Modern aesthetics has evolved into a wide range of product availabilities: chemical peels, collagen masks, light technology, ultrasound facials, and microdermabrasion, all of which can deplete your pocketbook fast. But how can you profit from these expensive machines while saving your clients’ pocketbook? Like the tools of the trade that we all must purchase, effective facial and body treatments do not come at a bargain price. Start with your client base. What types of equipment can you use on generally every skin type that will help them benefit from the treatment you are offering?

In many ways, the skin functions like a shingled roof. Newborn skin works perfectly just like a new roof, but if you add about 20 years of environmental, lifestyle, and stress factors, you’ll find that the stratum corneum will be in need of a little repair. Over time, a roof’s shingles become dry and cracked and need replacing. This is true of skin cells as well, and that’s why exfoliation is necessary. To strengthen a shingled roof, we can add Scotchguard to protect the house beneath it, and we can also glue the shingles together to make the roof stronger.

This past decade has seen an enormous surge in popularity of skin brightening products formulated specifically to treat hyperpigmentation and increase skin luminosity. While traditionally these products were popular in Asian-Pacific and African communities, the demand for brightening products appears to be gaining across the globe. Currently, the Asian market leads the world in the number of products on the market to treat pigmentation issues; Asia alone accounts for 37 percent of the overall worldwide sales in this category.

Dermatologists evaluate only about 40 percent of people suffering from a skin disease or condition. Because of this fact, aestheticians are often the first line of defense for skin care needs. Clients/patients usually do not realize that what is believed to be an irritation, sensitivity, or problem skin may be a treatable disease. Although unable to officially “diagnose” a skin disorder, the trained skin care professional or licensed aesthetician often has the opportunity to notice changes in a client’s skin, which should trigger a referral to an experienced physician, preferably a dermatologist, for further evaluation and diagnosis.

When you hear your skin referred to as problematic, you immediately equate this with a dilemma, complication, troublesome, distressed, obstacle, an inconvenience. We want it instantaneously fixed! Who wants a problem? In fact when your skin is experiencing a "problem," it is a sign that your body is in a healing phase, which is a good thing. The skin is trying to expel waste, bacteria, toxins, or possible negative emotions as an attempt to return the body and skin back health.

For some time now, the hype in consumer beauty and health magazines has been the medical spa. For seasoned aestheticians and physicians, this concept is nothing new. Unfortunately, what these magazines are not telling consumers is that the term “medical spa” is highly unregulated and there is a great deal of false advertising. Many viable MediSpa’s are not receiving the credibility they so deserve, as anyone advertising a physician and Botox® or filler injections can be a medical spa. This is simply not fair to those facilities that offer more for skin care, hair removal, and body wellness through nutrition, massage therapy, and therapeutic fitness.

When a client visits you, it's important to consider all that you see and do not see. While skin evaluation is essential, the value of this information-gathering process is largely missed. The fact is that very few aestheticians know how to use the data they collect during a skin examination, which really only gives you a third of the story. What's missed is everything that's not seen And this leaves gaps in the reasons why certain skin conditions emerge or re-emerge.

The advent of medical spas has brought forth new issues related to risk management and insurance in general. The usual suspects include property and liability coverage, with the added wrinkle of professional liability or “malpractice” coverage. Further, no two medical spas seem to be quite the same—as such, each spa will need a customized insurance program to ensure that all exposures have been properly covered.
Insuring your new medical spa shouldn’t create a major headache, but there are a number of critical factors to consider. Let’s build an insurance program from the ground up.

Everyone wants to maintain their youthful appearance. Everyone wants smooth skin. No one wants wrinkles and sagging. But let’s face it: aging is inevitable. There are no true anti-aging products or treatments out there. We all age, whether slow or fast, and eventually we all start to show our maturity in our skin.
One thing we can do though is age healthily. We can monitor what we put on our skin, in our bodies, in our mind, etc… I have broken down healthy aging into four groups: in your body, on your body, emotional, and activity. Simply, you can slow down the aging process if you eat right, exercise, stay away from certain elements, and even have the right attitude.

As women it may be hard for us to relate to daily shaving of a facial beard but we all know the potential hazards of shaving our legs; be it cuts, nicks, ingrown hairs, or even an angry razor burn, we know the pitfalls associated with the shaving ritual. For men, besides having to deal with daily shaving, consideration for skin condition (i.e. oily or sensitized etc.) and beard type (i.e. coarse, fine etc.) must also be taken into account.