Old English Lufu means Love

Tag: esthetician

  • Types of Clogged Pores & The Best Way To Pop A Pimple

    Types of Clogged Pores & The Best Way To Pop A Pimple

    To pop or not to pop, that is the question?  Dermatologist for the most part say not to pop. I disagree.  This post will explain the different types of blackheads and pimples there are and how you can properly extract them.  I can explain on a professional level (esthetician to esthetician) and an at home level what to look for while performing your own extractions.  Disclaimer this is all knowledge I have gained while working on clients and also personal.  Not to be recommended as medical advice. I’ve always had the opinion to pop pimples but correctly.  My thought is that pus represents infection.  If you have infection where is it going to go if you don’t pop it?  It can stay in the skin and infect more pores.  If you do not feel confident to pop your own pimple then I would recommend booking a facial that includes extractions and letting a licensed esthetician who is trained on extractions to help with your blackheads and pimples

    Note to avoid clogged pores and pimple issues with the skin I always emphasize that one should drink 8 glasses of water a day.  If your looking for a good filter this company offers good water bottles and pitchers that filter water. (Affiliate Link)  https://clearlyfiltered.com/?cjdata=MXxOfDB8WXww&cjevent=2d4f2d6229ed11f0835504340a82b82a

    Blackheads

    What are black heads?  Why do they exist?  How do we extract them or “clean the pores?”  Basically you have to visualize your skin with a bunch of tiny micro circles which would be considered your pores.  Sometimes those circles get clogged.  Now I’m going to try and go into more detail here because there are a lot of facets and entities to clogged pores.

    How a pimple can form or develop-

    First you have your basic blackhead, let us use the nose as an example.  When you look at your nose you see tiny little microscopic circles or holes.  Some people you cant really see with the eye but once you put pressure on the nose area white pus can come out.  Some people have larger pores and when you apply pressure a light brown or beige color comes out and that is a little more dirt so we can call that  a blackhead.  Then there is a third level of blackhead.  This is when the skin has grown over the pore so when you push on it nothing comes out.  To extract this type of blackhead you need a lancet (or a sterilized needle). Because the skin has grown over the pore you need to create an opening which is why you need the needle or lancet. Just a tiny poke and it should open that pore up. It is strange because usually you get a pustule if the skin grows over a blackhead and it gets infected.  Then pus grows under the skin and then you get the pimple bump.

    Milia

    Milia are a special type of pimple that I would recommend having removed by a licensed esthetician that is confident to remove the milia.  Normally a milia is a very small white bump that does not grow to a large pimple and stays in the skin.  It does not come to a full head.  Essentially a milia is similar to a black head but it is a tiny whitehead.  The only way to remove a milia is to poke a hole and let the pus out because the way the milia is formed is by skin covering the pore.  Milia are usually found on the skin next to the eyes which is delicate skin.  The reason these pimples form is because a lot of times the eye cream is to thick.  Milia can be found on other parts of the face but usually the cause is heavy molecules in the eye cream.  You want to be aware of your eye cream ingredients and not have to heavy of oils or mineral oil on that area of the face.

    Hormonal Pimples

    Hormonal pimples are the type of bump you will experience around that time of month or when your ovulating.  They can be a bump that never comes to a pustule head.  You want to be aware of the bump and not try to pop it if it does not come to a complete head.  It technically can just be a hormonal bump but if no pus comes in the pimple it will leave when the hormonal fluctuation is finished.

    So essentially every pimple starts with your pore getting clogged.  If you understand from the paragraph above either you have a black head and you want to clean your pores or if you don’t address a clogged pore it can get a little bump and create pus.  So step one, clogged black head.  Step two, if you don’t get that clogged blackhead cleaned out, your skin can create pus and then you have what you would call a pimple or a pustule.

     

     

    Large Pimple? What is it?

