Aesthetic VideoSource

A hydrotherapy tub is a wet body treatment that can offer underwater hydromassages, Thalassotherapy baths and aromatherapy baths. Wet body treatments are very popular and have very positive effects on the human body.

A hydrotherapy tub allows the customer to receive many positive results with their skin and with their minds. Not only are hydrotherapy tubs used for cleansing purposes, but the water also relaxes the body and mind of the customer. The tubs also strengthen the immune system, improve circulation, metabolism and digestion, while also relieving pain and stress. Warm water is also said to actually lower blood pressure, while it calms the client.

A hydrotherapy tub provides a client with the ultimate relaxation. Clients feel as though this tub is a time-out session from the stress of everyday life. Not only is this relaxing but a hydrotherapy tub is also a great cleansing agent as well.

The different offerings from a hydrotherapy tub can consist of hydromassages, thalassotherapy baths and aromatherapy baths. Underwater hydromassages are like a whirlpool or Jacuzzi. There are jets in the tub that can hit certain body parts to offer a relaxing and soothing massage. Thalassotherapy baths allows a client to receive a massage with water pressure and herbal extracts can be added for further relaxation. Some thalassotherpy baths also provide a full body scrub or algae and essential oils can be added to the bath. Aromatherapy baths involve essential oils placed in the tub to help a client relax and diminish many aches and pains.

There are many benefits of the wet body treatments but a spa therapist must know the requirements for set up, have the correct supplies and tools, consult and prepare the client for the treatment and to really know how to use these kind of tubs. In order for the client to receive the best possible care and results, a spa therapist must know how to properly use a hydrotherapy tub and must know all the pros and cons that are related.

To learn more about different wet body treatments, including hydrotherapy, please visit Aesthetic VideoSource. You can watch free video clips and request a free catalog.

Every day the skin is assaulted by damaging influences. Some are external, such as sun and air pollution. Others are natural influences, such as aging, fatigue and gravity, or health-related causes, such as diet and stress. As a result, the skin sheds about 80,000 cells each day. These dead skin cells, left on the surface, slow down healthy cell renewal, increase the depth of wrinkles and create a dull, sluggish appearance.
The simple act of exfoliation can counteract the effects of all of these influences on the skin by removing damaged cells on the surface, which allows new live cells to replace the old. Because exfoliation helps to accelerate cell regeneration, the more you effectively exfoliate, the younger the skin looks and the better your skin care products can penetrate deeply.

Some history
Exfoliation is not a new concept. The first known use of dermabrasion as a skin care technique dates back to the ancient Egyptian kings and queens, who used alabaster and pumice to smooth and soften their skin. Some years ago, the term “exfoliation” became a buzzword in the modern-day skin care industry—the fastest way to achieve smoother, younger-looking skin.

The 1960s saw the introduction of mechanical exfoliators that utilize abrasive agents with sharp edges to actually scrape and cut the skin. Apricot seeds were employed first, followed by granulated peach kernels, corn cob, silica, walnut shells and sugar, as well as brushes, sponges and loofahs. This resulted in pulled, torn, stretched, abraded and traumatized skin that was covered with microlesions.

European skin care companies also offered their own professional gommage products at the time. With a strong botanical orientation, they tended to use milder particles as exfoliants, such as almond meal and the newer scientifically size- and form-controlled polyethylene chips, which produced less destructive results.

Medical Grade

In the 1980s, a more effective and safer second generation swept the industry—chemical exfoliators, which used ingredients such as glycolic, alpha and lactic acids. However, these methods not only attacked the dead layers, but also dried out new live cells, making skin more susceptible to UV light and environmental damage. Nevertheless, new companies were formed based on glycolic acid—the smooth skin miracle with instant results. Nearly every company in the skin care business joined the trend. In addition, all sorts of alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) were touted, along with the formula’s pharmaceutical-grade ingredients, highest percentages or special acid blends.

