So, should you trim?   I say ‘yes’ to trimming!

Slightly exaggerated…but you get the picture!

I like to trim for two reasons:

• If the Lady Garden is too bushy, how the heck do you determine the hair growth pattern easily, without getting all down into her business whilst trying to analyze which direction and which part of the hair is growing where?   Seems like too much hard work to me.  I like to have a somewhat clean slate or foundation with which to work from.  Exploring through the depths of the forest is great if accompanied by a large vat of water and some good walking shoes….but I am not prepared to delve into this forest without trimmers, or scissors and comb in hand!  So walk those shoes,  if that’s what takes your fancy or come well equipped with the necessary tools!

• If the Twigs and Berries are also too bushy prior to waxing can you imagine how much more painful it will be having such a mass quantity of hair being pulled out by the root?    Let’s talk about ‘mass’.  When there is a large area that is dense with masses of hair and wax is applied to it then pulled out with or without the strip…depending on your waxing method.  The volume of the hair, the density of the hair or let’s just say the quantity of hair that is being tugged is causing too much pressure on the skin!  ”Yes”, the skin!  If skin in the labia area or the scrotum is pulled bringing with it a large quantity of garden material….can you imagine what might happen to that skin —–  skin that I am sure your client was quite attached too and fond of, prior to his or her waxing appointment?   The skin can rip…If your client was already booked in for a labiaplasty surgery then go ahead and wax that bush bringing the root and dirt with it!

So on that note whilst I sit here with my legs squeezed shut wincing at the thought, I am not here to judge and I will leave you all to determine what works or doesn’t work for you!  Happy waxing sweet cheeks!

Mix half a lemon with a teaspoon of honey…. preferably Manuka Honey and approximately half a teaspoon of almond oil. Apply to the face for 20 minutes and remove with warm water and blot dry with a soft towel!  Apply as often as you want and watch those wrinkles disappear!!

Mix half a lemon with egg white into a bowl, whisking well.  Apply to the face for approximately 20 minutes and remove with warm water and blot dry with a soft towel!!  Apply as often as you want and watch that blotchy, uneven complexion turn peachy!

Mix half a lemon with a teaspoon of honey … preferably Manuka Honey and a good pinch of cinnamon.  Apply to the face for approximately one hour and remove with warm water and blot dry with a soft towel!!  Apply as often as three times a week and watch those acne pimples and acne scars disappear, giving you a flawless complexion!!   Read below to find out many more intersting facts about our friend the lemon!

Many professionals in restaurants are using  the entire lemon and nothing is wasted. How can you use the whole lemon without waste?   You, place the washed lemon in the freezer section of your refrigerator.  Once the lemon is frozen, get your grater and shred the whole lemon (no need to peel it) and sprinkle it on top of your foods.  Sprinkle it on your, ice cream, soup, cereals, noodles, spaghetti sauce, rice, sushi, fish dishes…. The list is endless.  You can even use lemon in instant cup noodles!

When you use lemon peels as well as the lemon juice it contains as much as 5 to 10 times more vitamins than the lemon juice itself.  And yes, that’s what you’ve been wasting.  So instead of throwing your lemon skins down the waste disposal for a fresh smelling sink…get your skin, hair and body healthy instead!

Following this simple procedure of freezing the whole lemon, then grating it on top of your dishes, means you can consume all of those nutrients and get even healthier.  It’s also good that lemon peels are health rejuvenators in eradicating toxic elements in the body.  Hung over?  Not any more!   Squeeze some fresh juice into your tea and have that as your hair of the dog instead!!

So place your washed lemon in your freezer and then grate it on your meals every day.  It is a key to make your foods tastier and you get to live healthier and longer!  That’s the lemon secret!  Better late than never, right? Lemon (Citrus) is a miraculous product to kill cancer cells.  It is 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy.  WOW!

It is credited with many virtues, but the most interesting is the effect it produces on cysts and tumors.  It is a proven remedy against cancers of all types.  It is also considered as an anti microbial broad spectrum against bacterial infections and fungi, effective against internal parasites and worms; it regulates blood pressure which is too high and an antidepressant which combats stress and nervous disorders.

And what is even more astonishing:  lemon extract only destroys malignant cancer cells and it does not affect healthy cells. So, give those lemons a good wash, freeze them, grate them or squeeze em!  Your whole body will love you for it and this is one secret you do want to share with loved ones!

Not bikini ready!