    Taking this further because this is my observation while doing extractions on my own skin and hundreds of clients.  Have you ever had a large bump and a pimple is forming?  You know its coming and you know its growing and it is going to be big?  A douzy of a pimple right there on your face or forehead. You can feel the pressure building and it can be painful.  You can see pus starting to form and your getting ready to pop that pimple.  Finally you see enough pus and you go for it.  Then what happens?  You think you popped the pimple and the next day you wake up and look in the mirror and!!!!!…….MORE PUS!!!!  Now what happened?  You thought you popped it?  How can there be more pus?  Better yet you go to pop again and hardly anything will come out?  Oh this gets annoying. It can take days for this one to heal.

    Breaking down this type of pimple for you so that you can understand what happened?  I explain it this way to my clients all the time.  So imagine again your tiny little pores.  Your blackheads. Now not one but imagine 3 little blackheads are getting infected.  So they grow into a big pimple but at different stages.  I like to say there neighbors.  Its like one neighbor is full of pus and ready to go and the other one is behind by a day and the third another day.  Those are the worst type of pimples to deal with but essentially that is what is happening.  So one pore is full of pus and ready and the others are behind but the bump on your face is in the same area.  The best way to get this type of pimple popped (technically about a 3 in 1) is to wait until the pimple is really ready to pop.  Almost like the first part of the bump is turning from white to yellow.  That way the neighbors are caught up.  Then again you want to use a lancet to create an opening for the pus to exit the skin. If you wait that extra day you can almost always get your pimple popped better and cleaner and not have to try and re-pop.

    When popping a pustule or pimple lancets or a clean needle are necessary.  You need to create a little opening so that the pus has an exit for the skin.  If not, you can put pressure and the pus can go under your skin causing bacteria under the skin and more break out in that area.

    One more thing I want to add here.  Yes we are all different.  Our bodies are different and we react to things different.  One thing that always will help your pores to be clean is drinking 8 glasses of water a day.  That just helps your lymphatic system clean and filter your skin from the inside.  On that note it is perfectly natural if you go to extract your blackheads that different colors come out.  For example an auto mechanic that works around grease can, more than likely, have black coming out of their pores when extracted.  Someone working around dirt and dust normally have brown coming out.  There can be different levels of dark to light brown.  Then some people you go to clean their nose pores and they have a light green to white coming out.  I’ve seen it all because its a combination of your external environment “landing” on your skin and your internal environment and how your skin handles filtering or cleaning your skin.

    Another note to estheticians performing extractions, smells can come out of the pores when extracting and cleaning blackheads.  Common ones can be a smoker.  As your cleaning the pores and performing extractions you can usually smell like a fresh cigarette smoke smell.  I’ve also had clients who love garlic and as I’m cleaning the pores a garlic smell is present.  Just note if you notice any smells it is natural as your doing extractions.

    How To Properly Extract

    In the Spa Room-

    Note if your reading this and not an esthetician you can always learn how you should be receiving extractions properly to know if the technician is missing any steps.

    Step 1)  After properly cleansing the skin and performing a form of exfoliation you normally would use a steamer to soften the skin.  Some spas have stopped using steamers and they use a type of disincrustation formula to soften the skin.

    Step 2)  Once the skin has been prepped either by disincrustation or steam its time for extractions.  You normally can use a magnifying lamp if available but either way you want to make sure you have enough light to see the skin.

    Step 3) You want to make sure to have the proper protective gloves or finger cots on. I personally prefer to use either a tissue or 4×4 to perform extractions.  I wrap the tissue around my extracting fingers and it helps to keep the gloves from sliding and as you are doing the extraction it cleans up what ever is coming out of the pores. You can also use a comedone extractor tool.  I have used these on occasion but because they are metal they can hurt and also leave the skin more red.  The best one I have found that can work is a thin wire one. The less metal the better.  Also as far as lancets go you want to make sure that legally your state allows you to use lancets.  If someone has a large pustule on the face and you cannot use a lancet I usually leave it alone.  You don’t want it to turn the skin super red and have the pus release under the skin.  If you feel that you can get it by popping off the pus top then go for it but just take into consideration that the skin can be more red.

