to include internal health to achieve healthy skin for clients by finding the root of the problem. She loves to educate groups of women and share her knowledge and passion of skin. Dench loves to share her book to help women take control of their skin. She is a single mom of three and loves to cook, bake, and find creative ways to find healthy alternatives to her favorite dishes.