The One Thing That Transformed My Career

By Robyn McAlpine @expert_skin_therapist

As skin therapists, there is a lot riding on our shoulders when it comes to achieving life changing results for our clients.

Our clients come with expectations of skin perfection and place their trust in our skills, knowledge and understanding of skin.

But there’s nothing like the pressure of a client dropping their skin issues in our lap and expecting us to perform miracles with a skin that’s been neglected since birth.

Suddenly we’re expected to undo a lifetime’s worth of skin issues with one facial and a miracle cream!

And for the most part of early my career, I carried the burden of being the sole responsibility for giving my clients their best and healthiest skin, no matter what. That was my job, that’s what I had signed up for, no matter what they did when they walked out my salon door.

understanding of how skin works that unburdened me. It was one simple sentence, dropped somewhere in the middle of a conversation, completely unrelated to skin science, that absolutely changed the game for me.

And when it didn’t work, the fault was mine, my treatments were insufficient, my products a waste of money.

Let’s not talk about the fact that some clients had pigmentation you could see from space, the culmination of a lifetime of sun, hormonal contraception and all the pigmentation triggers known to mankind. I had made that mean that it was my serums, my treatments that failed her and therefore I should probably pack up my apron and stack shelves for a living because I was clearly no good at this “skin stuff”.

After years of this belief that my client’s skin was solely my responsibility and if it didn’t work it was my failure, not theirs, it had become crippling. Self-doubt was the fulltime narrative that played in my brain.

Sure, I had some wins with clients and that’s what kept me hanging in there, however for much of it, I doubted my skills, questioned my products and started to second guess my service menu.

Forget the fact that I had basically plonked the entire responsibility of my client’s skin and its behaviours onto my own shoulders, not confident to recommend changes in their own life. I mean, how could I ask a client to make drastic changes when they were happy to simply pay for products and treatments we could blame when they didn’t work.

So, what changed?

Queue circa 2014 whilst sitting in a lecture with Florence Barrett-Hill, the Matriarch of advanced education for our industry, Flo opened my eyes to a world of skin cells and anatomy that changed the trajectory of my career. BUT it wasn’t this deep skin education or the

“The client’s skin, is the client’s fault.”

Wait what?? The client’s skin, is the client’s fault?

My client’s medical condition that leads to this skin issue, the genetic gifts passed to them from generations, surely that’s not their fault? They didn’t choose this. They didn’t ask for it? So how is that their fault?

“It’s not,” said Florence. “But it’s not yours either!” robyn@skintifix.com www.robynmcalpine.com.au

Jaw.

Dropped.

In that very instance, the weight of the ‘results responsibility’ melted from my shoulders and I realised that I was trying to change things that were completely out of my hands. I was taking responsibility for what nature and neglect had given these clients and feeling like a failure when what I did didn’t work. I was blaming my own skills when I should have been handing the responsibility back to my client and their ‘luck of the skin’ draw. Who did I think I was? God?

Now, it seems foolish of me to think that me and my little skin care products could undo what genetics and nature had created for this client. The client owns their skin, their leading causes are their own, not mine. How a client manages the skin they’ve been given is their responsibility, not mine. My role is to use my knowledge, skills and tools to support them in that journey and help them make the changes that will serve their skin for the better.

From that very day forward, my consultations became collaborations.

Instead of me showcasing what my services claimed to do, what my treatments offered and what products they should use, every client interaction became about digging deeper, to understand the intrinsic factors that belong to my clients, so together we could understand what we could and couldn’t change.

Oily skin type? Can’t change that. But together can improve the health and flow of lipid secretions.

Pigmentation? Cant reduce it without first understanding the cause and removing it.

Rosacea, a serum won’t change the underlying perimenopausal triggers, but we can build a healthy strong skin that weathers the bad days much better.

I no longer took the blame for the inevitable hiccups that come along with certain skin conditions. Acne flares weren’t my failings, but the natural ebb and flow for a client who has this skin condition.

Rosacea wasn’t my fault to fix, pigmentation not mine alone to tackle, but a team effort where the client needed to carry the majority of the responsibility.

It’s their skin, it’s behaviour, triggers and flares are linked right back to their body, their habits, their lifestyle factors that either support or undermine it.

Does this mean I wash my hands of the responsibility of all and any skin conditions. Absolutely not!

But I did let go of the burden that my treatments and products were the make or break of my clients skin condition. I was able to see that what I offered was a support and a key part of the bigger picture of the whole that make up each client.

Instead of being my own proverbial ‘whipping post’ for all things misbehaving skin, I am now their guide, educator and mentor, helping them understand THEIR skin better and how to care for the skin they were dealt.

My services are there to support them, not cure them.

Now, when I go into a treatment plan, I do it knowing that I’m only 20% of my clients skin story, not 100% responsible.

Together we collaborate and I lovingly remind them when their skin has flared, to look at the bigger picture, not to focus on the serum and blame it for not working as it should.

When their skin takes an inevitable step forward, two steps back, I know that it’s not because what I do doesn’t work, I know that it’s because the intrinsic factors that make up each individual client are theirs to own and together, we are working on supporting those factors.

This understanding changed everything for me, and I will forever be grateful to Florence for such a seemingly flippant comment, but one that was so profound and freeing.

I was able to let go of the feelings of failure and step into being empowered with understanding that no two skins are the same.

Every client has their own story and whilst no one chooses the path of bad skin, what a client has is what a client has and it’s up to them to choose how they care for their skin.

It’s our job to help them understand it.

robyn@skintifix.com www.robynmcalpine.com.au