    Step 4)  After you have finished extractions I usually use a toner on cotton and wipe the face.  You want to feel like you gently cleaned the skin.  If the spa you work at has high frequency then this is the time to use the violet wand which is anti bacterial.  Some spas have LED and if you’ve just done extractions you would want to use the blue light to calm the skin.

    When performing extractions on a client or on yourself the key to a successful extraction is to see the angle of the pore. Meaning, if you see a pustule what angle is the pus at?  This is the proper direction to put the pressure and push the pus up and out.

    At Home Extractions-

    1. If you are going to attempt to clean your black heads or pop any pimples at home I always recommend after a shower as you need to soften your skin first.  If you have a mini portable steamer that can also help.  Also boiling water in a pan and covering head with towel but be careful not to put your face to close to the water as that can feel like burning.
    2. As far as a lancet goes I’ve seen them for sale at CVS or you can order online.  If you don’t have a lancet you can use a sewing needle with a thin point and make sure to wipe with rubbing alcohol before you use.
    3. Now the crucial part.  I always suggest wrapping tissue around your fingers to not rip your skin.  The tissue protects the skin.  If you use your finger nails you can end up squeezing and slipping and cut the top layer of the skin which can cause scarring.
    4. As you attempt to pop the pimple use your lancet or needle and find the tip of the pimple. Poke just a tiny hole in the pimple and apply pressure at the bottom of your pimple closest to your face to let the pus out.  You know when the pimple is finished emptying when a clear fluid comes out.  That is your lymph cleaning everything out.  If you get just blood there is usually more to pop and you attempted to pop the pimple to soon.  You always want a clear fluid to pass through to show the pus has all come out.
    5. Same thing as in the spa setting you want to use something to clean the extracted area.  Toner on a cotton pad is good.  One of my favorite toners is Cranberry Toner from Arcona. https://www.arcona.com/product/cranberry-toner.html   Cranberry is antibacterial and will help the extraction to heal and cleans it out.
    6. If you are bleeding try and hold a tissue to coagulate the blood so that you don’t leave a huge mark.  (Not sponsored I just love this product for all skin types.) The cranberry toner helps with this step. https://www.arcona.com/product/triad-pads.html

    Conclusion

    My final thoughts on extractions.  After reading through this article you might think that popping a pimple is invasive.  As I said most dermatologist recommend not popping a pimple.

    Another suggestion for someone who wants thorough non invasive extractions is to book a hydrafacial.  The hydrafacial machine performs the best extractions and shows you what was removed in the gunk jar.  You can check the hydrafacial website and find a location near you.  I would highly recommend this machine facial for extractions (not sponsored) https://www.hydrafacial.com/find-a-hydrafacialist/

    Do I believe in spot removers and overnight pimple remedies?  No.  I know there are a lot out there to choose from and people recommend salicylic acid.  I was using a spot treatment on my pimples when I went through my acneic phase.  I would feel a bump coming on, put the salicylic acid on the bump and the next morning I’d wake up and still have a bump that never came to a head.  I  didn’t like that because again I always feel you need to extract out what is in the pore.  It didn’t make sense to me to know that something was growing in the pore and it never came to a full head to pop?  I found out a few years later that salicylic acid is basically diluted aspirin.  You need to be aware of the source and you want the salicylic acid to come from the white willow bark which is natural and better for the skin.

