Personalisation in skincare is essential. As a clinician, I treat people from all walks of life – different ages, skin types and concerns – on a daily basis. There is a range of skin types but also motivation, compliance and budget amongst my clients.
My role is to help them make an informed choice, to diagnose their skin type and make a product as well as lifestyle recommendations.
The majority come back on a monthly basis and incorporate my recommendations into their routines at home.
Skincare is a journey. I am honest with my clients in discussing what can and cannot be achieved in a month, a season or a year.
Prevention is best for healthy, glowing and youthful skin. The younger generation are interested in health and prevention of premature ageing; in the older generation many people only address a concern once it becomes visible.
Every face has individual facial structures that relate to the skin as well as the skeleton, facial muscles and the vascular and lymphatic systems.
The facial tissues represent a dynamic system, influenced by health and lifestyle, responding to daily and monthly rhythms and ageing.
The skincare industry approaches customisation on a macro level (skin type and concern, age groups) or micro-level (gene-analysis based skincare) but in the absence of large personal spending, clinically relevant solutions lie in understanding of individuals’ facial zones, their changes in time and targeted treatments.
In order to practise evidence-based skincare, I follow new research into skin types, facial maps of biophysical parameters and atlases of skin ageing in my clinical practice and have a good understanding what technologies/ingredients work best in personalised skincare programmes.
My goal is to achieve a clinical benefit for my clients, which when consulting for the industry bring about innovation and commercial success.
I will be speaking about Personalisation in a Skincare Environment at a meeting of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, on Thursday.
For further reading on facial skincare, read my blog on Facial Ageing: Start-of-the-Art Science.