Hyperpigmentation, or darkened spots of skin, is an extremely common skin condition that affects many people, and is usually harmless. However, even if it is harmless, you’ll find that a lot of clients seek treatment for their dark spots. As a professional esthetician, you need to be able to properly educate your clients on how to deal with existing hyperpigmentation, and help them to prevent dark spots in the future.
What is hyperpigmentation?
As previously stated, hyperpigmentation occurs when spots of your skin become darker than the pigment around it. It happens for a wide variety of reasons, but fortunately some of those reasons are preventable!
The two types of hyperpigmentation and their causes
Regardless of the type of hyperpigmentation your client is experiencing, the darker pigment forms due to an overproduction of melanin in their skin. In some people, this happens as a result of hormone imbalance. Hyperpigmentation is a side effect of puberty, pregnancy, birth control, and menopause because of the hormone changes that happen during these times in our lives.
The other kind is called post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. When your skin experiences trauma for any reason (irritation, burning, bruising, acne, etc.), your skin cells produce more melanin in response. Similarly, constant ingrown hairs have the same effect in darkening your skin pigment. After the irritation, bruising, or burn heals you are left with a slightly darkened patch of skin.
Dark spots and the aging process
Over time, our skin thins out as it ages. When this happens, the number of cells containing melanin decreases as well. To compensate for this, those remaining cells grow in size leading to dark spots. While aging is an inevitable part of life, good skincare and a regular routine helps to reduce these signs of aging.
Client concerns about hyperpigmentation and waxing
A common misconception heard by many estheticians and waxers is that hyperpigmentation is a side effect of waxing. This isn’t necessarily false, but it depends heavily on both you and the quality of your wax. An experienced, licensed esthetician should be confident in their waxing ability and should be able to ease their client’s fears and concerns.
Poor waxing technique
The number one reason people circulate hyperpigmentation as a side effect of waxing is due to poor technique. There are a million things that can go wrong when an inexperienced person tries to wax themselves at home.
If you don’t allow your wax to cool after melting but before skin application, you may end up burning yourself. An esthetician knows what type of wax to use on what area of the body, and their product quality is generally much better than what a home waxer orders off of Amazon. Even the technique of wax removal can result in removing the top layers of skin when performed wrong. Use a pre-wax oil to help create a protective barrier between the skin and wax. Products such as ItalWax Lemon Oil create a prep barrier to help prevent lifting of the skin.
Save yourself the possibility of these side effects, and always go to a trusted esthetician for your waxing appointments. For estheticians: make sure your client knows about these side effects, but assure them of your capability.
Protecting skin after a waxing appointment
Another possibility as to why your client would believe waxing causes hyperpigmentation is not taking proper precautions right after their appointment. Skin becomes extra sensitive to the sun’s rays after waxing, so sunscreen becomes very important. Clients should avoid the beach and other long outdoor activities for a couple of days after their session.
Educating clients to take care of their skin
As a skin care expert, your clients look to you to provide reliable information about aftercare and routine. Keep learning throughout your career, and stay on top of studies and new treatments to achieve the best results for your clients.
Prevention is better than a cure
For those clients that come to you concerned about getting dark spots as a result of waxing: relieve their fears. It’s much easier to take steps to prevent hyperpigmentation rather than having to fix an existing concern.
When it comes to clients that worry about worsening their hyperpigmentation, you have a chance to help them! There are multiple products that they can incorporate into their routine to help hyperpigmentation and its root causes.
Products to recommend your clients
If your studio carries lightening creams, you should recommend one for your clients to bring home. Additionally, after their wax, ItalWax’s Ingrown Hair Therapy helps eliminate ingrowns as hair begins to come back. We offer the lotion and paste, depending on what waxing service your client received. Last but not least, always remind your clients about the importance of sunscreen. Using sunscreen throughout the day drastically reduces damage from UV rays.
Bare Beauty Wax Supply carries everything your waxing studio needs for success! Come see the perks of purchasing with us, including a loyalty program and free shipping on large orders. We’re the favorite waxing supplier of many estheticians for a reason!