    I hope you find this article helpful on what to do with a blackhead or pimple and how to properly extract them.  If you are a parent with a teenager who is going through hormonal changes and may have some breakout hopefully these tips can help you.  As I always emphasize drinking water would be step one to help clear skin up naturally.  Bottled water or spring water is best but if you need a good water that is alkaline and antibacterial with healing properties you can check out the Kangen water info here  and learn about a new type of water to help your skin and heal your skin. https://missellen.kangendemo.com/

     

  • Confessions of a Licensed Esthetician

    Confessions of a Licensed Esthetician

    This post is for anyone working in the beauty industry or anyone thinking about working in the beauty industry.  I’m going to be brutally honest here and tell you the ups and downs of working in the beauty and spa sector.  There is always the good the bad and the ugly of working in any field.  If your a people person there is more good than bad.

    Lets start with what could be the bad.  Nothing is that bad there are just some facts to point out in this industry that not everyone realizes are going on behind the scenes.  When your a customer you will not always think about these issues but its a reality in this industry.  Disclaimer here these are things that are coming from both my personal experiences and my opinion.

    The Bad

    1. Free Services or giving away your time and skill with no pay. An example I would give here is obviously a free nail service or facial or whatever it is in this industry you do for a job interview.  This is a reality.  When you go to an interview you have to show your work and you will have to perform a service with no pay.  Where that can get not so pretty is if your constantly interviewing and having to give services and no one will pay you for that.  I am okay with this in the sense that this is part of the reality of this industry.  Another not so pretty is once you get hired and then you need to train you will be doing more free services.  Imagine if an establishment has 8 different services on the menu.  They want you to learn all the services and be able to perform them well.  So you will be doing lots of services to practice and this is normally at a training rate (minimum wage). Occasionally people can tip you while your practicing.
    2.  Insurance depending on where you work you may need to provide and pay for your own liability insurance.  Some companies will allow you to work under their insurance but sometimes you will have to provide and pay for your own insurance.  Why this is necessary is if you have a rare experience or incident with a client (for example the wax was to hot and you waxed a client and their skin ripped and scarred) that client can sue you and you would want to have coverage.
    3. Low commissions, tricky pay or an establishment keeps your tips.  When you interview some places are not so transparent and they will offer information about your commissions, percentage and gratuity  in the interview process while discussing your pay.  You can start working and realize they set up the commissions in their favor by their booking process.  Or you can work and I’ve had this happen personally where the establishment charges a service fee and they state on the website in teeny tiny fine print that the service fee is not for your service provider but if you would like to leave an additional gratuity you are encouraged to.  (this is after the client was just charged 20 percent service charge on top of the service price.)  Pretty sure the client is thinking that they just tipped.
    4. Do not love product or brand I’m working with.  Another frustration I have had throughout my career is not being in love with the product. Imagine getting hired at an amazing place and having amazing clientele and then the product or brand the place chooses to use you are not in love with.  Its not always that your not in love with the product but you know from your  knowledge and experience that there are better things out there.  Imagine too that your expected to sell that brand and can earn commissions but the product could be a high price point and you do not believe in it.  I have done so many facials where someone will ask me, ” so what do you use on your face?”  You know its not the brand your working with but it puts you in an awkward response of well these products I’m using on you right now are good but for your skin there could be something better.  Always not an easy thing to juggle.
    5. Disease and condition of the nails for the nail technicians.  People do not realize that you will be working on fungus on both the nails and the skin of the feet.  Sometimes it smells.  You are responsible for the proper sanitation and clean up after that client.  Hopefully the establishment where you are working has gloves and provides gloves because I’ve had that issue where the order didn’t arrive and now we have this type of client to work on.
    6. You become a free therapist.  It has been said that psychology should be a pre requisite to work in the beauty industry.  A lot of people tell you a lot of things.  Some things you could go without knowing.  I’ve been doing services where people can be sharing very intimate details about their life and sometimes you need to know how to respond.
    7. The questioning.  Guaranteed you will be questioned everything about yourself and your life.  I have worked in the high end sector with high end and private clients and your trained not to ask them personal questions.  On the contrary they will ask you anything and everything about yourself.  Sometimes I think I don’t know you and I do not feel like answering this question but you kind of have to navigate how to answer with grace as they are a paying customer.
    8. Bossy or controlling customers who tell you what to do or how to do your job.  It can happen sometimes where instead of someone coming for a relaxing service they want to tell you how to do the service.  You usually have to tip toe around them as you can never tell if its their personality or they are unhappy with the service being performed.  Or they could be having a bad day and you are the lucky chosen one to receive the brunt of it all.