They are called “Knicker Stickers”. They are packaged nicely and are hygienically made from 100% breathable cotton and made in the U.S!  They come in two different colors, beige and black. They basically stick into your trousers like a panty liner but without the feeling of wearing a nappy or a pair of old ladies incontinence knickers. Wearing them in your trousers without your knickers on will leave you feeling foot loose and fancy free, without any tight underwear chaffing along your bikini line.  At $7.95 for a pack of seven, I think that is a pretty good deal to either give one away to first time waxing clients or to retail the whole pack of seven, so that she can wear one each day for a week! Their original purpose is to wear them for preventing panty lines, travelling and the whale tail.

After realizing that it actually worked for ingrown hair prevention, I put a whole new spin on them for myself!  Does your competition offer this freebie to first time clients?  I bet they don’t! 

Please, inform the client that you are sending them home with a “knicker sticker” simply for the reason that it helps reduce the possibility of getting ingrown hairs.

Stating this fact will make you sell more of them, especially when clients understand that it is a benefit to them and not because you are a sloppy waxer that has left big globs of wax in her Lady Garden!

After all,  doesn’t she want to be bikini ready….summer IS getting closer!

My response to this was ” I have waxed hundreds and I mean hundreds of nostrils for men who have more straggly hair’s protruding out of their nostril’s than I have bristles on my hairbrush and not one of them has dropped dead on me”.  Now my answer might sound uncaring and a bit blaze and that wasn’t my intention.  My intention was one of tiresome articles that become scare mongers and get some aestheticians all in a fluster.

If your salon that you are operating from is not of a high standard with good sanitary practices, then all services that you perform can be at risk of infections etc.  The article above claims that all areas on the face, including pimple popping (which occurs during a facial) and any sort of picking,  poses a potential health risk to the client.   Does this mean that you don’t extract pimples during your facial services from now on?  No, it doesn’t.  It just means that in all areas of our salon practices, we should at all times offer services that are of the highest standard when it comes to sanitation.   By this I mean, washing hands before touching a client,  wearing gloves during waxing,  no double dipping, and always clean the area prior to being treated.

When waxing the nostrils, clean the area to be waxed prior to waxing with a good quality astringent using a clean cotton bud.  Insert the hard wax using a clean popsicle stick/spatula into the corner of the nose only, where the hair is hanging lower than the nostril itself.  Once the wax has dried and the hair has been pulled out, use another clean cotton bud with astringent/witch hazel and apply to freshly waxed area.   Never double dip the wax regardless of what area of the body you are waxing and never insert the waxed popsicle stick/spatula so far up the nostril that you could potentially pull out his/her brain.

If you are still not convinced that this is a sanitary or safe practice for you to be offering in your salon, then I will pose another question to you.   “Do you offer Brazilian bikini waxing in your salon?”  

Did you know that the hair on your vagina, around your vagina and sometimes in your vagina is there for a reason?  Removing hair from around this area makes us ladies more prone to yeast infections, urine infections and a whole array of other infections if the area that has been waxed rubs against our knickers causing chaffing.  We are also more prone to an infection after our Lady Garden has been waxed if we have sex within 24 hours.   Hmm, most of my clients getting this service are doing it for sanitation reasons, sex appeal or that they are going on a hot date that evening and most likely having sex.    But, does this stop us from offering this service in our salons?   I tell all clients that wax that this can happen, none ever report back to me that it was an issue.  It is my job as their aesthetician to make them aware of any dangers that waxing can produce.

I would love to hear some of your thoughts on this topic.  One more thing …. I did come across a technician a while ago that was adamant that she wasn’t offering this waxing service in her salon as it posed a huge health risk to the public.  By the way she mentioned this to me as she was on her way to a nail salon to get her monthly pedicure.  

You know one of those salons that don’t disinfect the foot bowl for a minimum of ten minutes with a hospital grade disinfectant before the next client dunks her luscious toes in there, or  where they reuse the same implements on every client potentially causing a fungus infection or even worse a staph infection?   Blog on this to follow …… keep checking in!

Who doesn't like to receive a hand written card in the post?

Does your Salon or Spa offer them to clients?  Rewards programs are a great way to keep your clients happy and get’s them talking about your place to other people.  Some people are so busy focusing on getting new clients that they forget their existing ones. So try a couple of  reward programs to see what works best for you.

Before your clients leave, tell them about the rewards program that you have going on in your salon. For every time she re-books an appointment and keeps that appointment, she can receive 10% off of her next visit.  She can call and change the appointment to another date or time and still get the discount.  But, if the client cancels with the intention of calling back another day to schedule, then unfortunately they lose the discount. With clients knowing this, they are more likely to reschedule there and then on the phone and stick with the appointment.

