Whilst our clients are becoming increasingly savvy about their skin and what’s available on the market, it’s surprising how many clients out there don’t actually know their primary skin type never mind their skin conditions and base their needs on their own social media influenced perception rather than knowing the facts.

As professional therapists we are able to assess our client’s needs and determine, through our skill and understanding of the skin, the right advice for the best treatment and product recommendations.

Accurate skin analysis consists of two finely balanced elements which ensure we are giving our clients a professional and thorough service.

Under the skin

The first element to any successful analysis or treatment is in-depth consultation. Although often overlooked this is actually the paramount step within the overall analysis process, no matter how good our analyzing skills, we cannot know the origin of the skins issues without interacting with our client to gather greater understanding of their lifestyle, health history and other variables which impact.

Ultimately, as professional therapists we need to ensure we give our clients what their skin needs not what they think they need; our consultation process allows us to take an objective view and treat the root cause of their skin issues rather than recommending products to subdue the symptom. We should never under estimate how valuable consultation is to achieving the most effective outcome.

Rather than just handing the client a questionnaire and leaving them to maneuverer their way through the ambiguous questions, the most effective way is for us to sit with them one to one, ask them the questions and complete the form as you conduct the consultation, this helps to build up trust and rapport and portrays a more professional image.

Our consultation should start by asking the client about their health history, this allows us to determine whether any ailments or prescribed medication are impacting their skin. It’s always valuable to ask our clients to bring a list of the medication they are currently taking for us to do some basic homework and determine any effects the drug/s have on the skin.

Asking questions about their diet, lifestyle and occupation is valuable too as these greatly impact the skin condition; their low-fat diet could be the reason for their dry skin, those late nights could be the cause of their dull tired complexion or that hot kitchen they work in could be the reason for their congested oily skin. As we spend a high percentage of our time at work we should always consider this to be a contributing factor to our complexion.

Ascertaining their current skincare regime is critical, allowing you to get a glimpse of their daily routine, what they are using and how they are using it. Asking them to provide a list of all skincare and make-up products used within their regime allows us to assess if any of their products are impacting their skin condition.

Determining our client’s expectations should never be over looked and is important to ensure their satisfaction. With selfie culture, photoshop, filters and heavy social media influences our clients can often aspire to have unattainable skincare goals - we need to offer realism in a tactful caring way without belittling what they wish to achieve.

The consultation also serves as the prime time to discuss the realistic steps to achieve their skin care goals. Unlike retailing at the end of a treatment where the client is often zoned out and not as receptive to listening to our recommendations, in the consultation you have a captive audience where you can talk objectively about devising the right plan for their needs, the commitment to consistent homecare, lifestyle adjustments and any issues they may need to overcome. Even though we are not recommending specific products at this stage, ensuring our client knows in advance what is expected of them will pay dividends to the overall outcome.

Time to analyse

The second element is the actual skin analysis, which would directly follow the consultation with our client sitting in an upright position allowing us to see the natural pull of gravity. We should ensure we are working in a methodical way around the face looking and feeling the entirety of each area; skin analysis should never just be a visual approach but also a tactile approach using our hands to feel the skin and define its story.

Whilst there are a number of tools and modalities available to assist our analysis we should never be dependent on them. As effective as trolley mounted magnifying lamps are, they don’t offer practicality for one to one consultations. A small hand-held battery powered illuminating magnifying lamp will suffice perfectly as a subtle addition to your service.

When analysing the skin, we should look for several characteristics segmented into the skins colour, moisture levels, texture and tone.

The skins colour will show us any inflammation, touch sensitivity, capillary activity, pigmentation and sallowness. Any inflammation presenting visually on the skin should flag up as the main priority to treat as this will be causing a negative impact and damage to the skin. Inflammation is also a sign of potential barrier impairment. Feeling the skin for heat spots will identify inflammation in the deeper skin layers.

Moisture levels are determined by the amount of sebaceous activity within the skin and show visually with high shine from sebum over production or a dull matte appearance from lack of sebum. Using the majority rule of sebum production will assist us determining the skin type not just the skin condition.

The texture of the skin is highly important to skin analysis, showing us anything from a smooth surface or rough texture from lack of exfoliation creating areas of dead skin build up, to congestion, dehydration lines, ageing lines and open pores. Our tactile sense comes into its own at this point with an array of textures to feel and differentiate.

Finally the tone of the skin allows us to determine how the ageing process is treating the client, with great elasticity and snap back being a sign of slower ageing, loose or drooping areas can denote premature or advanced ageing characteristics.

Ongoing consultation

When offering the full service to our clients we should look to book out approximately 30 minutes; the time for thorough consultation with regime advice should last approximately 15 - 20 minutes with the actual skin analysis and product recommendations taking another 10 minutes. This standalone consultation and skin analysis service should be charged for as it’s as important as any other offering on our menu. As an incentive to our clients and to generate
retail revenue, offset any product sales against the cost of the service to encourage clients to buy products on the day and return for repeat purchases.

Ongoing analysis is highly important for us to reassess the skin at regular intervals. Lifestyle and seasonal influences may determine different needs now to what it did only a few months ago. An updated skincare wardrobe may be required for the autumn and winter months, adding more nourishment and emollience, as opposed to the lightweight sheer based products used during the spring and summer season. Analysis at three monthly intervals will offer our clients the most accurate ongoing advice