As the days start to get longer, you may notice that your client’s skin is in need of a spring tune up. Winter can wreak havoc on our skin. Dehydration and dead skin buildup can leave skin looking dull and lackluster. After being cooped up indoors for the majority of the winter months, it is time to ready your client’s skin to come out of…

Did you ever get a scrape when you were young and have someone say, “Oh it is just skin”? Just skin. As a skin care professional, you know better, but many people continue to devalue the skin as simply an outer covering that keeps the good things in and the bad things out. Indeed, the skin makes for an outstanding barrier, but that understanding is…

Having an understanding of how hormones affect the skin can help licensed practitioners assess the causes of some skin conditions and should be included in dialog during the initial consultation. Discussing the effects of hormones during the consultation will help give the client a clearer picture to some causes of their skin concerns.

A number of hormones are known to affect the human skin. Hair follicles and sebaceous glands are affected by androgenic hormones secreted by the gonads and adrenal glands.1,2 These hormones play a significant part in the development and the physiological function of human skin tissues. The skin both receives signals from many transmitters and sends signals to many receptor organs and organelles in the body.