How it works: your feet are soaked in a rose mineral bath and a nail technician massages champagne oil into your feet, and then applies a grape peel scrub. Champagne oil is high in antioxidants, and it helps activate the grape peel scrub, which makes the skin glow.

Some nail technicians claim that this pedicure is also good for diabetic clients because it supposed to stimulate circulation. This can also build the capillaries that diabetic patients lose.

Why settle for regular pedicures when you can have the champagne of pedicures – literally!

Have you experienced or has your salon offered this champagne pedicure service? Better yet, have you learned about this fancy new process in your nail technician training?

Rock records this search for truth in African American hair culture in Good Hair, a thought-provoking and entertaining documentary produced by HBO Films and directed by Jeff Stilson. Good Hair tackles the topics of texture, hair relaxing, weaves, and the booming financial business of African American hair care to explore the way that hairstyles impact the relationships, lifestyles, health, wallets, and self-esteem of African American women.

It’s a bold topic - how American culture defines beauty, and the lengths that women to which women will go to in order to conform to that standard. As cosmetologists, we have a hand in this. We know how expensive and painful weaves can be. We know that often, women look even more beautiful rockin’ their natural hair than getting it relaxed. But still, African American hair is a big business – with special standards, techniques and training for stylists.

What’s great about Good Hair is that it doesn’t point any fingers or take sides. The film advocates self-love and appreciation, no matter whether women choose natural or relaxed hair.

Have you seen Good Hair? What do you think?

One Indian landmark in particular is famous for exporting human hair. The Venkateswara Temple in Southern India earns around 18 million a year selling hair to exporters. As one of Hinduism’s holiest sites, worshipers to this temple leave an offering of their hair for Lord Venkateswara. Cutting off hair for religious reasons is part of a ritual called tonsuring.

Some salons sell this “temple hair” anywhere from $2000 to $4000 depending on the length of the extensions.
Hair from India is also collected by village women who pool their hair together and sell it to exporters. Other women collect hair after it falls out naturally and sell it.

If you want to learn how to do hair extensions and become a professional hairstylist, find cosmetology schools near you.

Apparently, when humidity levels, pollution amounts, rainfall totals, average wind speeds, water hardness levels, and the number of beauty salons per capita come together in the perfect combination, the result can be beautiful hair. Check out some of the country’s best hair cities. Is your city helping or hurting your tresses?

The top 11 hair cities in the United States are:

1. Santa Barbara, California
2. Honolulu, Hawaii
3. San Diego, California
4. Anchorage, Alaska
5. San Francisco, California
6. New York, New York
7. Miami, Florida
8. Los Angeles, California
9. Denver, Colorado
10. Boston, Massachusetts
11. Chicago, Illinois

Did your town make the list? Unfortunately, mine did not. I guess that means I’ll have to take it into my own hands to try to make my hair look good – even with the high humidity and hard water. *Sigh*

Luckily for me, my city didn’t make the list of “worst hair cities,” either. But if you’re already fed up with living in one of these unlucky 13 places, maybe it’s officially time to pack your bags and head to greener pastures.

America’s 13 worst hair cities are:

1. Corpus Christi, Texas
2. Olympia, Washington
3. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
4. Las Vegas, Nevada
5. Phoenix, Arizona
6. Pensacola, Florida
7. Fresno, California
8. Houston, Texas
9. Tucson, Arizona
10. New Orleans, Louisiana
11. Cincinnati, Ohio
12. Albuquerque, New Mexico
13. Eugene, Oregon

Sorry, Corpus Christi residents. Texas may be your destination of choice if big hair is your thing, but Corpus Christi’s extreme humidity, hard water and small handful of salons make it one of the worst hair cities around. Better find an amazing, trained Texas hairstylist!

Do you have any tricks for overcoming the environmental hazards in your city? Maybe if you choose a cosmetology career, you’ll help your city win the battle against bad hair!

According to this article, Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation says the change wasn’t prompted by any incident or crime – it’s simply a safety precaution. The request for the change was made by representatives of the states nearly 200,000 barbers and cosmetologists.

Many cosmetologists and barbers – especially those with a lot of walk-in business – are relieved with this change. Is your home address listed on your license? If yes, did/does your home address being posted publicly for all to see concern you?

