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.
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 a 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 underestimate how valuable consultation is to achieve the most effective outcome.
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 overlooked 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.
When analysing the skin, we 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 overproduction or a dull matte appearance from lack of sebum. Using the majority rule of sebum production will assist us in 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 snapback being a sign of slower ageing, loose or drooping areas can denote premature or advanced ageing characteristics.
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.