Today’s exfoliation
Exfoliation is defined as the removal of surface dead skin cells, but the goal of the treatment is to clear cellular debris from the surface without damaging the healthy cells underneath. Estheticians throughout the world long have preferred enzymes for exfoliation, but the strong unpleasant odor makes them unmarketable. In Europe, with its botanical tradition and leading-edge technology, a very different answer to the scrubs-and-acids approach has emerged, spearheaded by German enzyme scientists. In developing a new type of exfoliation process, their objective was twofold: to biologically engineer an enzyme without the unpleasant odor; and to control its molecular weight so that only the optimal size needed to successfully enter and exit pores could be captured, thereby maximizing performance.

Due to an advanced crystallization process, scientists successfully have eliminated the objectionable odor.

Alpha Hydroxy Peel

This was accomplished by bioengineering odorless enzymes from organic barley, resulting in subtilisin—an extracellular bioactive enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of proteins into polypeptides and dissolves dead skin cells. This ingredient is now skin care’s new powerhouse biological exfoliation. In addition, the second objective was accomplished by perfecting the process that encapsulates enzymes small enough to enter skin pores and remove dead cells, while still big enough to rinse back out and off the skin. These two research achievements have led to a new technology: enzyme-based biological exfoliation.

The biological exfoliation approach utilizes live “intelligent” enzymes that have the ability to distinguish between living tissues and expired nonactive cells in order to exfoliate thoroughly, while preserving a healthy epidermis. This is not about wrinkle reduction, but about the systematic removal of dead cellular debris.

Maximum renewal
Biological exfoliation represents a leap from the first generation of exfoliators, and this new technology is a key component in the ongoing effort to promote maximum skin renewal at all ages. As the skin grows older, its natural cell-renewal efficiency diminishes. The best that can be done is to slow the aging process by speeding up the cell-renewal process enhanced by exfoliation, enabling effective penetration of moisturizers and treatments.

This article was originally published in the October 2006 issue of Skin Inc. Magazine and is being republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Rita Page and Malinda McHenry show you numerous ways of exfoliating the skin, from sugar body scrubs to chemical peels, in Aesthetic VideoSources educational dvds. Videos on every topic related to skin care and body treatments. Visit them today to request a free catalog.

Esthetician remedies personal anguish by treating others

Celeste Raydon, a skin-care specialist, has made a career out of making others feel good about themselves through various procedures at her Rancho Palos Verdes business, Skin Sanctuary.

However, getting where she is today began under some tragic circumstances.

Raydon’s mother, Alyda Raydon, endured a battle with ovarian cancer that ended with a stroke in December 2005. After being ousted from her “cold” corporate job selling architectural products — a direct result of caring for her dying mother — Raydon took the advice of one of her three brothers and “reinvented” herself, taking a chance at the profession she “always wanted to do,” she said.

“It kind of began initial growth on my part because I remember feeling really bitter,” the former Peninsula resident said. “I already knew I’m never working for anybody else. That was my goal … I always wanted to affect a change in people, and I always wanted to be of service and to give to them. So many people have helped me along the way, and have been loving and kind and given me good advice or just listened to me. That’s just how I want to live … I wanted to be my own person.”

Once she received some of her mother’s trust money, Raydon, 47, attended Paul Mitchell’s Skin Academy, where she graduated in the top of her class. Since Sept. 13, 2006, she has independently contracted her business, eventually creating a permanent space inside the Western Avenue establishment Le Salon Specialiste.

With the support of her husband, Dean Slater, and friends, who now are clients, Raydon had many helping hands in all aspects of the salon, from creating a logo, marketing and even painting her treatment room a distinct eggplant purple.

“I just wanted it to be this place where you can come and feel enveloped and loved and safe,” she said. “It would be an experience … What goes in the room stays in the room — kind of like the Vegas thing, only true. Whatever you’re having done or whatever you’ve shared is in the room, it’s private; it’s between us.”