If they upgrade their services or try new services, use this as part of the rewards program also.  They gain a point for every time they try something new or upgrade.  These points can be accumulated over a year. Perhaps they gain five points for referring a friend, or two points for trying a new service etc. At some point once they have collected enough points, which equates to dollars, they could potentially get a service for free!  Offering little incentives or reward programs make people feel special.  Who doesn’t like to be made to feel special?

If your client is a regular who spends a juicy amount of money with you each year, reward them with becoming a silver, gold or platinum member all depending on the dollar amount that they have spent with you each year. With each level that they reach they get discounts or a free hand massage, or free product.  The higher the level they reach, the better the reward.

There are lots more reward programs available to your clients all of which can be found in this book.

Don't have that resume that lands in the trash!

1.  If you are asked to submit your resume online by sending it in ‘word format’ do as they ask.  They might be testing you to see how well you follow directions.

2. Always include a cover letter.  Don’t presume that your resume is full of enough information.  It makes a nice introduction.

3. Don’t use paper that is cutesy with big puffy clouds in the background.  It is distracting and not necessary.

4. Do not send a photo of yourself, no matter how gorgeous you are!  

5. Unless you are applying for a modeling job, or a T.V job,  be aware of companies/salon or spa’s asking you for a photo.

6. Do not put the reason why you left your previous jobs on your resume. Save this for the interview if/when asked.

7. Keep your resume short and to the point.  Anything more than 2 pages and you will have them snoozing.

8. Keep your resume relevant to the position you are applying for.

9. If your resume isn’t relevant for the position that you are applying for (due to a career change)….explain this in the cover letter.

10. Get somebody to proof read your resume for you, checking for grammatical errors and spelling errors.

Still need help?  Let us know how we can be of assistance to you.  We love to help.

If your water is truly impressive, maybe leave some recipe cards out on the table in the ‘waiting area’ with your business card stapled to the corner!  You wouldn’t want them to forget now would you, where they picked up the recipe card so that they can now impress  their friends?

Looks more exciting than a slice or two of cucumber...

So, get your jugs out (water jugs) hopefully you will have fresh water …. preferably filtered and make sure your ice is also fresh.   Ice that has been sitting in your freezer box growing furry frost bite needs to go.  Fill up your ice cube trays with fresh water or change the filter in your refrigerator if your ice is automatically processed!  There is no point in having lovely fresh fruit in your jug, if your ice tastes like Stouffers frozen food boxes that having been sitting on the top of them.

Spa a la Orange

1 orange sliced

1 lemon sliced                                                                                                    

1 lime sliced

1/2 grapefruit sliced (any color grapefruit will work….pink will be prettier!)

1 cup of fresh mint leaves…..slightly squished or ripped

Place all of the above ingredients in a clean, glass jug with fresh iced water!

Aunt Rosemary is coming for tea

6 cups of water                                               

12 slices of cucumber thinly sliced

4 slices of lemon thinly sliced

4 sprigs of mint …. slightly squished or ripped                                                                  

2 sprigs of rosemary …. slightly squished 

Place all of the above ingredients in a clean, glass jug with fresh iced water!

Peaches and Cream (my fave!)

lots of slices of fresh, juicy peaches

1 vanilla bean sliced down the center

Place the above ingredients in a clean, glass jug with fresh iced water!

Mojito

About 6 slices of fresh pineapple

1 or 2 slices of fresh ginger

1 handful of fresh mint

Place all of the above ingredients in a clean, glass jug with fresh iced water!

Claire is berry mad for this                                                                                     

A handful of fresh sliced strawberries

A handful of fresh sliced raspberries

1 vanilla bean sliced down the center

Place all of the above ingredients in a clean, glass jug with fresh iced water!

Claire’s tip:   For a refreshing change…..when filling your ice cubes trays with water…’add’ a sliced strawberry a raspberry or some cut up lemon chunks!   This saves your fruit from going bad or to waste and is stored nicely in the freezer.  Just pop out your ice cubes with fruit in them and make your very own glass for sipping throughout the day.   Grapes are great frozen too!!

Don't have that Esthetician resume that hits the trash!

So if you’re submitting a resume, it’s more important than ever to make a good first impression and avoid these common mistakes. Pay attention to these resume do’s and don’ts to clean up your act whilst searching for that perfect Salon position.

