Why Your Pro Skin Treatments are a Waste.......

Scout’s honor, I tried not to click bait you with a scary title! But as a 15 year veteran Esthetician, I can almost always tell who is going to have a successful outcome……..and who isn’t! You may be surprised to know, there is work involved on your part to secure a predictable outcome of your hard earned dollars into your professional and medical skin treatments. Do I still have your attention?

I’m sure if you are still reading, you are convinced you know what I am going to say. “Invest in those treatments! Peels and lasers are not a waste! Etc! Etc! Etc!” After all, I am a professional skin therapist first and foremost, who makes their living from doing these treatments day in and day out! And while I personally feel they are great, I also see too many clients and patients who are in fact, wasting their precious time and hard earned money! (Didn’t expect to read that, did you?!)

Instead of trying to sell you on why you should get these treatments, I’m going to challenge you to consider some things about your investments! #time #money

First, I’d l like to ask you WHY do you feel the need to receive an advanced treatment, whether that be a chemical peel, IPL, LASER, or whatever else you are considering? Is it a specific (or a few specific) concerns or problems that you are seeing on your skin? If you can answer yes, and name/point out what you’d like to see different, then you should just jump to the next section! If you cannot name it, but you think it’s something you should do because a Real Housewife did it, an influencer showed it on their Instagram Story, or a professional said “Oh yes you should do this! Everyone is doing that,” then you need to Practice the Pause! Do you really need that? Or is it just FOMO (fear of missing out) that’s swaying your decision? (Mmmhmm! Gotcha thinking?!)

Now, let’s assume that you can name your skin concerns. You feel dull and are concerned with aging, but it’s specifically “brown spots” that you keep staring at in the mirror. So now to decide, “What do I do about these? I’m feeling overwhelmed! My doctor says one treatment will fix it, but my esthetician said I should do a whole series of treatments, like a chemical peel!? Scary sounding! But Susie next door is wanting me to buy this miracle cream and the ads from all of these stores about all these products just keep showing up! It’s like my smart phone heard me say the words brown spots, and now the government is listening?! I don’t know what to do!” (OK. That line about the government is a bit dramatic, but you get it!)

For starters, just know that there is no ONE right answer for every person! Someone may have the finances to do the medical based treatments; while you might be intimidated by something that costly! But you don’t have the time to commit to a series of something like the peels either? And you want to support Susie from next door, but you’re just not sure. Does this sound familiar?

By this time, hopefully you are asking yourself, “What is my next move?” Ask yourself what feels right in your gut! Maybe one option feels the most comfortable for you. Maybe you’re considering 2 things? Great! At least, you’ve narrowed it down! Now start researching these 2 and compare them online (legit. Google is amazing!)

This next piece of advice is probably the most important take away of this entire blog. Ask yourself, “What am I doing to help my current concern?” Are you using proper skincare for the concern that you have? Brown spots will respond much better to ANY professional/medical treatment if you have a great pre and post care routine! (same is true for wrinkles, acne, dryness, scars, etc! I just picked brown spots as an example for this post!) Ingredients such as azelaic acid, kojic acid, and hydroquinone can be crucial to achieving your goals of diminishing hyperpigmentation (that tech term for brown spots!).

Aside from just trying to “help” the concern, what are you doing for prevention? SPF daily? If you are smoking and/or tanning regularly, seriously, do NOT waste your money! And did you know that the daily medication you’re on could cause some of these problems? That’s why full disclosure of these things will bring you the optimum outcome, without costing you a fortune! 

Hopefully this post left you with a little more clarity! Do what feels right, consider your time budget and your money budget, and don’t waste either time or money on treatments, if you are not willing to invest in pre and post care, along with preventive measures! Any questions? Maybe something specific that you would like answered? Let me know! And as always, stay beautiful!