What is Your Client’s Skin Trying to Tell Them?

Your clients’ skin is always changing — and it might need different things from one day to the next. And even when your instructions on taking care of your clients’ skin is ingrained in them, there still might be times it just doesn’t seem to listen. Common skin concerns like redness, fine lines, hyperpigmentation, and dehydration can all be signals that the skin is experiencing a more profound form of damage. No matter how much we listen to our skin, sometimes the signals it’s giving us might be a little too quiet for us to hear. Or, at least, until now. Here’s a deeper look at four skin signals you and your clients should be on the lookout for.

Redness

The Cause
Showing off a little more than just a coy flush? Your client may be experiencing inflammation, which can be caused by certain skin conditions, or to common triggers like your environment, stress or even diet.

The Solution
Seek out products with ingredients that help to soothe the skin. A few recommendations:
• Gallic Acid from Japanese Cornelia Cherry: Rich in antioxidants, it helps to protect
stressed skin against free radicals, soothe, and reduce the appearance of redness.
• Products formulated with Oat and botanical actives to help minimize discomfort.
• Licorice Root and Lavender: Both of these extracts help to soothe and calm the skin.

Fine Lines and Wrinkles

The Cause
As skin ages, it experiences a slowing of the natural processes which help its firmness, tautness and radiance. Visible signs of premature skin aging appear as a result of hormone changes, UV exposure and more, which weaken skin’s collagen (which keeps skin firm) and elastin (which keeps skin bouncing back) in skin as it ages, resulting in the formation of visible fine lines and wrinkles.

The Solution
Look for skincare products with ingredients that target early signs of premature skin aging. Mannose-6-Phosphate detects collagen weakness and acts to smooth, firm and improve the look of fine lines and wrinkles. Peptides help to support skin resilience and tone. Antioxidants help defend against free radical damage to protect the skin’s surface.

Dark Spots

The Cause
Did you know that unbalanced skin tone can make a person look more than 20 years older? Dark spots, also known as hyperpigmentation, are caused by the irregular production of melanin, the brown or reddish pigment in skin. Certain triggers, like sun exposure, cause this irregular production, in addition to other causes like hormonal factors (birth control pills and pregnancy) and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (like popping a pimple or scarring after a cut).

The Solution
Skincare products that help to curb excess melanin production and fade the appearance of existing dark spots will be your new best friend. Rich in Arabinoxylo-Oligosaccharides, Hydrolyzed Wheat Flour acts to brighten skin, helping to reduce the appearance of dark spots. Hexylresorcinol is a potent active that can lead to decreased production of melanin, and Niacinamide has been found to significantly decrease hyperpigmentation. Both Niacinamide and Hexylresorcinol help fade the look of uneven pigmentation for more luminous skin.

Dehydration

The Cause
Finding more rough, dry patches than you’d like to? A damaged moisture barrier (AKA the epidermis, or the outermost layer of skin) might be the root cause. When the skin barrier is weakened — which can happen as a result of things like normal skin aging, genetics, over-cleansing and UV exposure — a whole host of issues popping up:

• Dryness
• Dullness
• Redness
• Sensitivity
• Breakouts

This weakness starts to occur when the lipid barrier, which is mainly composed of three lipids (ceramides, cholesterol and fatty acids), starts to break down and crack, allowing moisture to escape and irritants to enter.

The Solution
A great skincare regimen, diet and drinking water can all help replenish skin’s hydration! Skincare products formulated with Hyaluronic Acid are especially good choices. Cucumber and Vitamin E are two other ingredients that help bring added moisture to skin in need of hydration.

If your clients are experiencing these skin concerns, you can specifically tailor your skincare regimen recommendations to address them.