Back to the Beginning
by Annet King
Published by Skin Inc. February, 2007
It’s not a coincidence that this year’s column begins in February, when every store-window in town is filled with the frilly pink hearts of St. Valentine’s Day. That’s because this article for the new skin therapist isn’t about romance – but it is about truly following your heart.
We’re dedicating the next four GOOD HANDS columns, a whole year’s worth, to closing the gap, educationally speaking, for skin therapists. And what does that have to do with following your heart? Good question. The answer is that education – learning – also requires passion. “Passion” comes from the Latin word for suffering. It’s true! And while your career as a skin care professional shouldn’t be a shrine to pain, success does require sacrifice and hard choices. Are you ready?
It’s like this: if you are finishing your undergraduate studies and you are about the take your licensing exam – congratulations! – be prepared to make the commitment for at least two more years of intensive postgraduate education. The reason to make that commitment is that the education requirement here in America is lower than it is in the UK and Europe at large. This means that your counterparts overseas – many of whom come to this country to work – carry with them at least two or three years more of full-time, advanced education, which they obtained as part of their undergraduate training. Skin care professionals in other major international markets are simply required to possess greater expertise much earlier in their careers. They also must pass many more practical and written examinations to be able gain a recognized qualification and go on to practice skin care. This is not said to sting, but simply to direct. You’ve got to make the commitment now and understand that your real education begins after you get your license.
The rate of annual burn-out in our industry is astronomical – our founder Jane Wurwand places it somewhere above 95%! And most of this attrition occurs early on, within the first year or two after passing the state board exam. This occurs for several related reasons, all of which will be prevented by committing to continuing your studies.
1 –You feel isolated. Going straight into a work-setting (which for a skin therapist generally means working alone in a small room) when you’re extremely green is not confidence-building. Of course you have huge potential, but your skills are not fine-tuned yet. How could they be? You may make mistakes during the treatment, or simply don’t know yet how to offer a superior experience to your clients and this may result in client dissatisfaction, ranging from mild to miffed – and ultimately in zero client retention. This does not feel good on either end of the professional equation and does not help your long-term professional prospects.
2 – You don’t network. This is an extension of the isolation: you don’t market yourself and you don’t have opportunities to develop new clientele. You may not be busy enough at your primary job, so you may take a second part-time job. Disenchantment and burn-out are right around the corner.
3 – You get distracted. If you feel that you aren’t gaining traction as a new therapist, you may start floundering and grasping for new, trendy, exotic treatments to attract business. This is the origin of the “novelty” skin care practice, where so-called treatments focus on bizarre ingredients (gold, caviar, tourmalines) which offer no scientific basis for their use in skin care, as well as what may gently be called bells and whistles. Some of these menu offerings are simply “feel-good” sessions, involving rose-petals and chocolate. At the other end of the spectrum: an over-reliance on hardware, machinery and dubious high-tech contraptions promising to erase cellulite, miraculously “slim” the thighs, or eradicate wrinkles overnight. Or maybe you’ll start offering Tarot readings between skin treatments.
Please.
All of these are usually acts of desperation. Generally, they are harmless, except that they waste your clients’ money and undermine the credibility of the individual skin therapist, the facility where the therapist is employed and the skin care professional at large, that’s all! And once the menu clutters up with wacky, whimsical specialties instead of the rock-solid foundation of skin examination and condition-analysis, cleansing, massage, exfoliation, treatment and prescription for home-care and product use, your days as a skin care therapist are numbered. You’ve effectively short-circuited your own success.
Let’s go back to the beginning. There are no shortcuts, but there is the smart way – and the other way – to begin:
- You need to have a basic understanding of the skin’s structure and function. Your undergraduate training touched on it, but you certainly can’t know it all simply because you’ve successfully passed your state board exam.
- You must comprehend the origins of common skin conditions and how to treat them. You must also become truly familiar with identifying and discussing every skin disorder and anomaly, all requiring fluency in anatomy, physiology, biology and ingredient chemistry.
