This month’s Featured Article:

With the aromatic smells lingering in our kitchens, the fresh, cool air outside and the fall and winter produce in our markets, we are surrounded by a change of season and focus. During the winter we introspect, we nest, we prepare for the new year and we socialize, all the while operating within our everyday lives. Throw in family, holidays and shopping to this picturesque season and voila! We have a high demand for relaxation and renewal.
Having enough foresight, you can capitalize not only on the holiday hubbub, but also on the resolutions that come with every New Year. It is a magical moment in which we collectively reflect on the past twelve months and create goals to improve our lives and characters. And what an amazing time to be able to help others! So this holiday season consider widening your focus to marry the two themes: holiday treatments that address the health and beauty of your clients and their New Year’s resolutions.

Of course we all love the spices and sweets of winter feasts and treats. Get creative with your treatments and try to break away from the norm. This will not only enhance clients’ intrigue but it will also bring you to the forefront, ahead of the competition. Use traditional spa ingredients such as cranberry, pumpkin, peppermint and pomegranate as a platform from which to spring. Offer treatments that address the health and beauty goals of your clients. Think of your own New Year’s resolutions and goals for the holidays here. Typically at the top of every woman’s list is spending more quality time on her own and losing a few extra pounds. This brings us to an overall focus of committing to a healthy lifestyle and mindset. That being said, think of ways you can help your clients achieve their goals while enjoying your services.

Ways to rebalance: Drink a cup of green tea with lemon after your meal to help digestion and again the day after to aid in cleansing.

Here’s a toast to health

Inspire clients to attain and maintain better health on their own while treating them at your spa. Talk to them about what we ingest and how it can affect the skin and overall well-being. Alcohol, sugars and processed foods can throw our system and our acid mantle out of balance. A great way to help your clients is to create a little cheat sheet that they can take home. Short statements outlining cause and effect followed by a solution can be a quick educational tool that your clients will appreciate. You can also include tips on how to rebalance your system after eating, traveling or a late night holiday party. To follow are some examples.

Facials and full body scrubs are a must to get the glow. Create a package with the two focusing on results while enjoying relaxation. Build the treatments around exfoliation and rehydration, as they both hold the keys to great looking skin.

What: A heavy holiday meal
How it can manifest: Feeling heavily bloated and sluggish. The skin can become dehydrated and develop a dull complexion.
Ways to rebalance: Drink a cup of green tea with lemon after your meal to help digestion and again the day after to aid in cleansing. For your skin, gently exfoliate with a scrub and follow with a hydrating mask.
What: Airline flights.
How it can manifest: Complete body dehydration and water retention. Sallow skin that feels swollen, tired and dry. The body can feel bloated and tired.
Ways to rebalance: Try to drink 8 oz. of water for every hour you are on a flight. Also, carry a small moisturizer or spritz toner (travel size, of course) in your carry-on bag. Apply moisturizer or spritz yourself every hour. Exfoliate both your face and body in the shower once you land using appropriate scrubs, and follow with a moisturizer to hydrate.
Use your expertise and knowledge to add to the list and educate clients to make better choices. Create packages or care kits that focus on a few popular concerns such as “Winter Skin Care Rituals”—with a creamy cleanser, a light exfoliant and a hydrating mask or “Rebalance”—a basket with a detoxification tea, a mug with your logo, a recipe for spa water and a salt soak for the bath. These will aid in your clients’ self-responsibility in keeping up their regimen at home as well.

Tailor-made essence

Sugar and spice and everything nice is a perfect theme for the holidays. How about creating a make-your-own-body-scrub bar? Give clients the option to choose from salts such as Dead Sea, coarse or fine sea salt and sugars including organic, raw or brown sugar. Have base oil and a few different essential oils and spices to add to the scrub. Whip it up right there for them or assist them in making their own. This is a lovely way to get creative with your clients while enjoying the scents of the holiday season.

Everyone loves new makeup, especially a new look for the holidays. Offer makeup applications and educate all of your clients on the benefits of mineral makeup.

Pack the finished product in a special looking glass jar—complete with your logo, of course—that would look good on display in their bathroom.
Another fantastic way to add value to your business is to partner with a cleansing specialist or local dietician and offer a “Detox and Replenish” package. Clients can undergo a monitored cleanse while making changes to their diet based on professional recommendations. The package will inspire people to get in to see you and not wait for an appointment through their doctor’s office.
Soft, glowing skin is a recipe for success for any woman—especially during the holidays and when starting the New Year. Facials and full body scrubs are a must to get the glow. Create a package with the two focusing on results while enjoying relaxation.
Build the treatments around exfoliation and rehydration, as we know both hold the keys to great looking skin. A microderm scrub, a light enzyme or an alpha hydroxy peel followed by a creamy hydrating mask and a relaxing massage is sure to give your clients a rejuvenated spirit and a holiday glow. Avoid exfoliants that will leave clients with tight, dry or peeling skin—unless there is enough time before their big events.
When offering body scrubs, incorporate the spices and produce of the season such as pumpkin, cranberry, cinnamon and peppermint. Throw in some unique elements such as almond, mulling spices, oatmeal, herbal tea, rosemary, eucalyptus, cocoa and orange zest when creating treatments from scratch. Remember that when you are being a spa apothecary you must try things on yourself first and be aware of any possible allergies and/or reactions. Always complete the body scrub with a rich, hydrating lotion or cream. If possible, try and find one scented with a fragrance found in your treatment. Or create your own with a base lotion and a few drops of essential oil.

As therapists who give to others through our knowledge, touch and care, we must remember to replenish ourselves on a regular basis.

Makeup is us

Many of our clients do not realize that as estheticians we can also provide makeup and lash products and services. To complete the focus on beautiful skin, retail a line of mineral makeup to your clients. Everyone loves new makeup, especially new looks for the holidays. Offer makeup applications and educate all of your clients on the benefits of mineral makeup. Not only will this enhance the health of their skin, it will also offer consistent revenue.
Schedule a makeup day where you do the applications in your lobby area where there is high traffic, which indirectly advertises the makeup to other guests. In addition to the makeup, retail proper brushes and teach your clients how to duplicate their look. In addition to the everyday makeup that we wear, offer eyelash enhancements or temporary lashes for special occasions. Incorporating all of these elements into your practice during the holidays is an easy way to introduce, educate and offer more to your clients.

Take care of you

Spending so much time developing our seasonal menus and treats to tantalize our clients is quite fulfilling. However, it is important to give back to ourselves. So put yourself in the place of your clients this winter. Understand and accept the need to refill and replenish. We can think of such self nurturing in terms of motherhood: When mothers are empty, tired and drained they cannot give their full attention and love to their children and family. As therapists who give to others through our knowledge, touch and care, we must remember to replenish ourselves on a regular basis.
So enjoy this holiday season, get creative and give some time to yourself. Happy holidays, happy resolutions and a happy New Year!

Tara Manna is an esthetician and cofounder of Be Beauty, offering at home beauty parties and beauty resources online, and Aesthetic Professionals Alliance, a network organization dedicated to esthetic professionals worldwide. Manna is a spa industry leader, writer and speaker. She is passionate about education and enhancing the beauty and wellbeing of others. You may reach Manna at tara@bebeautifully.com.

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