The relief provided from the therapeutic experience is something that keeps her client, Shauna Tate of San Pedro, coming back to Skin Sanctuary. Tate’s first visit to Raydon’s room was almost two months ago, when she was “feeling gloomy,” facing her own mother’s fight with bladder cancer — a common ground that brings the two women closer together. A pumpkin facial peel and massage later, Tate left the salon “walking taller.”

“I walked in feeling not really terrific, and her humor, her story made me appreciate what I was going through at the time, and saw that struggles do lend itself to triumph,” she said. “Her story really moved me — what she has gone through and where she is today.

“[Celeste is] a huge giver, and her generous spirit makes me want to give back, as well,” Tate continued. “She treated me with lots of tender loving care, and made me laugh up a storm … You can tell she gets so much joy out of that.”

Said Raydon, “It’s one of the very few places that you can go and be touched in a healthy, loving way … I’m seeing the really beautiful parts of them. It feels just great.”

Aside from the mandatory 600 hours of clinical practice to earn her esthetician license, Raydon also studied the science of skin and chemicals at the International Dermal Institute, and receives extra training from Dr. Howard Murad of the Murad skin product line.

“Fascinated” by skin conditions, Raydon uses various techniques and regimens to treat skin conditions such as rosacea, acne and psoriasis.

“It’s a good challenge to work with a dermatologist to get that person’s skin to be clear,” she said. “It’s really debilitating, in terms of self-esteem.”

Raydon also is skilled in microdermabrasion, LED light treatment, performing extractions to remove blemishes, the art of dyeing and custom shaping eyebrows, Brazilian waxing, body treatments, medical peels, makeup and facial massages, among other areas.

She guarantees a “red-free exit” and a glow on the outside that is a reflection of a restored internal confidence.

By Ashley Ratcliff, Peninsula News
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 6:43 PM PDT

Being reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Aesthetic VideoSource has a wide variety of educational DVD for estheticians. These informative step by step videos can teach you everything from chemical peels & facial massage to brazilian waxing & microdermabrasion. Stop by today and advance your career by learning a new technique or two.

From stove top to tank-heating, paraffin, as it is known today, has evolved from origins of being brushed on wounds by the French for its therapeutic benefits. Moving into the beauty industry, it has been used for its esthetic value of moist heat tissue regeneration, becoming identified as thermotherapy. Paraffin treatment also is known to be successful in reducing pain and stiffness around joints by removing excess fluid from the surrounding tissue while also providing lubrication and reducing the signs of aging.
Yet knowing the therapeutic benefits of paraffin doesn’t make the delivery process of the liquid any easier

Back Paraffin

for treatment therapists. Many in the professional industry have long been waiting for the next generation system that will deliver paraffin to the treatment site quickly, simply and more hygienically than traditional methods. With a reinvigorated interest and new ideas on the subject, paraffin treatments are back and here to stay.
Paraffin primer
Paraffin is a clear, white liquid matter that is tasteless, odorless and can be obtained from hydrocarbons through dry distillation of petroleum. Paraffin has many uses and can be found in various items in the cosmetic industry, including creams, lipsticks and hair products, as well as being used to waterproof material or as an ingredient in candle-making. Identified in the 1830s by German scientist Karl Ludwig von Reichenbach, paraffin wax has earned quite a name for itself in the beauty industry, especially in regard to its ability to help revitalize lifeless, aging or undernourished skin.
When in liquid form, paraffin has the ability to expand and mold itself in and around the peaks and valleys of the skin. On cooling, it quickly begins to contract, compacting its molecules closely together and solidifying itself around the contours of the area being treated. This creates an encapsulated envelope, eliminating the loss of heat.
When applied as heated flowing fluid, paraffin has the ability to transfer heat to the skin’s tissue, creating natural thermal energy and enabling the active product applied under the paraffin to possess energy that can transfer active ingredients into the skin. Through this method, skin is transformed with the use of infusion.