No Visual Distractions

Don’t submit your resume with visual distractions. Don’t send a head shot, rainbow-colored paper or clip art of a kitty. You might like “Hello Kitty” but Kitty needs to stay away from professional environments. Sending a photo of yourself is also a particularly bad idea as a picture says, ‘I’m going to suck all the oxygen out of the room; ‘My looks are more important than my experience or personality’ it also smells of narcissism.

It's not all about you, its what you can do for them!

 No Physical Descriptions 

Don’t reveal physical characteristics, like age, height, weight. Employers cannot hire you for your physical appearance.

Do focus on career and contact facts. Leave off information regarding race, color, religion, and sex.

No sassy email addresses

Now this might sound like a strange one and one that you might have never thought of before. Having a fun personality with a great sense of humor is certainly a strong asset, especially as we work in a salon or spa environment and are around people all of the time. If you are one of those fun loving creatures your email address might reflect that.  You friends might know the story behind why your email address is “Legs UP Lucy” or “Sassy Susan” but a potential employer  might not even take the time to read how magnificent you are and that you might actually have a professional side to your personality if your email address shouts out party animal!

So pick an email address that is professional and save your fun one for personal!  Let your fun and approachable personality shine when you are in the interview coupled with your professional side of course.

Proofread

When resumes contain spelling errors and grammatical errors, these send the message that the candidate is sloppy.

Do read your resume slowly out loud and ask a good friend to proofread for you, or proofread after allowing the resume to sit overnight.

See how easy it is to miss out a word?

What’s OK to put on your resume?

Your full name, address and contact information, job objective, qualification highlights, chronological work history, and educational background or training.

What Should Not be Included

Don’t give full disclosure of your career history. More isn’t always better. Do keep your resume to one or two pages explaining why there are employment gaps.

Explain what you’ve been doing with your time, whether volunteering, going back to school or taking some education classes. In the current economy, you won’t be alone in your periods of unemployment. However, it is important to show you’ve been doing something worthwhile and employers love to hear that you have been taking some waxing classes or hair cutting classes. It shows initiative and an eagerness to learn new things which your license permits you to practice.

Save the Jokes for later

Like I mentioned earlier you might be a fun loving creature with a great sense of humor, but keep your humor out of your resume. Your objective should be to make a strong first impression, showing professionalism.

Do use keywords from the job description in your resume, and stay on-topic as far as your relevant skills and experience are concerned.

Match your skills to the job posting, and mention your career highlights early in the resume. You want to stand out for the right reason and that won’t be because you were the champion hot dog eater in high school!

 Strong Cover Letter

Distinguish yourself by writing a strong cover letter, avoiding photo attachments and cutesy graphics.

Share in a cover letter how you’re involved in your community, or why you love to attend Trade Shows related to your industry. It’s also a chance for you to emphasize why you’re right for the job and why you think they would benefit from having you.

If you need help with writing a great resume, don’t hesitate to contact our resume team, we would love to help you, so that you get the job of your dreams!

I have had some fantastic jobs with great employers and some average jobs with horrendous employers!  I have worked with co-workers where our team spirit was very cohesive and I have worked at some places where there was more drama than watching an episode of The Bachelor.

Some salons I have worked at have attracted brilliant clients where they brought in with them a harmonious aura.  Other places I have worked at have attracted the self righteous, kind of client.  But, one thing I do know is, that when you work in the service industry the client is always right, whether we like it or not.  Unless of course, they physically, sexually or verbally abuse us, then that is not OK!

I have made many mistakes in my career that were easily rectified and I humbly admitted to all of them.  These mistakes might have been from a waxing service gone wrong, fleeing work early to catch up with the girls leaving my treatment room, not how I would like to find it the next day. But, we are all human and if we know where we made those mistakes and we hopefully learn from them, it makes us a good employee or person in general.  This as a parent I find is especially important. It teaches your children that mistakes are normal, it is how you handle the mistakes, that is what is important.

 Having two teenagers and seeing how vulnerable they are in the adult world, makes me even more passionate about helping others in this industry with writing a good aesthetician resume, or how maternal and happy it makes me feel when I get an email from an aspiring hairstylist telling me they are going to be taking extra classes upon graduating cosmetology school. I enjoy receiving emails from girls asking questions, that sometimes leaves me scratching my head in amazement that they don’t already know the answer…but this is OK, because feeding them with the information is what makes my day go round and what makes me feel good about my company. Some students don’t get the day to day teaching from their parents about how to conduct themselves as an employee or how they could improve on their listening skills.  Again, this is OK, as I go into automatic pilot and educate on what I know works and what doesn’t from my own life experiences.

