We’ve come a long way since the fluffy pillows and frilly curtains of the 80s.
Back in the day, circa 1985, when I first became a beauty therapist, I dreamed there would come a time when beauty therapy would differentiate, like your skin cells, divide and conquer.
In 1985, other skin professionals, like dermatologists, didn’t take beauty therapy seriously. Even though we’d studied the biology of the skin in great detail and the conditions affecting the skin, we were relegated to nothing more than fluffy pillows and frilly curtains.
As a beauty therapist, I wanted to choose my niche and go and do that; instead of being a generalist, I wanted to specialise in the area where I excelled—the skin.
Of course, fast forward to 2021, and beauty specialisation is commonplace.
When beautifying your hands and feet, you can see a nail technician or a beauty generalist for waxing, facials and massage, amongst other things and a spa therapist for the ultimate in pampering relaxation.
And now, just like a medical doctor can choose general practice or go on to study in a specialised field, so too, a beauty therapist can further their career by attaining a bachelor’s in dermal science to become a dermal therapist or clinician and focus on our largest organ, the skin.
Peering through a fluorescently lit ‘looking glass’.
So early in my career, I took the road less travelled and moved into skin health specialisation. Skin analysis and diagnosis became the lynchpin for treating and caring for the skin correctly.
For me, looking at your skin and identifying its true nature and the problems that can arise from time to time has always been my area of expertise.
It starts with a thorough skin consultation to analyse, understand and diagnose what’s happening to the skin, identify areas of concern, and provide the best solutions to ensure the skin’s overall appearance remains youthfully luminous while addressing the long-term health and longevity of the skin.
As I peered through the fluorescently lit magnifier known as Woods Lamp, I could see what was not visible to the naked eye. The distribution of oil flow and the not yet visible signs of sun damage, hyperpigmentation and other troubling skin conditions.
Robert Williams Wood created the Woods Lamp, a prominent physicist of the early 20th century, and it’s still used to this day, but in my opinion, it has limitations.
Now, beauty, skin and dermal therapists have more advanced skin analysis technologies to support their efforts in creating a plan for achieving healthy skin with the best skincare products and treatments minimising problematic skin conditions.
Observ 520x reveals a new way to look at the skin.
If a skin professional can look deeply into your skin, along with a record of your skin’s history, they can gain an understanding of your skin and devise a plan to help you implement solutions for improving your skin.
One of the most powerful diagnostic tools I know of to create a plan for your skin is the skin analyser machine, Observ 520x.
If only I had this device back in the day!
Supplied by beauty salon supplier The Global Beauty Group, the Observe 520x is a skin analyser machine that allows your skin therapist to accurately evaluate your skin with eight different light modes to illuminate the skin.
Nothing about your skin goes unnoticed.
Firstly, Daylight Mode evenly illuminates the face, providing skin vision in natural light without distracting shadows, allowing you to see the skin in its natural state, giving your therapist a baseline to measure your progress.
Once evaluated in natural light, your therapist will then examine the texture of the skin. Surface Texture Mode reveals surface irregularities ranging from fine lines and wrinkles to enlarged pores and areas where the skin is becoming rough or dry.
Once the texture of the skin has been examined, your skin therapist can switch to the Woods Mode, replicating the original invisible UV light technology created by Robert Williams Wood to highlight oil flow distribution and bacterial infections. At the same time, Pigmentation Mode will reveal underlying pigment variations, including melasma and sun-induced hyperpigmentation, as well as areas of hypo-pigmentation and vitiligo where the skin has lost pigment.
Eliminating distractions for greater clarity.
When we look at your skin, its true nature and condition can be obscured by the reflections of light on the skin’s surface, preventing an accurate visual diagnosis. Observe 520x utilises Cross and Parallel Polarisation Modes to filter distractions.
Like polaroid sunglasses, cross-polarisation removes distracting reflections and allows your therapist to look into the skin with clarity to reveal areas of inflammation such as acne, capillary damage, and rosacea.
In contrast, Parallel Polarisation works in the opposite way to enhance surface reflection, revealing pore structure, surface texture and lines and wrinkles.
The combined use of both illuminating cross-polarisation modes allows your therapist to study features within the skin that may contribute to the overall appearance of sun damage, blotchy pigmentation and other skin conditions.
The fifth mode is known as True UV Mode and is low intensity but very pure invisible UV and illuminates the skin from within, making the invisible visible.
Revealing skin conditions that typically would not be seen by the naked eye; in this way, your therapist can differentiate troubling skin conditions from normal healthy skin tissue. Melasma, UV-induced pigmentation, loss of collagen and excessive sebum can be seen clearly.
Finally, Redness Mode illustrates the network of microvascular structures in the skin that lead to redness and visible facial flushing.
Making a lasting impression.
When it comes to facial ageing, lines, wrinkles, skin texture, and firmness can all contribute to your perception of how well your skin is doing as time goes by.
But if you’re like me, it may not be wrinkles that bother you so much, but your skin’s overall complexion as the accumulation of sun damage, vascular redness, blotchy pigmentation, a comprised skin barrier and chronic dehydration all leave you with skin that’s lost its luminous glow.
In FaceNotes Mode, the Observ 520x compiles information from all eight modes into a detailed skin health report highlighting the areas where you can improve your skin, allowing your therapist to create a healthy skin treatment plan focusing on the immediate skin conditions that concern you most while working towards the long term health and resilience of the skin.
Once complete, your skin therapist can email or print your skincare plan for you, so along with your skin therapist, you can keep track of your progress towards healthy, radiant skin.
Advanced Skin Analysis helps you plan for your future skin.
Now, you might be thinking, what you don’t know won’t hurt you. Sure, and I know seeing what’s going on below the surface of your skin can elicit a fear you don’t deserve or need.
I know. Sometimes ignorance is bliss!
But if you can? Take a peek through the looking glass and start planning for your future skin with a thorough skin analysis, and I promise you’ll be so pleased you did.
With this kind of diagnostic accuracy, you can begin improving the health of your skin with the best skincare and treatments for you and with a long–term plan for your future skin.
And, as I always like to say, your future skin will thank you!!
If you’d like to know more or where to go for a skin analysis with Observ 520x, you might want to visit The Global Beauty Group*, where they’ll point you in the right direction to a skin professional near you.
See you next time,
*A collaboration with The Global Beauty Group.