Are YOU Overwhelmed By Noisy Skincare, Too?
Tarrah Bouts
I have personally worked in the skincare and cosmetic industry for nearly 20 years, and may I just declare here and now, that even I am overwhelmed somedays with the amount of information out there! As a licensed professional, who holds incredibly high regard for her continuing education, if I feel this way, I cannot imagine how our clients must feel! Go with me on this journey for a minute and tell me if this sounds familiar to you……
You look in the mirror and feel that you could be doing something more to increase your confidence with your looks. You think you skin/face may be the quickest and easiest thing to try and improve. You turn to YouTube. Those makeup tutorials sure look easy enough, and so you try it……Epic. Fail.
Ok! Let’s focus on skincare then. Pinterest it is! You head to your kitchen and start grabbing items from your pantry. You quickly realize that all of the DIY recipes call for lemon juice, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, and maybe baking soda?! You begin mixing the concoctions together, all the while thinking, “Am I trying to look younger or bake a cake?” Moment of truth, you apply your mixture. “It must be working because it burns like fire,” you think to yourself! After you have removed it, you realize that did not go as well as planned.
Suddenly, you remember Susie from next door has been inviting you to some sort of party at her house. When you declined her invite, she “hooked you up, girl,” with a ton of samples, that you promptly stashed away somewhere in your bathroom. “Where are those samples anyway,” you think to yourself. And there you find them, in the bottom of your ‘extra stuff’ basket, caked in hairspray, right next to the half used bottle of nail polish that is now chunky! These products will either be very ambiguous, leaving you not quite sure how to use them, or they will also burn with the same fire of your kitchen concoction. When you question Susie about the ingredients, she’ll speak only of new collagen production and hy-al-ur-on-ic acid. (Admit it. That’s how we all sound that word out, now! LOL!)
Still unsure of your next steps, you head to a large retailer that shall remain nameless. Regret immediately washes over you like a flood, as you break into a cold sweat from head to toe. Your experience will go something like this:
A staff member wearing a lot of makeup will approach you for help, and you are convinced they will give you the same looking makeover, causing your heart to begin racing in an irregular pattern.
The sheer volume of merchandise, making emboldened claims to fix every condition known to man, under those unflattering fluorescent lights sends your blood pressure through the roof.
Or BOTH of the above, which leaves you clammy feeling and slinking toward the door, as your head is still spinning from all of the stuff. All. Of. It.
Google is where you decide to turn next, since you can do so from the comfort of your couch. In the search box you begin typing “How do I look younger” As you press ENTER, you are now faced with information overload, barely able to decipher between the “sponsored ads,” store suggestions, buy me buy me buy me links, magazine articles and blog posts. You click on a blog, not even noticing that buried in that paragraph it states something along the lines of “……sponsored content.” (BTW, that means that blogger is getting paid to peddle someone else’s stuff!)
Does anyone else find this relatable? I’ll tell you a secret…..this happens to me too! I am a woman, in my late 30’s, who follows numerous makeup accounts and beauty pages. They find me! And I still get samples from “Susie.” And I get a little nauseated walking under the bright fluorescent lights, also. Even in the professional realm, there is new information, new treatments, new products, new ingredients, everyday! If you’ve read this far, I have your attention, so I have two choices. I could “sell” you on MY product choices and MY treatment choices. But that feels icky and like I have wasted your time. So instead, I’m going to give you a few simples pieces of advice:
Know your Beauty Budget! If you can’t afford that $300 serum, then don’t but it! But do be honest about that not being in your budget, if that’s the case! If they can’t give you some type of an alternative treatment plan, I would reconsider working with them! (More on who to work with, coming soon!)
Know your Time Budget! If you KNOW that you absolutely will not use every step that I recommend for you, then tell me! (Unless you are an acne client! That is a completely different ballgame and we have to be in agreement on that plan!) Don’t let products sit and get hairspray covered! They will go bad!
Trust your gut (& the person who is helping you!) If they can’t answer your questions, or at least get back with you soon on a reasonable answer, I wouldn’t have a good feeling about letting them decide what goes on my face!
As always, I hope that this helps you feel more empowered and confident in your decision making skills! Reach out if you need help with a product or an ingredient! That’s what we are here for, to try and help you sort through it, and cut through the noisy skincare world!