Spearheading this endeavor is beauty and hair expert, Amzadd Habibb. “This is my way of giving back to the society. I have always wanted to do something for these people and I was just waiting for right opportunity and right people,” Habibb said. He has organized a 24-hour haircutting event to raise money for all the equipment needed.

If you or someone you know are interested in a new career or second chance, perhaps you should consider cosmetology school training to start down a new career path.

Of course, the media and spas around the country jumped on this information. “Another acne-treatment product to throw at consumers!” Only one small large problem. It seems like Botox as an acne treatment isn’t really that great of an idea.  When tiny amounts of Botox are injected directly throughout the dermis of face, yes, oil production is limited. But, sorry Dr. Shah, seems like Botox injections are a stupid way to treat breakouts.

First, to significantly reduce oil production, very large areas of the face would need to be treated, resulting in the expressionless look for which Botox is often mocked.

Second, the procedure is difficult. Even Dr. Shah admits that “Experience here is really essential.” The muscle paralyzer has to be injected directly into a layer of skin just 1/25th of an inch thick. If it’s injected too deeply it can alter the patient’s facial expressions.

Third, Botox as an acne treatment can be prohibitively expensive. Once you find a doctor willing to treat your break-outs in this way, a treatment can cost upwards of $500 and last for only 4 months.

Of course, this is only my opinion of Botox as an acne treatment. I tend to be skeptical of most trendy things, though. And over a few years, my skepticism usually proves to be right. Atkins Diet, anyone?

What do you think about the prospect of Botox being used to treat acne? Estheticians, skin care specialists and makeup artists - do you think Botox is a viable solution to cure or treat acne?

In a recent, small exploratory study, more than 80% of Columbus, Ohio area cosmetologists and hairstylists surveyed said that older clients often or always shared their health problems during appointments.

“Hairstylists are in a great position to notice when their older clients are starting to suffer from depression, dementia, or self-neglect,” said Keith Anderson, co-author of the study and assistant professor of social work at Ohio State University. “While not expecting too much beyond the scope of their jobs, we may be able to help stylists direct elderly people in trouble to community services.”

The study included stylists from the Columbus area who responded to mail surveys. It was reported that about one-third of their clients were 60 years old or older.

Eighty-five percent of stylists described their relationships with older clients as “close” or “very close.” About 72% said their role was like one of “family” to some of their older customers.

“This is one reason why I think hairstylists are especially suited to seeing problems in their customers,” Anderson said. “Their older clients may sit in a chair for an hour or longer while they’re having their hair done, and this may happen once or twice a month. So stylists are in a good position to recognize when things change with a client, and when they may need help.”

He went on to say that stylists are in a unique position to discuss pain, depression or anxiety with their clients. The main issue Anderson is now trying to bring to the forefront is helping cosmetologists and stylists learn how to refer aging clients to appropriate health and community services.

“It seems like a perfect setup – stylists have access to older adults who may need someone to point them to the help they need. But at least this sample of stylists suggests they don’t know what services are out there to help these folks,” he said. “We can’t expect them to do everything, but our results suggest that most stylists care about their clients and would be willing to help them,” he said.

Have you ever had to suggest medical or psychological help to one of your clients? Did your beauty school teach you about signs to look for in your clients that may indicate they need your help? Tell us about it!

As you do your research looking at the field of medical esthetics, you are probably seeing ads for medical esthetic, paramedical and become a medical esthetician. Esthetician training and esthetician licensing varies from state to state, and at the time of this article there was no such license for any of the aforementioned terms. The average number of hours of esthetician licensing training on a national basis is 600. The separation of the esthetician license from the standard cosmetology or hairdressing license has allowed some schools to become licensed to teach only skin care, thereby raising their hours and standards. There currently are only two states – Utah and Virginia – that offer a two-tier Esthetician Masters program for 1200 hours. There are several more states that are in the process of updating their statutes - which is sorely needed – but more on that in another article.

From the National Coalition of Estheticians, Manufacturers/Distributors & Associations, Use of Esthetician Titles. It is the position of the NCEA that estheticians represent themselves according to their licensed title, as designated by their state licensing board or regulatory agency, and that estheticians must not promote themselves or allow any employer to market them otherwise.

Esthetician Medical Training Certifications

There are several companies, schools, and associations that offer “certifications” to estheticians upon completion of a course. These courses may have required participation time ranging from minutes to hours to days.

