My Beauty Battle: A Purge Sesh. Kinda.

I've been doing lots of research over the past few weeks and I've been having some difficulty with my findings, not because they're hard to understand, because I was disappointed. I've always had an intense desire to understand how and why things work, rather than just assuming and parrot-learning what is told to me by product trainers, managers, lecturers, learning manuals and some textbooks. This was seen as a weakness when I worked in salons/spas because product sales are important, and I refused to sell anything I didn't understand or believe in. I've made my target ONCE, and that was because there was a mistake in my contract regarding the formula/amount of what said target was. I've never earned commission: it's often worked out in relation to the target. However, I had a high number of return/regular clients, and I've never sold them anything I didn't believe they needed. I don't hate product houses, I obviously don't hate the cosmetics industry, but I strongly dislike purposefully misleading information regarding our skin care "needs". I also strongly dislike it when brands/product houses don't share ingredient information, which will hopefully be sorted out by the CPA over the next few years. The thing that struck me the most, though, is that some product trainers believed so wholeheartedly in the brand they represent (nothing wrong) that they hardly
(or never) question it. (Something wrong.) I once asked a trainer a question about the ingredients, order of ingredients and percentage of ingredients in a product, and she told me that it didn't matter because the product worked. In hindsight (and this is an assumption), she probably got trained just as she was training us, sharing her notes that she had taken during her training, without question. At first I felt a little stupid about it: how could I not understand how it works, how could I not understand how those ingredients do what they do, in that combination. But I soon realized, "Hey, trainers are there for a reason: to provide training and adequate information for me to be able to understand and, therefore, use products correctly and explain them correctly to the client, should they be interested to know more about it." Out of the nine brands I'm qualified to work with, 2 trainers have welcomed my questions. To give you an idea. Scary, huh?

I've known (since my first year of studies) that the cosmetics industry can be contradictory and divergent. This was especially apparent during product training. One brand saying "x is the best thing you can use for y skin type" and another brand saying "x is possibly the worst thing you can do for y skin type, it's much better to use products with c and d." I'm sure there are similar contradictions in any given industry. And I can only imagine the confusion and frustration consumers go through. It's one of the reasons why I value my education so much, and am ever grateful for it. I feel that because I have knowledge about the skin's structure and function, and some basic cosmetic science under my belt, I may ask 'better' questions in product training than someone who has no such background. Unfortunately, there are cosmetic brands that don't require one to have a skin care qualification before hiring, and then offer basic product and sales training to, well, sell their products. I obviously have a love-hate relationship with "sales". I don't have anything against the assistants in stores who don't have a skin care background. They help make product recommendations and sell us stuff. Not always the correct stuff, or the best stuff for our skin, unfortunately. Some of them love their jobs and the industry and are so passionate about their work. Many a time, I've had to ask them tons of questions about ingredients. Mostly because they look at me funny when I stand there with a list and read every box/bottle, in order to find out what the hell's in there, because it wasn't available online. So annoying. And they take turns asking if they can help me with something, until they've all had a go and then they stand behind their counters and try not to let me catch them staring. And some of them are so awesome that when they don't know or they can't answer me, they go behind their counters and whip out their training manuals in an effort to help me get more info. I appreciate and respect that a helluva lot more than having someone tell me, "Oh, don't worry, it's dermatologist tested and hypoallergenic," in response to me asking what's in it. True story.

I had a very glamourous idea about the industry, to be honest, but then I learnt that it's mostly glamourous from the exterior (the client experience), and I fell in love with it anyway because it was SO MUCH MORE than I had imagined. I became infatuated with science and chemistry (which only gave me endless nightmares, anxiety attacks and even panic attacks in matric), cosmetic science, anatomy and physiology, dermatology, and then some. I became excited about having the opportunity to make people feel better about themselves. It gave me great joy to share information with people about their skin, making it easier for them to understand and take care of. I still find this utterly exhilarating, because there's so much that is misunderstood and confusing. And there are tons of skin care"facts" with no scientific evidence to back it up. Yes, I know, there are also lots of things with opposing scientific evidence. It's mind-boggling how we pick a side in those situations.

There are things that made perfect sense to me a couple of years ago, regarding skin care and cosmetics, that I no longer feel the same about. Like steamers (which I'll get into on BeautyTipTuesday). At first I felt cheated: "How could they not teach us this? Why hasn't someone explained this to me before?" Now, I just realize that they may not have known any better, either. Then I felt bad: "I've been doing this for years. I've been recommending this and advising people this for years." After feeling bad and borderline hating myself for a couple of days... I know that at the time I did what I thought was the best possible thing, I gave the best advice I could possibly have given at that time.

I'm currently in the process of going through all my consultations and correcting any advice I no longer deem the best or most appropriate for the client's concerns/skin type/skin condition. It's hard work, exhausting even, but I know it's the right thing, and I've found it humbling. So so humbling. I have (and have had) the best clientele, and I feel very privileged and grateful to have worked with them and to have touched their skin. Not in a shady way, obvs. :-)


Miss B