Spring 2020 marks ten years of working as an esthetician for me! In January 2010 I graduated from the Aveda Institute in Chicago, took my Illinois state board test shortly after, and scored an “esthetician in training” gig at a local spa. I have to admit, after graduating from esthetics school and passing my big test I thought I was a skincare pro. While I had the knowledge, I would learn over the years that experience with a wide variety of people, skin types, conditions, products, and treatments is what gives the most valuable skincare wisdom. Being an esthetician to me means being able to keep learning and adding to my skincare and wellness knowledge so I can share it and use it to help people have beautiful healthy skin. Being in the beauty business is exciting because after a decade of work I feel like there are still endless products, treatments, and new things to learn about. I will always continue to share with you and work to make your skin its happiest and healthiest.

To prep for this blog post, I wrote down every skincare tip I could think of that I wish I had known when I was starting out as an esthetician. Then I narrowed it down to 10 skincare tips that I think would benefit all of you the most. Here we go!

Your cleanser matters.

You need a cleanser that works for your skin and your skin type in your routine. If you’re using the wrong type of cleanser your skin won’t function as it should and the rest of the products in your skincare routine can’t do their work correctly. Dry skin, sensitive skin, small bumps or breakouts, clogged pores, and uneven tone can all be a result of using the wrong cleanser. Work with your esthetician, skincare specialist, or reach out to me to find the best cleanser for your skin type and desired results. Facial cleansers that I like for ALL SKIN TYPES are the scrub me balancing treatment bar and PCA facial wash; both of these are gentle enough but still cleansing to work for a wide range of skin. Either of these are good choices if you’d like to play it safe with a nice healthy/balancing cleanse. If your skin is really sensitive feeling, uneven, or off-balance switching up your cleanser could be something that helps improve it.

scrub me secret: here are some ingredients I recommend to stay away from for your skin’s health. if you see these on your cleanser’s label I would recommend choosing a different product. Propylene glycol, fragrance or perfume, Polyethylene glycol, and sodium lauryl sulfate. I find these ingredients to cause skin irritation and are just not great for skin health in general.

Sensitivity “breakouts” are often mistaken as acne.

This is something that I’ve seen a lot in the treatment room. Skin that is red, irritated, and has small bumps that look like pimples and the client is treating it with acne products. Since clearing the red inflamed bumps is usually the main concern I can totally understand why one would think that acne products like an oil clearing cleanser, clay mask, or breakout clearing spot treatment are the right avenue. Using these overly drying and harsh products on your already sensitive skin can actually make things worse. These inflamed spots or red-sensitive bumps can more easily be treated with a calming mask, spot treatment, or gentle cleanser vs. acne products. When the skin’s barrier is more balanced and the skin is less inflamed overall these red sensitivity bumps will start to clear up.

scrub me secret: Oats in skincare are really a miracle ingredient for redness and inflamed bumps. I put colloidal oats in both my soothing powder mask and balancing treatment bar. I’ve found that skincare that contains oat has dramatic results in reducing redness in a short amount of time. You can even grind up whole oats at home in a blender or food processor, add a small amount of water and make yourself a raw oat mask to treat areas of inflammation.

Dark spots need to be treated/faded gradually.

Pigmentation spots from the sun, age, or scarring can ‘t be treated aggressively, this rarely ever works to erase the spots and sometimes can end up making pigmentation settle in more. In my experience, the best results come from treating the skin with smaller doses of pigmentation brightening ingredients and treatments over a longer span of time vs. attacking the pigmentation with a combination of peels, brightening serums, and exfoliating treatments all at once. I usually have my clients using a dark spot treatment serum and exfoliating serum at home only a couple of times a week when targeting dark spots; in the treatment room, I’ll treat the dark spots with pigment lightening peels and enzymes once a month. Results usually come after a couple of months but the wait is worth it! I think treating dark pigmentation spots this way leads to better, long-lasting results.

scrub me secret: this is so key when you’re working on fading and preventing dark spots on your skin. Protect your skin from the sun! When you are treating your skin with exfoliating serums and pigmentation brightening treatments your skin is going to be extra sensitive to the sun. UVA/UVB rays will not only cause more pigmentation in other areas but they will also damage the places that you are working on brightening and undo all your hard work.

Consistency is key.

This tip seemed most fitting to be placed directly after the dark spot lightening section because being consistent with your treatments, home care, and sun protection is really the only way you’re going to fade away and keep away hyperpigmentation. The same goes for anti-aging, acne prevention, and any other skin goals you have. Work with your esthetician (or me) to create an at-home routine that works for you. You can add or subtract steps from this routine when you desire new or different results. Stay consistent with your monthly esthetician visits and your home care and I promise you will be so happy with your skin. If your skin is happy and in a healthy state the treatments you receive from your esthetician will give you such radiant results.

scrub me secret: I LOVE doing a chemical peel or deep enzyme treatment on a client with skin that is in a really healthy state. When skin is functioning properly it’s able to really process all the ingredients from the peel or enzyme correctly. The skin ends up looking so smooth and radiant.

A chemical peel isn’t as intense as you would think.

Getting a chemical peel from an esthetician is different than getting a deep peel from your dermatologist or plastic surgeon. After receiving a peel from an esthetician your skin will look or feel slightly red or sensitive for the following 24 hours or so. By slightly sensitive I mean very slightly, usually just a tad pink if anything. With some peel or enzyme treatments, you won’t even see any skin flaking or peeling at all. Your skin might just feel a little rough and sensitive during the healing time that lasts about a week or less. Treatments that do make your skin “peel” result in skin lightly flaking off in small sections a few days after the peel. The “peeling” will look like very dry or chapped skin flaking off. This can usually be concealed with a heavy facial moisturizer and is not very visible to other people. This skin flaking lasts anywhere from 3-6 days and is totally manageable. Don’t feel like you have to clear your schedule for a peel treatment you can definitely still be out and about as long as you are using your moisturizer and SPF.

scrub me secret: I’ve found that a thicker tinted moisturizer is better than using face powder or foundation when your skin is flaking from a chemical peel. Normal face makeup or powder tends to show the flaking more than camouflage it. Something tinted that’s moisturizing will soften and hide the peeling while giving a little coverage.