    Even though the bad can seem super negative there are also some amazing positive aspects to this type of career.  I have had way more good than bad and that is why  I have stayed in the industry as long as I have.  Taking it to a more positive note we can explore the good side of working in the spa and beauty industry.

    The Good

     

    1. Amazing clients.  You can meet the most amazing people and depending on where you work you can have regulars and once in awhile(no guarantee) they can become life long friends.  You can always learn a lot from your clients too.  Many people that I have done services on have became friends or found ways to stay in touch.
    2. Receive services at a discount and do trades.  Always nice when you have extra time to practice services with a coworker and have a little surprise pampering time all while having a little extra coworker bonding.
    3. Friendships with coworkers can be amazing.  Normally working in the same type of environment and having studied from the same book it brings a commonality and you can usually find someone in your work space you “click” with.  I have loved working with so many people in all my different spa and salon jobs and have great memories with them all.
    4. Back to the amazing clients I have learned so much from my clients.  It has always been interesting when someone has an interesting career choice or owns their own business and talks about it.  Its fun to hear from people and different perspectives and learn something new as your working.
    5. Product discounts.  Always a perk when working with spa and beauty products to be able to get a discount or wholesale price.  I have quite an array of spa products in the bathroom but they eventually get used.
    6. Staying up with the latest trends. For me personally its nice to be in a career where your getting exposed to the newest trends.  There is always change in this environment and growth.  You can choose to keep it old fashioned and stick to the basic facial styles, or learn the equipment and machine facials.  Its nice to be able to incorporate a little bit of both styles to a facial for example.
    7. Trade Shows are the best.  This is what keeps you in the know and its always fun to see the new concepts and trends being launched out in the industry.  Normally bonding with a coworker or two as you attend the trade shows and being able to buy most things at cost as your attending the show with your license.
    8. Great pay.  If you set yourself up at the right establishment you can definitely make a great commission and pay rate.  I’ve learned over time what places are good to work for and what commission scale works in the therapist favor.  Note:  I would probably never work for a place that offers either or whichever is greater in a two week period.  That usually pans out to making minimum wage and you do all the work and the establishment gets paid in their favor.  Again speaking from experience.
    9. Down time you can give yourself a service.  Always a plus.  Sometimes from working in the industry it gives you the time to pamper yourself too. I have worked in some not so busy places and let me tell you my nails always had polish on them during that employment.

    In conclusion working in the spa or beauty service industry can have its ups and downs but as long as you can focus on the booking and the end goal it can balance out to be a rewarding experience with each client and thus a rewarding career.  I have loved working on all my clients and have some great memories through the years of some clients and the things they did or said that stay with me.  I can still remember that special client that would always book a service every Friday for example or my male client that only wanted me to do his manicures and would work around my schedule every 2 weeks.  There is definitely a human connection in this field of work and adding the beauty and benefits of enhancing a persons looks or the feeling of helping someone to feel pampered is a great reward.

    Through it all the good or the bad the spa and beauty industry is a service industry that incorporates the power of touch.  We all end up touching and enriching each others  lives whether it be by the touch of a hand or the power of a skincare or body suggestion to enhance your overall feeling of health and well being.  It is a great industry to work in and very personable on many levels.  After over 15 years in the industry I can say that I am very happy I made the career choice that I did.  Write a comment if you want to add to any of the pros or cons of the industry that I may have missed in the comments section.  Also feel free to reach out with any questions per the contact button.

    Check out my Vlog on Youtube to see more on this topic.

    https://youtu.be/17lbQQ94jas

     

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