I am often asked the question, “What equipment should I invest in?”, by colleagues who are new to the industry or those trying to decide what piece of equipment they should add next to their current inventory of modalities. My response is always, “What do you want to achieve?”
Our equipment choices should be based on how the chosen equipment will support the treatment offering that we provide. What is the main focus of your business? Is it high tech and clinical or wholistically based? Who are your clients and what are their skin concerns? How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
If we take for example one of our treatment offerings, let’s say a skin care treatment, what type of equipment should we include and how will the use of different modalities incorporated enhance our offering?
If we take a look at the process of a skin care treatment, we can determine what equipment is needed to enhance our offering(s).
THE SKIN CARE TREATMENT PROCESS:
Skin Observation
More important than the skin analysis is the skin observation. The skin observation is not only conducted during the beginning of our treatments but continued throughout the service. The changes we notice throughout the treatment will have a huge impact on our future skin care treatments and home care recommendations. I share my observations with my clients of their skin as we go through the treatment. How it is responding, what changes I am seeing, and how well a product is working on their skin are all important points to discuss through the process.
Diagnostic Equipment to Enhance the Skin Observation
The Magnifying Lamp
The magnifying lamp is used to support the analysis (observation) of the skin and allows us to point out key imperfections that we want to address. Do we explain to the client what we are seeing and how we will approach the different conditions based on our observations? Do we give the client a mirror to look at as we point out their skin concerns and gain agreement on what is important to address?
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Nina Curtis is the founder and president of the Nile Institute, ‘A Source Vitál’, located in West Hollywood, Calif. and Curtis Communications. Known as the “Aesthetician’s aesthetician”, Curtis has a 25 plus year history in the professional skin care industry, where she is respected as an innovative skin care specialist, educator, lecturer, and businesswoman. Originally licensed as a cosmetologist, Curtis has obtained certification in Aromatherapy, Reflexology, Acupressure, Energy Modalities, Reiki, and Color Light Therapy. Curtis has trained throughout the U.S., France, Germany, Australia, and England. She received her Bachelor degree of Science in Management and her MBA from Pepperdine University and is also a graduate of the Lynwood Business Institute. For more information, you may contact Curtis via e-mail at curtiscomm@earthlink.net.
