Why So Blue? Aging & Self-Esteem Part 2

I JUST WOKE UP ONE DAY AND I WAS OLD!- What your client is going through.
“Mid-life astonishment is characterized by an amazement and despair at loosing one’s physical and sexual attractiveness, multiple losses accompanied by age, awareness of accelerated aging both physically and mentally, and recognizing our culture’s stigmatization of aging.   This process can lead to a loss of self-esteem, shame, depression, and social isolation.”
In our culture there’s a great deal of emphasis on youthfulness and appearances.  Clients often describe appearance changes caused by aging this way: “ I woke up one day and all of a sudden I looked old.”  They come to the esthetician to try to change this before trying something more invasive.   For some, the thought of getting work done or going under the knife is uncomfortable and vain.  They feel some guilt when starting to focus on themselves and are unsure about what’s normal for an aging face. 

What We Can Do.
Working with clients that have hit the realization that they are getting old can sometimes be difficult because they want it fixed now.  It doesn’t help that our culture gives women a false sense that all of their aging problems will be going in one bottle.  It is our job to be honest with clients on what we can help with and what we can’t.   The goal of a standard esthetician is to improve how the skin functions.  We cannot take a person that has elastosis, and hyperpigmentation and make it go away, it’s not possible.  I have an apron that says, “Esthetician not a magician”.  When I started practicing, I noticed every time I had a new client that was dealing with age related issues, they would leave happy with the results, but there was always a small level of disappointment.  I quickly figured out that clients experience a level of disappointment after a facial, because in the back of their mind they believe that when they get up from the table all of their wrinkles will be gone.  They are happy that their skin is glowing and feels great but those gosh darn wrinkles are still there.  Clients see on TV that they can get great skin from a 30 dollar bottle of moisturizer, and they just paid you 60 so they should be looking good when they leave your table.  It's our job as estheticians to help them understand that it takes time to help improve their skin, and know that we cannot fix 30 years of damage in one day.

In Summary 
1) Educate your clients
2) Be Honest - Set realistic expectations
3) Take before and after pictures so they can see the changes
4) Be Compassionate- Listen to them and be compassionate