Myths and truths every spa professional should know
As a professional working in any kind of spa, it goes without saying that you should have more knowledge than the average person regarding skin care products. Many of these products have become the subject of controversy in the last few years because of several reasons, including false marketing, false information, and negative side effects, among many others.
There are many myths going around about skin care products that you’ve most likely heard a few times yourself. Today, we’re going to take a look at three of those myths and give you as much truth about them as we can to help you better understand the products you use on your customers.
Myth #1: Our products are free of preservatives
Many companies claim that their skin care products are 100% natural and free of any harmful preservatives, and to great effect too. In many cases, these claims are outright lies fabricated to convince you into buying their products – let’s take a look at the truth behind this myth.
The truth:
Most skin products are water-based, keep that in mind. It’s impossible to create a water-based skin care product that has a long shelf life; because of their makeup, these skin products (like gel and lotion) are vulnerable to moulds, yeast and bacteria build-up over a short period of time. If the skin products you’re shopping for contain water in their formula and claim to be preservative-free, you may want to take another look at the ingredients before using them.
There are a few exceptions of course, namely in skin care products that aren’t water-based such as oil and bath salt; we have both of these items in our catalogue, ready and waiting to make your skin to-die-for. Check them out!
Myth #2: All vitamins and antioxidants used in skin care products provide benefits to the skin
This one is used often to hype skin care products, regardless of their true quality and health benefits. Let’s debunk it!
The truth:
In some cases, skin care companies that make products claiming to have health benefits because of their vitamin and antioxidant properties make these claims to hype their products. The truth is that many of these skin care products contain synthetic vitamins as opposed to natural ones; synthetic vitamins don’t provide the health benefits natural vitamins contain, thus making false the claims that many of these companies make.
Myth #3: All Seaweed, Mud, and Clay-based products are beneficial for detoxification
This one isn’t as much a farce as the other two myths we’ve covered, but it does still have some fallacy to it, let’s take a look.
The truth:
While seaweeds, muds and clays are beneficial for your skin, the extent to which they provide you with the healthy goodness your skin needs are dependent on a few factors, such as:
- The source and quality of the raw product;
- How these nutritional ingredients are extracted.
For example, some companies dry/dehydrate their seaweed by using processes that involve high temperatures and pressures. This causes the plants to lose most (if not, all of their nutritional value. When it comes to mud and clay-based products, many of these skin care products don’t contain particles that are small enough to penetrate the inner layers of your skin for true and effective detoxification; the particles are mostly only good for basic exfoliation and removing impurities on the surface layer of your skin.
The bottom line?
When all is said and done, it’s on your onus to make sure the products you’re referred to actually contain what their packaging claims them to contain. You should never hesitate to do your due diligence when researching the products that you think are best for your skin – this is your health we’re talking about, so there’s no reason to make any compromises. If you’d like more information about this topic, don’t be too shy to reach out to us, we look forward to hearing from you.
