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Finally got a stubborn client to stop over-exfoliating after three months of gentle talks. | Estheticians - Discusd

Finally got a stubborn client to stop over-exfoliating after three months of gentle talks.

She was using a scrub and a chemical exfoliant every single day, thinking more was better. I showed her photos of her skin barrier from our first visit compared to now, and the difference in redness was huge. It clicked for her when I said, 'Your skin isn't dirty, it's just asking for a break.' Has anyone else found a good way to explain the 'less is more' idea without sounding like you're scolding?

3 comments

3 Comments

lisa9763mo ago

Is it just me or does ryan_nelson sound like he's trying to sell his own scrub brand? I had a client exactly like yours, swore up and down that sanding her face off was the only way. Took me showing her a side by side photo of her pores from when she was gentle versus when she was scrubbing like crazy. The gentle ones actually looked smaller because they weren't all inflamed and angry. I finally got through to her by saying 'your skin is a garden, not a driveway.' She started treating it that way and now she's the one telling other people to chill out.

ryan_nelson5mo ago

Scrubbing every day works great for me, my skin has never looked better. People just have different skin types and some of us can handle more. The whole skin barrier thing gets overblown, it’s just marketing to sell gentler products. If her skin was red maybe she needed a different scrub, not to stop completely. Telling clients to do less seems like bad advice when they’re paying for results.

terry_bailey355mo ago

Totally get where you're coming from, and honestly you're right that some people can handle a lot (lucky them, my skin would fall off). But pushing that as general advice is risky because most people aren't experts on their own skin type. They see "works great" and ignore the "for me" part, then wreck their barrier trying to copy it. The red skin is usually the first warning sign of damage, not a sign to try a different scrub. Sometimes the best result a client pays for is learning that less force actually fixes more problems in the long run.