Hand Paraffin

Menu infusions

As paraffin can create a thermal energy environment, therapists have the ability to step up service menu offerings by providing customized paraffin treatments. Paraffin treatments can assist in carrying product into the skin tissue, infusing active ingredients to the treatment site. It can also enhance results as a pre-treatment to glycolic peels, microdermabrasion, LED treatments or even surgical procedures. Used as a post-treatment, paraffin has the ability to advance the recovery and regeneration time of the skin.
The temperature of paraffin is key to the success of the product’s liquidation, solidification and treatment results. The traditional method of paraffin application is via a paraffin spa tank system where the paraffin is kept at a liquid temperature of 127–131°F. While this may be the optimal melt point and a successful temperature to apply paraffin to the body via a brush method, submerging a hand or a foot directly into the spa tank at these temperatures can be uncomfortable and unsanitary. To properly offer this method of paraffin treatment, be sure that your spa tank is cleaned and sanitized for each client, and always be sure the client is comfortable, checking in throughout the procedure’s progress.
New developments
New to the market are self-contained paraffin treatments that are boosting the popularity of this spa standby. These sanitary, single-use disposable packs help to eliminate the risk and liability of bacterial and fungal cross contamination, which aids in ensuring your clients feel safe and well-treated.
Creating a simple option, the disposable chamber heats up the paraffin using either a chemical reaction or a heating element. The heating system melts the paraffin directly into the sealed gloves or slippers, which can be great for client comfort. Aromatherapy can also be provided during the heating process with a choice of essential oils.
Paraffin perfection
Take a close look at your paraffin and the way you are offering this service. Make it your goal to move toward the paraffin system that works best for you, whether it is one that offers single-use packs or the traditional tank-and-brush method. Utilize a system that can deliver a premium, luxurious, sanitary treatment that also ensures your clients’ satisfaction and safety. Customize your treatments and evolve into the next generation of paraffin therapy.

This article was originally published in the June 2008 issue of Skin Inc. magazine and is being reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

What does a woman think of when she ponders a spa getaway? She pictures herself relaxing totally, escaping the everyday rat race, and above all, being pampered and waited on literally hand and foot (head to toe?). Today, the menu of available options for pampering is longer than ever. Make sure you’re up on the latest treatments to make every client feel fabulous.

The foundation of any day spa’s relaxation menu is the massage.

Offering multiple types of massage, from deep tissue muscle therapy to hot stone heat-aided rubdowns, the broader the variety of styles your spa offers, the more repeat business and new clients you’re likely to attract.

Manicures and pedicures make another vital category of services for the spa. These, too, can range from a basic cuticle-cleanup-and-hand-lotion treatment to more extensive hydrating therapies including paraffin wax or extensive soaks. Polish services should include a simple single color or French style as well as more complicated tips and fill-ins.

Pampering wouldn’t be complete without deep cleansing treatments. Are you familiar with the variety of facials and body procedures available? Mud is a popular mask to draw out toxins from the skin.

Clients can indulge in full-immersion mud baths or face-only mud masks. For a more hands-on approach, aestheticians can administer scrubs to exfoliate and smooth skin. Facials can target particular problem areas with creams tailored to a client’s skin type as well as offer a quick stimulating massage.

Spas often double as salons, providing hair and makeup services to finish off a client’s look after hours of self-improvement. This can put the final touches on any visit, regardless of length, allowing a client to emerge into the world not only relaxed, but also ready to face the world again with professional preparation.

Finally, don’t forget the details. Make sure the surroundings are as conducive to relaxation as possible. Consider the lighting, decorating, and even available reading material tailored to your guests’ wishes. Adding the little luxuries such as plush robes, soothing music, personalized fragrance choices, even complimentary beverages as simple as tea or as fancy as champagne can give a spa experience that extra special touch. An array of toiletries for the spa in the dressing room can allow customers to sample products that could then be offered for sale. Finally, do everything you can to customize the visit, and be sure to write down products used and services chosen for the patron to easily schedule their next getaway.