Professional cosmetic products versus off-the-shelf products: What are the differences? How will we explain this to our clients?
In our line of work, we compete with numerous off-the-shelf products sold in drugstores or online. We also have to cope with prescription skin renewal medications. How should we handle our client’s pressing, and sometimes understandable, questions?
A professional product versus off-the-shelf creams
Many clients are unaware of the real difference between professional cosmetic products, which we offer for purchase as part of the treatment, and off-the-shelf products sold in stores. This lack of knowledge damages us professionally in two ways: First, it results in us potentially achieving a poorer treatment result due to the client’s choice of off-the-shelf products instead of a product that was professionally matched to her needs. Second, this is a financial loss since we sell less. Certain clients even suspect that the cosmetologist is charging exorbitant prices and making a huge profit at the client’s expense or selling products that aren’t necessary. These suspicions do not prevent our clients from spending significant amounts on high-end drugstore brands. But here they at least feel that these brands are well-known, that their expensive price tags are justified, and that the promises about these products they read about in the media – will one day come true. This is a reality that we are all too familiar with and we should know how to handle it. How do we approach a client who can be cynical and suspicious when it comes to buying products, and how do we get her fully on-board with the treatment: Coming to treatment sessions at the skincare clinic and buying products that are suitable for at-home use?
How will we explain the difference between our professional products and the drugstore products?
Active and renewing products
To be honest, there is a fundamental difference between the two groups of products. First – when it comes to skin renewal and peeling, we offer products that are much more concentrated and active than the ones available in stores. Using an active and peeling product often entails side effects and strict instructions for us (use only in the evening, avoid exposure to the sun, apply a think layer, use a sunscreen, matching the product to the skin tone or sensitivity, etc.). It requires customization and after examining the skin, comprehensive questioning of the client, giving strict instructions, monitoring the client while she uses the product, and being available to address any side effects if they arise. None of these happen when the individual recommending the cream is the salesperson at the drugstore. This salesperson doesn’t have the training to match an active and peeling product to the skin’s condition, she isn’t available to address any side effects, and none of the multinational corporations whose products are available to buyers all over the world design creams that may cause irritation, redness, hyperpigmentation, and similar effects.
Achieving the treatment results
Beyond the safety considerations, there is also the issue of achieving results. As professional skincare practitioners, we’ve acquired (and are also constantly expanding) the knowledge pertaining to:
* Diagnosing the skin type, condition, and its needs;
* Deciding on the types of active ingredients and the concentrations needed to improve the skin’s appearance;
* Matching the products to the skin type, tone, additional properties, and the client’s daily routine;
* The precise instructions for use that are the most compatible with the specific client.
This knowledge enables us to achieve an accurate, rapid, and visible result – just as the client expects from us. Without this knowledge, recommending a product is simply guesswork. Can the salesperson at the drugstore diagnose the skin and match it with the necessary ingredients? Does she know what’s in the creams she sells? At the drugstores, a skincare product may be chosen according to non-professional considerations: The client’s decision based on what she likes, was on sale, or looks appealing on the shelf. Or – the salesperson’s recommendation, according to the store’s guidelines regarding what’s currently being promoted. The basis of this match may “work” when the client is buying a moisturizing cream, and even here it’s best to try a sample to properly match it to the skin. When we want to change the skin’s parameters, composition, or its appearance, more than that is obviously required. Professional treatment is required that stems, first and foremost, from professional information, followed by products that have been designed precisely for the treatment goal.
Are the products in the stores “less concentrated”?
Many cosmetologists explain to their clients that the products in the stores are less concentrated. This statement is inaccurate. When the ingredients don’t irritate the skin, don’t require special instructions for use (like precautions in the sun) – we can find off-the-shelf products with a similar concentration to what we offer. For example, numerous vitamins, minerals, biomimetic peptides, and more – ingredients that benefit the skin and that are user friendly, non-irritating, and can be used at their active concentration even in off-the-shelf products. The well-known store brands also design their products to achieve as optimal results as possible without causing irritation or other problems associated with their use. Numerous off-the-shelf creams, for example, contain biomimetic peptides, the same ingredient found in the products we offer. In the same concentration, and with similar peptides. Commercials and advertisements for the public will present them as “gold”, “pearl”, “wrinkle reduction” creams and other seductive claims, without mentioning the term “biomimetic peptide”, which apparently isn’t a selling point… In contrast, other ingredients – which are irritating or entail other safety considerations, are indeed found in a much lower concentration in off-the-shelf creams. The ingredients that work quickly and powerfully to change the skin (like the hydroxy acids and retinoids), are ones that are used professionally in the highest concentrations. And this is a significant advantage when the treatment goal is: renewal, improving the skin’s texture, firming, treating enlarged pores, treating comedones, hyperpigmentation, acne scars, acne pimples, and more.