Get in tune with Your diet, it affects your skin.

One of my most popular blog posts is “Take Control of Your Cheeks”. Inflammation and breakouts in the cheek area are most often connected to diet. When certain allergies and dietary sensitivities are triggered it can cause these reactions in our skin, especially the cheek area. If struggling with active breakouts or inflammation I suggest keeping a food journal to see if you can pinpoint any certain foods that seem to cause inflammation or any reoccurring foods in your diet that you think your body is sensitive to. Adding more water and nutrient-rich produce like leafy greens and berries to your diet can help improve skin’s healthy overall.

scrub me secret: My blog post “Inner Wellness, Outer Beauty.” dives a little deeper into diet and skin. I have some amazing skin-loving smoothie recipes in my “Smoothies for Healthy Skin!” blog post.

Facial massage is so beneficial.

During my first few years working as an esthetician, I thought that the massage portion of the facial was for relaxation. Little did I know that there were different facial massage modalities that could lift, de-puff, and sculpt the face. Throughout the years I’ve learned the real benefits of facial massage way beyond the relaxation (and yes facial massage is amazingly relaxing). I use it in my treatments to drain lymph that creates puffiness, iron out fine lines, lift tissue, and release muscle tension that causes sagging. I encourage all my clients to incorporate facial massage into their at-home routine a couple of times a week. You can use hands, a jade roller, or gua sha stone.

scrub me secret: I just finished up the Green beauty academy gua sha course and I’ve learned so much I now have tons of new knowledge and facial massage techniques that I can use to give our faces some fabulous results! Changes to my scrub me skincare studio treatment menu coming soon.

Anti-inflammatory/calming products are underrated.

Calming and anti-inflammatory products are some of my go-to items during facials. Inflamed pimple? Oats, chamomile, or a product with 1% hydrocortisone helps reduce redness and size of the pimple so we can decongest later. Combination skin with uneven tone? Try calming CBD skincare to bring some balance to the skin. Sensitive skin types or skin with any type of redness can benefit from anti-inflammatory products. I think a calming toner, mask, or moisturizer can add beneficial properties to anyone’s skincare regimen.

scrub me secret: I often recommend the scrub me soothing powder mask to clients with acne. The soothing mask has a healing clay that works to clear unwanted oils while the oats, chamomile, and arnica take away redness and start healing.

There are many different exfoliation options.

There are A LOT of different ways to exfoliate your skin. Finding what works best for you starts with figuring out what you want from your exfoliant. Do you want it to buff away dry skin & stimulate circulation? Then a mechanical exfoliation like a face scrub or a foreo facial tool is what you’re looking for. Something that actually physically scrubs your skin. Would you like your exfoliant to brighten skin and stimulate cell turnover? If so, an exfoliating enzyme or AHA serum is a better choice for you. These serums, fluids, or masks will tingle a little bit when applied to the skin and use their ingredients to exfoliate skin and provide results. Both types of exfoliation have a lot of options for products so work with your esthetician to choose what works for you. For mechanical exfoliation, I like the scrub me antioxidant powder mask/nourishing serum combo because I made it for all skin types. The PCA revitalizing papaya enzyme is a nice enzyme to try because it’s gentle yet effective in exfoliating and brightening.

scrub me secret: there are also products that are a combo of mechanical and acid exfoliation. If your skin type isn’t sensitive you can definitely experiment with trying a product like this to see how your skin likes it. I like Kalos AHA/BHA exfoliating cleanser, it gave great results for my dry skin type. It made it feel radiant.

Take care of the skin on your body too. Don’t neglect it.

I started scrub me in 2013 with this thought in mind. I wanted to start treating the skin on my body as well as the skin on my face. The skin on our bodies is made of live tissue that needs care, stimulation, nutrients, and hydration. We have fewer pores per square inch on our bodies vs. our faces so we don’t encounter the same set of problems in both places but this skin still needs attention. Two things that I think are a total must are a nice soap for your body and SPF. Having a body soap that protects your skin’s health will save your skin from damage or premature aging. SPF should be applied daily to areas that are subjected to UVA/UVB rays; for most this is shoulders, neck, ears, hands. Exfoliating your skin a few times a week and treating it to a deep hydration or body oil helps keep skin firm, soft, and youthful. I suggest using a salt scrub containing a nourishing oil 3-4 times a week.

scrub me secret: Your esthetician can do a lot for the skin on your body in the treatment room as well as recommend great home care. Back facial treatments and body polishes are very popular at scrub me skin care studio. My blog post “Spa Treatments for Your Body.” goes over some popular beneficial skin care treatments you can get for your body.

BONUS words of wisdom: SPF!

I didn’t give SPF it’s own little section above because I trust all my blog readers so much to know that sun protection is the most important part of the skincare routine! We need to protect all our hard work by not letting these damaging UVA/UVB rays degrade our beautiful skin. My blog posts “Protect Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself.”, “10 Tanning Bed Facts You’ll want to know.”, & “New Years Resolution to Sun Protection.” dive deeper into why sun protection is important.

These are my own tips, tricks, and words of wisdom as a licensed esthetician. Please consult your physician for any dietary, allergy, or health concerns.