Some courses are teaching advanced procedures using machines and products that are well beyond what the esthetician license and scope of practice allows. Therefore, obtaining liability coverage would then become a major priority for the esthetician practicing. However, in a dermatology setting, it would be up to the physician and their risk manager if the esthetician should be permitted to perform these advanced procedures, under the direct supervision of the physician of course.

This Isn’t General Hospital – It’s the Real Thing

One of the most important factors in deciding whether to work in a medical setting is: Do you like medicine? Specifically, are you comfortable dealing with illness and medical problems on a daily basis? Not that the fields you’re likely to choose will bring you into contact with a great deal of sick people, but your clients will all be patients and all of them will have a medical or aesthetic concern.

While dermatology and plastic surgery, the esthetics areas you will most likely fill in the medical setting, generally involve less serious medical problems, they’re still not for the squeamish. Plastic surgery, after all, is still surgery. And some plastic surgeons perform reconstructive surgery to repair the trauma of accidents or the disfigurement of diseases such as cancer, burn survivors or genetic defects. And dermatologists treat skin cancer various, sometimes disfiguring rashes and infections as well as various diseases that affect the skin.

If you cannot stand the sight of blood or if you find illness or disfigurement  overwhelming, then you probably should consider esthetician career paths other than a clinical setting. On the other hand, most of us can get used to the sights and the situations that are likely to come up in dermatology or plastic surgery, and if you enjoy helping others and if you appreciate the privilege of working intimately with people who depend on you, the rewards of working as an esthetician in a medical setting can be tremendous.

One area that I haven’t touched on at all is the medical spa environment. If I had 10 people in the room and asked them what their perception of a medical esthetician is, I would probably get 10 different answers. For purposes of this article, the NCEA position on a medical spa is:

A medical spa is a facility that during all hours of business shall operate under the on-site supervision of a licensed health care professional operating within their scope of practice, with a staff that operates within their scope of practice as defined by their individual licensing board, if licensure is required. The facility may offer traditional, complementary, and alternative health practices and treatments in a spa-like setting.

Working in this type of facility may take you in several different directions depending on the philosophy of the owner, supervising physician and the corporate vision of what a medical spa is.

In conclusion, try to talk to other estheticians who may already be in the medical field, ask your school guidance counselor for advice, or several website such as PCI Journal offer newsletters and other books that may help you decide which of the career tracts is right for you.

Find esthetician schools near you to get started on an esthetics career path, or check out Susanne S. Warfield’s last blog article, “Esthetician Career Options in the Medical Esthetics Setting.”

Beauty Schools Directory: Tell the world a little bit about BeautyPRPro – what exactly do you do?

Alex Irving: Sharon and I started BeautyPRpro in 2008 to meet a real need. Salon professionals and salon or spa owners had nowhere to go to learn about “real world” beauty public relations and how to “get good at getting press.” There’s a lot you can do for yourself without the assistance of a public relations firm, you just need to know some of the tricks of the trade. Doing PR is like doing magic. It seems impossible until you know how the tricks are performed.

Before we started BeautyPRpro, putting all that basic info into one place, it was either the school of hard knocks, or you had to be lucky enough to work for a salon owner who was good at it and willing to share their knowledge with you. Young stylists, colorists, nail techs and estheticians learn many things in beauty school, but PR isn’t one of them. Neither is marketing, photography, or business/people management – all critical tools for financial as well as creative success.

We began blogging last September on our niche topic – beauty and salon public relations, which, in many ways, is uniquely different from general business PR. Although all the basic principles of good public relations apply, the beauty industry has special needs. When you first subscribe to the blog, you get a free copy of our e-Book Life-Changing PR for Salon and Spa Owners and that’s a valuable starting point to get you ready to get more out of what we go on to discuss and explore in the twice weekly blog posts. There’s a great deal of excellent reference material there.

Beauty Schools Directory: In your blog, you mention helping industry professionals “grow their public persona.”  What does that mean to a beauty professional or business?

Alex Irving: It means how do people really see and experience you? How does a camera see you? How does what you say make people feel about you. It relies on your ability to tell a “story,” the story of “you” and what you believe, and that takes some thought and practice to have it flow naturally. It doesn’t mean you become actor pretending to be other than who you are. It means you need to look at yourself a bit more critically and understand how what you do and say is perceived by others.