- Then, you need to move on to mastering the nuances of electrical modalities for the face. From here, you may be drawn into working with the undeniably lucrative services which comprise the medispa boom (primarily focused on resurfacing procedures and injectibles). Never offer a client a service which you cannot fully explain, especially a service which involves hard, cold steel and electricity!
- You must explore the role of nutrition and other elements from the “wellness” camp. This may lead to more specific study of holistic therapies, such as Ayurveda, Thai yoga therapy, acupressure, reflexology, aromatherapy and manual lymphatic drainage.
- You need to understand how the day-to-day operation of a skin care business works, beginning with the fundamentals of client service, retailing, ordering and inventory; this is true whether you plan to work for someone else or aspire to be on your own some day.
- Marketing yourself as a “product” or a “brand” is critical to your future success. Step outside the skin care context and look at yourself objectively. What do you offer that’s uniquely desirable in your profession? It may take a while for you to clearly identify this USP, or Unique Selling Proposition. The best way to start is by observing someone who’s already doing it.
1 – The Golden Rule of Professional Success: Find a Mentor (more Golden Rules to be revealed in future installments of this column!)
What you must do is to find a mentor, a seasoned, wise professional who shares your passion for the science, craft and art of professional skin care. You will find this mentor in your advanced classes – The International Dermal Institute is filled with them!
The ideal mentor is someone who, quite obviously, is successful in the profession. Your mentor may or may not be an entrepreneur. So much publicity is given to the glamour of entrepreneurialism these days, but the fact is that some people are happier and better off soldiering under someone else, at least in the beginning of their careers. It is a common pitfall to think that you have to jump immediately into independence and open your own business! This is a bit like deciding that you’ll open your own restaurant simply because you’ve learned to cook a decent omelet. Of course, the omelet is a fine start. But there needs to be a bit more to the business plan than whipping up a few eggs.
Your mentor may be older than you are, although not necessarily. A true mentor is happy to share knowledge, so look for someone who participates actively in class, offers ideas, and seems open to having their brain picked. Since this person is successful in the business end of skin care as well as on the theoretical side, once you have established mutual interest, offer yourself as an apprentice. Work beside your mentor, in the treatment room, on the retail floor, at check-in, at the register. Observe, perform whatever task has been assigned (okay, delegated) to you, and ask lots of questions after the glowing, smiling client has left the premises. Keep a journal and write down everything that happens during your apprenticeship. Review these notes weekly. You should be paid for this phase, but don’t be greedy about it. Forget about eBay, Heatherette, Baby Phat handbags and fab sushi dinners out for a while (remember, we DID say there would be SOME pain and suffering!). Be willing to put in more hours than you’re paid for, as long as you are learning.
This column, intended for the fresh hands and beginner minds which are just obtaining their licenses, is also a call to action to those of you who are potential mentors. By the way, the term “beginner mind” is not a put-down – on the contrary, Zen masters strive to always stay in this open, alive, yielding place of receptivity and fluidity! Back to you potential mentors – you know who you are. Just as the newly licensed therapist must be in a state of keen, alert engagement, it’s to the benefit of our entire industry for you also to keep your antennae up. Pay attention when a promising new therapist asks a really good question in class. Offer your expertise generously, with the assurance that someday, that newcomer will do the same for someone else.
The most essential mission of a mentor is to keep the novice on the heart’s path, and perhaps the deepest lesson of pursuing education is learning a kind of courage. “Courage”: the word is medieval French, derived from the Greek and Latin root-words for “heart”. Therefore, to become “discouraged” literally means to lose our hearts, and to lose touch with our most heartfelt essence. The heart’s way may not always be smooth and easy – it may, in fact, seem strewn with obstacles at times. But if it this path is where we truly belong, we are able to bear the setbacks, learn from the challenges, and continue traveling on, because we are on the only path we know by heart.The use of this document is governed by our terms of use.