What’s your recipe for explaining the damaging effects of sun exposure to teenagers who love to tan?

I grew up with a swimming pool in my backyard. Every summer during my teenage years, my girlfriends and I would spend our days out by the pool. My friends loved to bake in the sun with baby oil. I was too active to lie there for very long and I believe that was my saving grace.

Now at 53, my skin has weathered the signs of time much better than the friends that I grew up with. I am quite sure that we would not have listened to anyone back then who tried to tell us that being tan would play havoc on how our skin would age. Years later, when I worked for a dermatologist and a facial reconstructive surgeon, I got to see firsthand what sun damage did to people. I assisted in reconstructing noses that were riddled with cancer and watched women go through complete dermabrasions to rid the years of sunbathing. Today, I feel adamant about teaching my clients, my client’s kids, my nieces and nephews, my next door neighbor, and anyone else who will listen to me about the aesthetic and medical effects of basking in the sun.
I have seen some absolutely beautiful women who have angelically white skin. Skin care professionals should teach teenagers to see this as the ideal instead of skin that is baked to a leather-like texture. They may not thank us now, but when they reach their 50s… you better believe they will thank us then!

Shelley Hancock is a 25 year veteran in the aesthetic fice in 1987 and purchased her first skin care center one year later. While growing that center, Hancock spent one day a week at a plastic surgeon’s office to keep her hands in the medical end of the industry. She opened Real Transformation Treatment and Training Center in 2010. Although she still sees clients, she spends most of her time helping her fellow aestheticians take their businesses to the next level. Hancock is considered a trusted aesthetic advisor by the aestheticians that have worked with her. contactme@shelleyhancock.com

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