I enjoy teaching others how to conduct themselves in job interviews. I love to see their faces when I tell them it is not ok, to bring their cell phone onto the salon floor and Facebook their friends around clients! When they challenge me on this it motivates me to point out more bad etiquette habits they may have acquired, like chewing gum in the clients ear while she is having a facial. Funny, how some just think that is acceptable, or they just never give it a second thought.  It makes me feel good when I see that they have listened to me and get where I am coming from.  Feeling good because you have supplied somebody with information that might come very naturally to you, but not necessarily to them is a feeling that I know is my purpose.  Do you know what your purpose is?  I would love to hear.

Putting all of my knowledge that I had about waxing, and salon etiquette into my first published book was nerve wracking but worth every second. My second book comes out this year… I am not sure exactly when, but I am sure you will see a tweet from time to time informing you of the launch.

Now even though you have seen my likes…with those come some imperfections.  We all have them!

• I am not composed in situations that resemble a Hannibal Lecture scene such as my daughters nose bleeds. 
• I dislike rude people and will avoid them like the plague.
• Sometimes I get caught by my kids using profanity as I nurse a blistered finger under cold running water!
• I get frustrated with people who talk constantly with nothing of substance coming out.
• I attend my kid’s soccer games, (sometimes with enjoyment, sometimes with silent resentment, especially when I think of the work piling up that I should be attending to). 
• I get upset with my neighbor as she never say’s ‘hello’ back to me.
• I get my knickers in a twist when people don’t pick up their dog poop! 
• I like to listen to my music loud and sometimes my kids ask me to turn it down….maybe they just don’t appreciate my singing and dancing?  
• I dislike brown bananas and hate peeling oranges.
• If I find a piece of egg shell in my mouth from my hard boiled egg I have to throw the whole thing away.
• Oh, and I wish people wouldn’t chew popcorn loudly in the movie theater!  
• Spell check is American….this confuses me and throws me off balance!  
•  And finally, if you ask for my ‘honest’ opinion you will get it…no fluff involved!

So, now you have some idea who is behind Premier Beauty Solutions .  Bio’s on websites only give you a brief introduction….here you have the novel!!  Maybe I should write more and attach it to a toilet roll….

Sharing is healthy…let’s do it!

Thanks for reading….and don’t forget to share with me what you think is your life purpose….I want to hear! 

Once the Lady Garden has been freshly waxed you can apply nice jewels in the shape of flowers, stars, or butterflies onto her freshly mowed area, or she can design her own. These jewels are referred to as “Vajazzling”.

Image supplied by Martha. Boca Skin Bar.

They are applied with self adhesive glue to an area that is dry and free from lotions and they usually last approximately two to three days, especially if she takes care to not be too rough in this area with washing and rubbing etc or by wearing tight fitting clothing.

After all a girl needs to take care of her diamonds!

They are applied firmly onto the top of the bikini area, just above the pubic bone area and can be adjusted into shape very easily with tweezers. They are becoming quite a hit across the world!

Check them out here in the education section under “Vajazzling”.  There are a few companies to choose your jewels from on our website and they all have very promising reputations.  There is a great Australian company that are producing some fabulous Vajazzling jewels right now and they are  looking for distributors in the U.S….email us and we can give you the juicy details if running your own Vajazzling company is something that peeks your interest!

Show me a girl who doesn't like diamonds..

You can very easily upgrade your clients service, give her partner something to be happy about and make her feel secretly special all at the same time.

I have since heard some rumors about ‘Pejazzling’ becoming popular.  I am sure it will be a huge hit, especially with our wonderful, flamboyant gay male clients that like anything glittery!  Maybe you can encourage your female clients to bring in their male friends to get the Twigs and Berries waxed and have a nice jeweled display in the shape of a guitar or whatever else they might have out there onto his tackle.  I bet that is one secret that client won’t be sharing with his friends over a beer one night in the pub!  But his partner will know and it can become their own little secret – (if he buys into it, of course!)

Jen Rutledge who is a master Vajazzling aesthetician in California once tweeted that she did a Vajazzling service on a seventy year old lady, who was celebrating her 50^th wedding anniversary.  I bet her husband nearly died of fright seeing his wife’s bare Lady Garden displayed with jewels on her lady bits!  I hope he made it to their 51^st wedding anniversary after that delightful surprise, I bet he didn’t stop smiling all week!   

Happy Larry!

So on that happy note….”Happy Vajazzling my lovelies”