Regular product versus therapeutic product
We must clearly explain to our clients the distinction between a regular product and a therapeutic one. Regular products can be bought in a store. When it’s the client choosing the cream, there’s a lower degree of compatibility between the product and the needs, the precision, and the result. The same goes for a cream a salesperson in the store chooses for us. It’s easy for us to understand that when our body’s functionality is disrupted, we go to the doctor. We don’t have the requisite knowledge to decide what’s wrong with our body, and what medication we should take. We know that only a doctor can cause a change in our physical function using: A. His knowledge, B. A suitable medication. We wouldn’t dare to order Warfarin (Coumadin) online or buy it at a supermarket. We won’t decide on our own what drug seems best. The exact same goes for a client who wants to achieve a change in her skin. She needs to understand that causing a change in living tissue is a scientific and professional matter, which requires – A. Knowledge, B. The right therapeutic product. We must explain to our clients that they can’t expect to achieve skin renewal, which entails a significant change in the skin’s appearance and functionality, using a product they chose on their own, or one that the salesperson at the store chose for them. And that each product that they ordered online, without any professional party examining it physically and understanding what they are seeing – is actually buying a “pig in a poke”, and not a therapeutic product that can cause the noticeable change they want. Moreover, highly active renewing and peeling products cannot be sold in stores or online. A product that is sold through these channels is by definition less active.
Our products versus prescription retinoins
Another significant challenge we experience is when our clients prefer the Tretinoin drugs or any prescription drug sold with a doctor’s prescription at a very cheap price, to our renewal products, which are much more expensive. Here we also have to understand the differences and similarities, the advantages and disadvantages, so we can cope with our client’s very understandable questions. Retin-A, Rnove, Differin, Tazorac, Airol (and others) contain retinoic acid, a retinoid defined as a drug and which is not permitted for cosmetic use. This is a vitamin A derivative. In cosmetology we can use vitamin A in its other forms, such as retinyl palmitate, retinyl acetate, retinaldehyde, retinal, retinol… In all these forms – when applied topically to the skin – a very small part is converted to retinoic acid, which works exactly like it does in the drug. Although in some of the derivatives it will happen faster than in others. In other words, if we have a therapeutic product that contains a concentration equivalent to that in the drug, we’ll achieve a similar effect to the drug, even if it happens faster with the drug since it has an immediate effect, versus retinol and its “cosmetic” derivatives, which undergoes a process in the skin. But why buy from us, and at a higher price?
Matching to the user’s skin
Remember that Retin-A (and similar drugs) is designed and prepared as a drug to treat acne. In other words, the drug was developed as treatment for skin that is problematic, oily, usually thick and young, to minimize sebum secretion and to peel. It is formulated as a gel or a lightweight texture that contains only the medicinal ingredient, which does indeed act very quickly – while tingling and irritating and drying, which are well tolerated in thick, oily, and young skin and are not the practitioner’s (the doctor) main concern. The goal is to cure the acne. In contrast, the cosmetic therapeutic product, designed to renew the skin, was formulated by the cosmetics company that considered the properties of the client’s skin, a woman 45-60 years of age, whose skin is no longer young, thick, and oily, but rather often thin, delicate, sensitive, dry, and in need of gentle and rehabilitating, not aggressive, renewing and firming. Such a product, which was well designed, is found in a rich, rehabilitating base, with antioxidants, soothing ingredients, in a formula that takes into account mature skin that doesn’t only require peeling, but rehabilitation as well. To support it throughout the process, which can be somewhat unpleasant, drying or irritating, and to cause its renewal in as harmonious, safe, user-friendly, and pleasant a manner as possible. Remember that using an irritating product and continuing to apply it despite the irritation (which is what often happens to many Retin-A/tretinoin users who weren’t given precise treatment instructions) – may cause ongoing inflammation, which can accelerate skin aging. Causing its atrophy, thinning, the appearance of capillaries, and phenomena associated with the skin’s reaction to untreated inflammation. As professional skincare practitioners, we match our renewing product to the skin’s type and tone, the client’s routine, sensitivities and other characteristics; we give precise instructions for use that stem from professional knowledge and proper diagnosis of the skin, and we monitor the use of the active product we gave to verify safe use and with minimum irritation. Suitable instructions for use, stemming from professional knowledge, make a significant difference in the outcome!
This is in addition to matching the right product.
Combining with additional renewing ingredients
Let’s remember another fact: Cosmetic products contain retinol combinations at a concentration equivalent to some of the retinoid drugs, combined with a significant and renewing concentration of alpha-hydroxy acids. Combining the acids boosts the therapeutic intensity of the product we gave. Retin-A and its counterparts don’t contain these acids. Sometimes a melanin inhibitor is also combined.
Retinoid drugs (Retin-A, etc.) may give a nice skin renewal result. That’s an undisputed fact. Obtaining a good result is conditional on very precise and carefully matched use that takes into consideration the skin tone (dark skin is treated differently, a fact that even the doctor doesn’t allways fully consider) in addition to the skin’s other properties and those of the actual medicinal ingredient, and the client’s daily routine. In most cases, the clients ask for a prescription, and the manner of use is far from being correct. Our advantage is in our knowledge, which enables us to choose, from among the variety of truly active products, those that can compete with the prescription medications, the exact product that is perfectly suited to the client’s skin and explain to her exactly how to use it so that our result is noticeable, quick, and visible.