Why Men need Facials Too!

Why should Skin Care be only for women??

In today's society, men are becoming more aware of their appearances and also have the desire to age slower and maintain their youth, just like women do.

This means that more and more men are heading off to the spa for Facials, Waxing, Barber and Massage services!

According to the International SPA Association (ISPA), men are making up 47% of spa-goers.

This tells me that men are looking for spa services because they suffer from conditions like Acne, age spots, and even razor bumps and need skin care products targeted specifically to their concerns as well.

Men have different needs than women - especially when it comes to shaving because of the fact that many are shaving  their faces daily and this causes damage to their skin when not caring for it properly post-shave.

Shaving is a necessity for men in the workplace because it's just not "clean-looking" to have a full beard.  Plus it gives the appearance of youthfulness.

In today's competitive job market, men need to have good looks, great skin and maintain a youthful appearance and it's no longer just women who are being turned down for jobs.

Men also need to understand HOW to properly care for their skin.  Most male clients who come to my spa for the first time, only use bar soap to wash their faces.   No lotion or nothing to add to the skin post-shaving!!

My husband uses a bar of soap to wash his face (even though I'm an Esthy and try to explain what to do).  Post-shaving, he just wipes it off & walks out the door.  No moisturizer unless it's cold out & his skin is flaky & dry...drives me NUTS!!!

Men are simple by nature, so they need spa services and a skin care line that is also simple and un-complicated.  Their facials need to be structured in a way that they can see & feel the results during and after their service.  

Skin care should also be very basic.  Most men aren't going to go home with 5-7 products and do a morning or nightly skin routine.  They are just wasting money and the Esthetician should KNOW better!!!

Remember, men have ONLY used Bar soap up until this point.  They need to start slower and add in products as they feel comfortable and ready.  They also don't want heavily fragranced or products designed for women with pretty labels or designs on the box.

There are a number of product lines that are specific to the Male clients, but you always need to look at ingredients because most of the OTC products have dry, irritating ingredients that are NOT going to help with Acne or Razor bumps - they will only exacerbate the conditions.

Lastly, Facials are so important as a maintenance for men.  The Esthetician will get a chance to make sure they are continuing on their home-care.  They will also get to see how well their skin is responding and if it IS helping.  Our job is to get to know your skin and make sure that the products and treatments are making a change and improving your skin.  If not, we can always adjust the products or our facials to ensure the skin is looking & feeling great.

With the Holiday season approaching, NOW is a great time to start thinking about getting your hubby, brother, uncle, grandpa, or guy-friend in the spa...get them a Gift Certificate so they can try it!

Most of my male clients have come from my women clients referring to me because Men aren't usually ones to schedule a facial, it has to be done for them.  Once they're hooked, they begin to come on a regular basis and they love the results!

Any questions, please email me samanthaspagirl@yahoo.com

Are You Addicted to Sugar??

Guilty as charged!!!!

I remember being a child & spending summers at my grandparents' pool.  The minute we got there, the first place I would go was her pantry because my grandma was known for her strong sweet tooth (and so am I).  

She always had the BEST sweets in her house and it was free-range!  

I always loved when I got an invite to a birthday party, because I knew there would be cookies, cake, and/or ice cream (not the actual party itself).

Sugar is one of the most addictive substances in our food and it's in almost EVERY food we eat.  And it's highly addictive - its proven to be more addictive than Cocaine!

Americans consume 150 pounds of of sugar each year! The average adult will consume about 22 tsp of sugar daily, while the average child consumes 32 tsp daily!!!

If you have kids, it's always nice to "treat" them with something sweet.  Even going to mom's groups or parties, there are always bowls of candy or some kind of dessert put out to pick on after a few glasses of wine (also high in sugar).

Two reasons why is sugar so bad:

1) Too much sugar irritates blood vessels and creates inflammation and damages the skin.  This damage leads to puffiness, redness, excessive oiliness or dryness.  Too much sugar also increases our blood sugar levels and causes them to spike quickly.  This rapid spike causes the collagen & elastin in our skin (which is known to keep the skin taught and youthful).  This prevents the collagen & elastin from properly repairing themselves and over time, leads to aging.

