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When Sarah Hughes skated off with the gold medal, she pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history. Her surprisingly simple secret? “I didn’t skate for a gold medal. I went out and had a great time.”
Athletes say it all the time: “I just went out there and had fun.” And, admittedly, they do look like they’re having a great time.
Fortunately, fun isn’t the sole province of superstar athletes. It can work for the rest of us in the skin care industry, too. The link between having fun and business success has been proven in countless studies. When we’re having fun on the job, we are more creative and more productive.
Ayurveda is the traditional holistic medical system that originated in India some 3000 to 5000 years ago. Derived from Sanskrit roots, ‘ayus’ (life) and ‘ved’ (knowledge) means “Knowledge of Life.” Ayurveda is based on the belief that the natural state of the body is one of balance between the mind, body, and soul. The fundamental belief of Ayurveda is that the power to heal lies within the individual. Based on the principle that disease is the natural end result of living out of harmony with our environment, Ayurveda views symptoms of disease as the body’s normal way of communicating disharmony.
For many of us, it was a complete surprise to learn upon graduation from aesthetics school that we were not adequately trained to compete in the rapidly-changing world of aesthetics. We discovered that we were entering our new careers without the competitive edge. To make matters worse, we found that the field of aesthetics was under increasing attack by the medical profession… and for good reason. Under-trained aestheticians are making mistakes and people are having bad experiences, sometimes even resulting in injuries. In the age of “Extreme Makeover,” feeling good about ourselves has become a lot more complicated.
Aesthetics has come a long way in the U.S. since licensed professionals had to spell ‘aesthetics’ for those who asked ‘what do you do?’ Clients know what aesthetic services are now, and many have placed them firmly into their lifestyle must-haves. Due to this populartity, aesthetic schools are filled with students excited to join our profession, and committed aestheticians graduate with the fundamentals for practicing basic skin care. But is this basic education enough? Our services and our businesses have become more complex and many believe require higher levels of education for the safety of our clients and to just stay in business.
Spas come in all shapes and sizes from the mega resorts to the independent day spas; well so do clients and their needs. Are you prepared to meet the needs of all your clients? Young, mature, pre-teen, petite to large size clients are all looking to spas for waxing to massage but are you prepared. I know you are thinking YES… but while many spas are prepared for the average size clients many are not prepared for ALL. There are many things to consider including ADA requirements, equipment strength, and therapist etiquette.
Only a generation ago, children were to be seen and not heard. Now, young people who might have been dismissed as “kids” back in the 20th century are proving to be the most powerful segment of American society in terms of establishing and driving brand dominance in the consumer marketplace. Rather than viewing consumers under the age of 21 as simply future-tense buyers, the fact is that national purchasing trends across the board in fashion, beauty, food and lifestyle choices are shaped largely by teens and ‘tweens. Fierce brand loyalties to a specific label form younger and younger, as children are barraged with marketing messages from infancy, and often acquire personal income well before high school.
Selling spa products is like exercise: you know it's good for you and you feel better when you've really got it going. Ah, but when you fall off of the routine it can be hard to get back in the selling groove. Sometimes, it simply takes a short-term challenge that is fun and achievable to get back on track. Committing to do local 5K walk or run can magically provide the push you need to get you to the gym. Likewise, committing to an achievable goal can get you out of your retail rut and on to improving the health of your business.
The cell is the basic unit of life. Healthy cells make up healthy tissue and healthy tissue contributes to healthy skin. At one time, it was believed that aging was an infallible process of life, but recent studies indicate that aging and cellular function are closely related. Aging manifests on a myriad of levels from single cell to whole animal. Human cells are eukaryotic cells, which mean that they contain a nucleus and membrane bound organelles. The nucleus is the epicenter of the cell because it maintains the DNA, the genetic code for the organism.
Have you ever considered the possibility that we all have been aging our client’s skin over the last decade with the many traumatizing treatments we provide? Would you believe me if I told you that the current mainstream approach to anti-aging skin care is not working? I’m sure you have wondered why it is so hard to get lasting results for most of our clients. Get ready for a paradigm shift in the way we approach these skin conditions. Skin care professionals spend most of the time putting the skin in a compromised position in order to achieve “results” which are often marginal, temporary improvements in the epidermis.
Sooner or later it happens. We look into the mirror and see our mothers looking back at us. We start to see the subtle, or not so subtle, changes that are happening to our faces and our bodies; and we are not quite ready for what we see. The crow’s feet have crept in, and there are fine lines and wrinkles that were not there before. Our once soft and smooth skin is no longer. It isn’t because we haven’t taken care of our skin and our bodies, because we have. It’s the age thing starting to take hold.