Your image is a unique selling proposition. What is your image? Ever thought about it? What do you wear to work? How do you speak? What drives you and motivates you? How do you feel about your clients? How do you feel about fashion? Where do you see hair, clothes and makeup trends going next season? Are you concerned about leading the pack, bringing the most current looks and styles to your clients? Can you communicate who you are and what you believe to others? Bottom line is, you need to craft your story, rehearse it and know what you have to say. That is every bit as important as having good technical and creative skills. That is your public persona. We wrote a couple of posts on this topic - How Do Your Clients See You? and All The World’s a Stage – Are You Ready?

Beauty Schools Directory: What would you say are the most frequently missed opportunities beauty professionals should be seizing on to grow their business and clientele?

Alex Irving: From the PR point of view it is industry professionals not leaving home to broaden their horizons. Too many professionals are stay-at-homes. The beauty industry is worldwide and the most successful beauty pros are those who are out playing in the bigger ballgame, learning, growing, meeting people, making beauty industry contacts and having experiences they can talk about with (and impress) their clients and the media.

I’m talking about getting involved with beauty industry organizations such as the Professional Beauty Association and attending events such as PBA Beauty Week in Las Vegas, International Haircolor Exchange (IHE) in St. Louis in 2010, American Board of Certified Haircolorists (ABCH) Summit in Los Angeles, etc. It’s about going to the fashion collections for the Milan or Paris Fashion Week. When you are there amidst the action, you are sipping the future, taking pictures of yourself in context and sharing all that with the media and your clients when you get back home.  Here’s a post we wrote on that topic as well — Seeing a Beauty Industry Event through the Eyes of a Beauty PR Pro.

Beauty Schools Directory: How do you feel the recession has impacted the beauty, cosmetology and esthetics industry?  Is there still opportunity for new beauty professionals to break in?

Alex Irving: Beauty is one of the most recession-resistant industries there is. Of course there has been a downturn in retail sales and clients are creating longer times between services, but there are always services! Women, men and children do not stop getting hair color, cut and styles, facial treatments don’t stop. In fact salon and spa skin care business increases as plastic surgery and more radical and expensive anti-aging solutions become too expensive to do right now.

And, yes, beauty jobs are just a bit harder to find. But they are there in any economy. Applicants need to have their skills, personality, and attitude ready for work and ready to come to the fore during the interview. A good job in beauty is always there for the right person. If someone motivated, ready to work hard, learn and contribute comes to me for a job, even if I don’t have one I hate losing a great applicant. I always try to find a way. Beauty is all about people - finding great people with good skills.

Beauty Schools Directory: Your PR agency, Esche & Alexander Public Relations, and your BeautyPRPro Blog have a huge presence online.  What role do you feel the web currently plays or will play in marketing oneself as a beauty business?

Alex Irving: Make no mistake, in today’s world, marketing is every bit as important to your financial success as your skills with color, shears and razors, nails or skin care talents. People look first to the web for what they need and want. Google is not just a noun, it’s an action verb. Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, Twitpic, YouTube, Google, and all of today’s web marketing tools are mandatory to reaching out and touching your clients when they are not in your chair. Make no mistake; you need the web to be successful in beauty in the future. We’ve blogged on this topic here with Show Yourself!  – Get a ‘Gravatar’, The World Wide Web Is a Very ‘Sticky’ Place, and Twitter for On-Line Scheduling or What?

Beauty Schools Directory: What marketing advice might you offer to newly graduated cosmetology students who are just beginning their career path in beauty?

Alex Irving: Well, it’s sort of marketing advice. Don’t become a booth renter out of school! I don’t care what anyone says. Our industry loses too many talented young professionals who hear how great booth renting is, but don’t yet have the marketing skills to develop their own traffic or the business savvy to run their own business. They end up falling by the wayside and leave the industry feeling like failures. We all lose.

Find a great salon owner that offers their staff ongoing training and continuing education, brings in the clients through their marketing efforts, and supports you in achieving your personal and professional goals. There are many good salon owners are out there. Your first job is to find them and let them help you grow.

Final thought?  I say congratulations on choosing the beauty industry as your future.  Your cosmetology license is your ticket to ride in one of the most exciting career tracks in the world.  I look forward to your comments on http://www.beautyprpo.com.