You ever feel like you can fix everyone's skin,
but your own? Like you know what to do, but your
face just isn't cooperating. And suddenly you're
questioning if clients will even trust you. I've
been there. Today we're talking about the pressure
to have perfect skin as an esthetician and why
that mindset needs to go. Let's get into it.
If you're new here or you're coming back for
more, welcome to Beauty Babble where we talk
shop about the real stuff behind running a beauty
business. I'm Doreen, a brand and content strategist
and former esthetician. And I'm Suzanne, Sadesco
certified esthetician with over 30 years, former
spa owner, and now educator mentor to beauty
pros. So today we're talking about that expectation.
It's not written anywhere, but I think it's in
all our heads that as an esthetician, you should
have perfect skin. And if you don't, that you're
not going to be trusted with clients. And you
might in yourself feel uneasy and insecure about
your own skin. Well, this is something I think
we all have to realize. It happens. Breakouts
do happen. And I understand that some people
have a lot more difficulties having it more often
than other people do. And I think it's a perfect
time to be vulnerable and share that information
directly to your clients, especially on social
media. If you can do it, you're just gonna be,
how do I say that? You're gonna resonate with
somebody out there for sure, and more than what
you realize. And I get that people will judge.
You can't change that. People will always judge.
It's been around forever and will continue in
the future, I'm sure. But like I said, I think
you're going to resonate to somebody out there
or to many that that get it, right? They're doing
everything they can. And it's still I still break
out every month or I still have these breakouts
that keep consistently happening. Why isn't this
happening to other people? And if you relate
to it and I think you could also, you know, look
at it and dive a little deeper into yourself
and say, well, OK, I'm going to look at this
month is, you know, what's my stress level? Am
I sleeping right? not right, but am I sleeping?
I guess that's a better way. So you're resting
properly. And you know, this happening with me
hormonally, like I remember even clients, like
you're probably out there helping many people
with this same issue. So what are you telling
them to do? And have you been able to do it yourself?
I think that's something that we forget. We're
so busy focused on everyone else, because that's
what we do, we service, right? that we're not
taking care of ourselves so I think if you step
back and look at that first and then say you
know what this month I'm gonna do this I gave
advice to my client Betty and I'm gonna do it
myself as well for this month and whatever that
might be but I think you have to look at if you
can figure out what it is that's causing it and
then going from there take a step back and what
would you do for your client yeah I think that
it's a good point to Look at this as a learning
and of course. doing what I do I'm like oh this
is content you guys great document it and listen
if you're feeling insecure about your skin you're
not going to want to be on camera but you don't
have to necessarily be on camera just write down
your experience write down what you've done see
what's working and what's not and then you can
talk about it whether it's like on screen text
while you have a visual of a facial on someone
else or you can relate to a client verbally face
to face about, you know, this is what I've experienced
and this is what's worked for me. I think that
you can become your own client and go through
an intake form with yourself and go through all
those steps. But really looking at it in terms
of like, how can I help my clients by helping
myself? Because that I think will lend itself
to both. I think another thing that I would suggest
too is to get yourself an esthetician. You know
talk to somebody else about it because sometimes
you're so close to the issue that you can't zoom
out and take a look and two brains are better
than one. So maybe it's somebody else's approach
that you're like oh yeah and it worked for you
and then you can adapt it as well. So I think
that is or go see a dermatologist. Yeah and I
think reaching out to somebody else Whether you're
working with other people or is there someone
else you follow, you know, it doesn't hurt to
do that to see what that is because occasional
breakouts do happen. If you are consistently
breaking out, then there's something else going
on for sure. And you're right, like go see a
professional, go see a dermatologist, see what's
going on. It could be hormonal. I remember having
one staff member that was so upset because she's
breaking out and go, you're pregnant. you just
got to get through the next nine months and if
you're going to nurse after you got to wait for
that and then wait for all the hormones to settle
but for in the meantime you want to prevent the
scarring you want to help it heal like those
are things you can do and you know those those
flare -ups can happen but again like I said a
lot of it is stress related especially in our
society today we all seem a little bit stressed
about something right but I think if you take
a step back and just reanalyze, what would you
say to a client? Like if you say out loud, yeah,
but I'm doing that. Well, have you tried this?
What would you keep doing with your client? Would
you give up on your client? You know, so I think
it's hard to step out of ourselves and do that.
But yeah, I think looking at it from a different
perspective, like if you're looking at it from
the fact that I'm going to get judged and I'm
not going to be trusted with my client's skin,
or I'm going to be able to relate to my client's
struggles. If, you know, if I'm a client that
is struggling with my skin, maybe I would be
more intimidated to go see somebody who's got
perfect skin and they wouldn't know what I'm
going through. Like it could be a point of connection
because people do relate to real people and their
struggles. They don't relate to perfect Instagram
pictures. It's your story that's going to be
more relatable. Which is so much more now. because
everyone knows that a lot of Instagram is all
filtered, right? It's not truly perfect. It's
so perfect that it's not truly what they look
like outside of them. And I guess you could say,
but I think if you look at it and flip it, like
you said, is one narrative to do. And the other
is, here's a thought. Do you have a client that
actually is maybe a health wellness person or
you can speak with? a nurse or anybody that you
have currently as clients or ask your clients
do you know anybody because there could be something
going on with your own gut health your own inside
of your body because eventually these cycles
they'll come out you're you know they always
say what's inside is going to come out through
our hair skin and nails it's the way it's going
to show up i think that's something you could
do too is talk to someone else about it and it
could even be that I think when it's a point
of like something that bothers you and it's a
sensitive topic, you become more concerned and
stressed about it. And it almost makes it bigger.
So kind of just like being kind to yourself,
being gentle with the way you talk about yourself
and you talk about your skin. It's like how would
you talk to a friend or a client? But what would
you say to them if they were feeling what you
were feeling about your skin? Having that kind
self -talk because I do think that it it just
helps shift your mindset as well Yeah, and like
you said, I think it's you're gonna be more Relatable
to a lot of people and I think that's a part
of it Especially if you were one of the ones
that have always had an issue with breakouts
because it's out there, right? It just is what
happens, but there are there is solutions to
it It's a puzzle and you got to dive hard into
it to figure it out and don't give up and be
you know, compassion with yourself, being consistent
with yourself, not to panic, all these things
that you'd probably say to your client. And let's
try this and you know, it's gonna take time and
you know, all these things like that. But I think
that's a big part of it that you can help somebody
else do that as well. Absolutely. And we want
to hear from you. If you've gone through a similar
experience, what's worked for you? What have
you done to help yourself through it? Or what
kind of advice would you give as statisticians
in this situation? Let us know in the comments.
Thanks for listening to Beauty Babble.