It was in one of the swanky ballrooms at The Drake in Oakbrook, IL, wearing a name tag that I convened with a room full of estheticians for a class on holistic practices, wellness integration and MD skin care. Rene Torres, Osmosis’ director of education and a licensed esthetician herself, kicked off the event with a series of light stretches to get the blood flowing and by polling the room. How many returning students? (A handful! Some of whom Torres remembered by face and name, going back years!) How many first-timers? (Quite a few, many of whom are new entrepreneurs as well.) How many have successfully integrated wellness into their offerings? (About half—not a surprise given the Midwest’s more med-heavy spa topography, compared to the West Coast’s more broadly embraced holistic approach.)
Given the prevalent aesthetic flavor in the area, Osmosis’ class was a refreshing splash, enriched by the spirit of connectivity that Torres brought to the day’s curriculum, and that forms the lifeblood of the industry. While Torres brought insight on how lifestyle choices show up in our skin, mapping and Osmosis’ MD line, estheticians, ever the enthusiastic and avid students, grappled with the material, painting a detailed picture of a day in the life of a working esthetician: how do you educate clients on a holistic approach to skin care? How do you navigate client education when there are other influences and professionals at work?
“You focus on what someone’s willing to do,” says Torres. “Are you open? Are you open to change?” Education is a crucial element in being a skin and spa professional. You educate clients on the treatments you give them, you educate them on proper home care so that they can maintain their skin on their own in between appointments, you educate them when they buy from you, so they go home with safe, effective products, and as the skin care conversation becomes more nuanced, and the picture of good skin and total health becomes more complete, building up a network of trusted professionals like dieticians, dermatologists, and other health and wellness professionals will become critical for education as the next era of skin care quickly approaches.
