7 Deadly Skin Sins

….THAT SHOULD MAKE YOU RE-THINK YOUR THERAPIST!!!

Placing your trust in a skin care therapist is a big deal.
When you are searching for real, genuine skin results, working with a skin care professional is vital. Just as having a personal trainer that whips your thighs into shape, having your very own personal skin therapist come guru gives you guidance in all things skin.
But how do you tell the forest from the trees? How do you know the difference between a passionate, true skin care professional and a therapist who is simply just doing a job.
Here are 7 things to highlight the difference between a therapist just there for the job and a passionate, skilled skin therapist.

1: YOU’RE IN THE HOT SEAT IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE.

Before you know it, you’re lying on a bed about to undergo a treatment that you don’t really know what, why or how its going to help.
There was some brief discussion about how they could ‘zap this’ and ‘peel that’ but you still don’t really know how its going to work or whats it’s doing for your skin.
See… anyone can wield a laser, manhandle a microdermbrasion machine or roll some needles over your face. The actual technique of these treatments is not the hard part. Anyone can dismantle the motor of a car.
But unless you know all the parts intimately and intricately, you can’t put it all back together again. Theres plenty of “demolition crews” who know how to use the gadgets, but it needs to be backed up with the ability to rebuild your skin and within a well-rounded program that supports your skin.
Having the time to fully understand the treatment your skin therapist has recommended is super important. They should know skin inside out and back to front to be able to ‘rebuild it from the ground up’ so to speak. This starts with explaining your treatment options in great detail and giving you time to consider your options.

2: HOME CARE? WHAT HOME CARE?

You’re having skin treatments in a clinic on a regular basis… but there’s no before, during and after treatment maintenance program. You’ve left after your treatment and aren’t really sure what you’re supposed to do?
60-70% of your results come from what you are doing at home, every single day.
If your therapist hasn’t prescribed a detailed routine (and by detailed I mean well planned/effective not fiddly or time-consuming) program of products to use morning and night, she’s left a mighty big hole in your treatment plan and is setting you up for poor results. You are also not sure of how you are meant to care for your skin after the treatment or whether that burning/fiery/peeling/swelling reaction is normal or needs to be seen to…
A true skin professional will keep in touch with you to coach you through the treatment process, including what is happening with your skin before, after and between appointments.

3: YOU CHOSE YOUR TREATMENT LIKE SELECTING A MARTINI FROM THE COCKTAIL LIST.

You read about it in the brochure, sounded good right?
No offence… but selecting your own treatment is like taking your car to the mechanic then telling him what to use to fix it. Fine if you also are a mechanic and know how all the bits work… but if your therapist lets you pick the treatment and just does what you want… you aren’t going to be getting the best results and you will waste your money. See, there’s so much more to knowing your skin beyond finding out what your “skin type” is. In fact, in this day and age of technology, skin type is somewhat irrelevant for many in-clinic treatments. (Skin type comes into play when looking at what home care you will use daily)
A true skin therapist will listen to what you want, then recommend some options that you can choose from. It may be completely different to what you trout you wanted, but it will be the right thing for your skin.

4: YOU’RE SOLD THE SAME PREDICTABLE PACKAGE AS EVERYONE ELSE.

Most common ones around are a course of 6 peels, or 6 microdermabrasions, you go in once per week and no matter what your concern, the answer seems to be a ‘one-size-fits-all’.
This would be fine if your skin was the same as everyone else’s and your skin needed a peel once per week for 6 weeks….
But it isn’t and it doesn’t.
A true skin therapist knows that 6 identical treatments in a row aren’t designed with your unique cellular life-cycle in mind. Your skin may need a combination of treatments, timed to where your skin is at right now and how it is currently functioning. Look for a therapist who can tailor a program that has your skin and your end result in mind.

5: YOU’RE PROMISED THE WORLD WITHIN A WEEK.

A passionate and knowledgeable skin therapist knows that some skin conditions are an easy fix and can leave you with outstanding results with just the smallest tweak in your current routine.
Other conditions require strategic planning, timed to your skins own cellular life-cycle. The results you can achieve will depend on your age, your commitment, your lifestyle, your skin current condition and level of cellular damage. All of these things will factor into how much time it might take to get to where you want to go. Your skin has taken many years to get to where it is now. It’s going to take some time to turn back the clock and rejuvenate your skin from the inside out. Anyone who promises you amazing results in less than a few treatments (or suggests point number 4) is not giving you a realistic time frame for life long results to happen!
Without a doubt, a skilled skin therapist can take 10 years off your appearance, but not overnight and not with simply a ‘miracle’ cream or ‘magic’ course of treatments.

6: THEY GO FOR THE BIG GUNS FIRST

Like an artist with a few tubes of paint, a machine, product or ingredient is only as good as the hands they are in.
Any serious skin therapist knows that there’s more to true skin correction than just whipping out the heavy artillery and firing away. Skin cells need to be prepped and primed so that they know how to communicate with one another and can effectively handle the ‘big gun’ treatments.
The more prepped (read: healthy) your skin cells, the quicker they will bounce back from the treatment and your results will have longevity.
A good skin therapist will develop a master plan that will spread over 6-12 months. True, skin cellular rejuvenation takes time, planning and action. It’s not as simple as ‘walk in walk out’. The issue with your skin didn’t pop up overnight. Cells have been malfunctioning for years, they just gave up working so hard and now you’ve noticed the issues.
If you’re told its only a matter of a zap with a laser, a lift with something injectable, a dash of acid and you’ll be cured, politely leave and keep searching for your skin guru.

7: YOU STILL DON’T KNOW HOW IT’S ALL GOING TO HELP?

You’ve asked questions about your skin and the treatment but no-one has been able to explain to you how EXACTLY it is going to work.

One of my favourite sayings “If you can’t explain it simply enough, then you really don’t know it well enough” Albert Einstein.
If your skin therapist can’t explain to you in easy to understand terms how lasering/abrading/peeling/needling your skin is going to work to repair, rebuild or rejuvenate (without simply telling you it’s going to repair, rebuild or rejuvenate) then you need keep looking for your skin guru. Not only will the right therapist be able to explain actual steps on how this is going to happen, but how the treatments she has prescribed will interact with each cell and the process that it will go through during your treatments. They should be able to explain exactly how collagen is built, not just that “this treatment builds collagen”.
Yes, it’s a lot of things to look for, but your skin and results are totally worth it!
Keeping these 7 things in mind while looking for a skin therapist will ensure that you end up with someone who is going to look after your skin for life and help your skin through the ups and downs life throws at it! And when you find her (or him) hold on tight because they are a rare gem who will be your skin’s best friend for many years to come!!!
Love Robyn xx