2) It causes Glycation!  Glycation occurs when sugar binds to proteins in the skin.  It collapses to form wrinkles and dry skin.

Eating a sugar free diet isn't the answer either, because our bodies still get sugar from breads, pastas, rice & other starches we consume.  Sugar is also in ALL processed foods in some form and not necessarily listed as sugar.

There are at least 61 different names for Sugar listed on food labels, some of the most common ones are Sucrose, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Barley Malt, Dextrose, Maltose & Rice Syrup.

Manufacturers aren't REQUIRED by the FDA to list total amount of sugar on their labels, which means that we don't know how much extra sugar is coming from fruit, grain or milk sources.


What can we do about eliminating Sugar??

1) Eat more Grass-fed proteins, Beans, & Good fats like Avocados and Coconut Oil and read food labels when buying processed foods.

2) Eliminate foods such as sweets, high fructose corn syrup, soda, breads, pastas, rice, and even alcohol.



Any questions, please email me samanthaspagirl@yahoo.com - I LOVE to help!

The Problem with Sunscreen

Fall may be here, but that doesn't mean we should ditch the sunscreen!  Even in the cooler months, the sun is still shining and on cloudy days the UVA rays are still penetrating.

There's tons of information about sunscreens and how important it is to wear them on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, how do we determine which sunscreens are good and which are bad??  

Media, Celebrity endorsements and the Internet is over-loaded with information and we get so confused that we just buy the cheapest, or what's on sale or we the coupon we clipped from a magazine or newspaper.

But do you really know what ingredients are in those sunscreens??  

A good client of mine, told me about this article that states Neutrogena is the #1 WORST sunscreen on the market because of false advertisement and ingredients that are toxic and can actually CAUSE skin cancer.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) posted it's 2015 list of the top 10 worst sunscreens.  Luckily, at the end, it does list recommended sunscreens.

Spray sunscreens (while super-easy to use) are the biggest fault, not to mention that any sunscreen over SPF of 30 is really ineffective and doesn't protect MORE than 97% of the sun's rays.  The only thing those sunscreens are doing is adding more chemicals to the sunscreens.

What should we wear??

There are 2 types of Sunscreens on the market; Physical and Chemical sunscreens:

Chemical Sunscreens are just that and there are hundreds of ingredients that make up a chemical sunscreen.  Some are just UVA or UVB protective and others can protect against both UVA and UVB rays.

Here's the bottom line.  When you apply a Chemical sunscreen, your skin absorbs the chemicals and some do have the potential to get into the bloodstream and can cause Estrogenic effects in the body.  

Once absorbed into the skin, which takes about 20-30 minutes after application, the skin then absorbs the sun's rays and disperses them either throughout the body or the bloodstream.  The problem with this method is that the sun is still causing Free Radicals in the body. 

Free Radicals mean that an atom has an extra Oxygen molecule and another atom will "steal" that oxygen atom to make itself even.  The problem with this, is that it's a vicious cycle and that our bodies are constantly stealing atoms to make others "complete".

Chemical sunscreens and sun exposure make this Free Radical reaction worse!!

Physical Sunscreens consist of only 2 ingredients, Zinc Oxide (the most common) and Titanium Dioxide.  These are both UVA and UVB protective.

Here's what makes Physical sunscreens better...
#1: If you have sensitive skin, you will NOT react from either of these ingredients.
#2: These are minerals and your body recognizes them.
#3: These ingredients do NOT cause harm to our bodies or create Free Radical damage.

When you apply a Physical sunscreen, it still takes about 20-30 minutes for your skin to absorb.

Here's the difference, when you are exposed to the sun, Physical sunscreens act as a mirror and deflect the sun's rays away from your body, so there is very minimal sun absorption in our bodies.

Also, if our bodies are to absorb the Physical sunscreens into our bloodstream, Zinc Oxide is a natural mineral and our bodies can actually USE the minerals.

Bottom line, read labels!!!

You want to switch to a Physical sunscreen because it is less likely to irritate the skin, it's easily absorbed and you are not putting chemicals in your body.

Also, make sure that the Zinc Oxide is at least 8-10%.  Also read labels because some companies say they are Zinc Oxide-based, and add chemicals to make up the difference.

Any questions, please comment below or email me!!