Hot stone massage therapy is not a new modality anymore. Although some massage therapists and clients may consider this to be a trend, the use of stones and gemstones for healing purposes dates back thousands of years.
Both verbal and written history confirms that the Chinese used heated stones more than 2,000 years ago as a means of improving the function of internal organs. Stones were also used for healing work in North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Egypt and India. These traditions included laying stones in patterns on the body, carrying or wearing stones for health and protection, using stones for the diagnosis and treatment of disease, as well as for ceremonial purposes, such as sweat lodges and medicine wheels.

The energy behind going green is growing and more of our clients are connecting with the idea that our good green earth is indeed the source of an infinite means to restore and maintain lasting beauty and radiant health. More than ever there is recognition that fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and organic meat and dairy products provide the range of nutrients to support a youthful complexion. Beauty from inside out is fast moving toward becoming an accepted norm. As a nation, we are turning in ever greater numbers toward herbal remedies and natural skin care products too. As a result, some of the biggest professional lines are racing to use organic ingredients in their new product lines.

Sun protection, while once relatively straightforward, has become an increasingly challenging topic in recent years. Today's consumers are confronted with an often-puzzling array of product formulations, well-publicized concerns about the prevalence of vitamin D deficiencies, and conflicting information about the safety of technologies and ingredients employed in sunscreens. You could say that protecting our skin has become a bit akin to navigating a battlefield – and that is before we even step outdoors!

Surprisingly, research suggests that fewer Americans proactively protect their skin than experts would hope.

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the U.S. with more than two million Americans diagnosed annually. Basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma make up the majority of these cases. The third type, melanoma, arises from pigment producing cells called melanocytes. The ability to spread widely to other parts of the body is a unique characteristic of melanoma that the other skin cancers do not readily possess. This characteristic makes melanoma the deadliest, accounting for only four percent of skin cancers but 80 percent of skin cancer-related deaths. The number of new cases of melanoma is increasing steadily and dramatically. In the U.S. alone, the incidence of melanoma has tripled over the past three decades. In 2010, approximately 70,000 new cases were diagnosed.

A LITTLE HISTORY
Laser hair removal procedures in 2010 totaled to 936, 121, which reflected a -26.9% decrease from 2009 – most likely as a result of a flexing economy.1 It is a procedure, however, that continues to be popular.
Lasers (including the CO2 laser) were introduced in dermatology and surgery as early as the 1960s.2 The CO2 laser became more popular during the 1990s for skin resurfacing to improve wrinkles, dischromias, scars, atrophic scars, pitted acne scars and others.3 These pioneering procedures also meant longer recovery periods.

Whether you work with a company or for yourself, it is important to understand the value of you as the professional. Your client looks to you for advice, suggestions and result-oriented treatments. I think first and foremost you should ask yourself if you truly enjoy servicing others and providing solutions to their unwanted body hair and skin concerns. Passion is something that is lived! It reveals itself through your eyes, your smile and your energy. Here are the tools that I feel you will need to fully impact your suggestions.

Since arriving on the scene in the late 1990s, the laser hair removal industry has gone through a metamorphosis. The technology has changed, the accessibility has changed, and in many states, the regulations have changed. While it can be tough to keep up with all of the regulatory changes, emerging laws, statutes and regulations are helping to strengthen our business and improve the overall client experience.
I know this from my own experience in the industry. I opened my first medical spa in 2003 in Scottsdale, Arizona with my business partner Matthew Gould. Immediately we noticed a problem.

All of these phrases contain a modicum of reality. However, in our clinic, we give a small amount of credence to all the above. Our focus has always been "root/cause" medicine and "root/cause" skin care. And when it comes to "root/cause" of any system or organ of the human body (including the skin), it is our opinion that nothing makes a more frequent, more meaningful, more accurate difference in the growth and maintenance of each and every organ than one determining factor … lifestyle. I like one particular dictionary definition for the word lifestyle, more than any other … "the way you live your life." Of course, this factor is really about the all-encompassing; it peels away the layers of speculation about the on-going existence of the human body.

Despite such an advanced beauty culture, it is disappointing that a majority of the skin analysis conducted in aesthetics and skin care clinics is still to insufficient to be useful. The main reason for this is that in many clinics, detailed consultations and skin diagnostic tools are not being used. So with this utilization of old-fashioned terminology, diagnostic language and procedures (which are often no better than what a client could get at a department store) is it any wonder we have not grown past the five percent market share of the personal care industry?

The great inventor Thomas Edison once said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." This equation is also applicable to success in the skin care industry. Perspiration – in the form of the constant pursuit of knowledge – fuels success and ultimately inspiration. 
In this profession we have to stay on top of new, cutting-edge ingredients, product formulations and protocols, as well as marketing tactics, and knowledge of how each of these tools can be used most effectively.
How do skin care professionals obtain the knowledge, and perhaps more importantly, how might it be applied, and what are the right tools?