Stop over-exfoliating your clients' faces - it's ruining their barrier

I keep seeing estheticians in Orlando using 30% glycolic peels on people who clearly have compromised skin. I had a client come in last week after visiting three other places and her moisture barrier was totally shot. Why are we ignoring the basics like checking for redness or peeling before dropping strong acids? Has anyone else noticed this trend getting worse?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_robert1mo ago

Joke's on me though, I'm out here still using pH strips from a 2017 batch I found in my glove compartment like that's gonna tell me anything useful. But yeah, you're absolutely right about the whole "strongest thing on the menu" race. Had a gal come in last month who'd been hit with a 40% glycolic at some med spa and her face looked like a tomato that got into a fight with a cheese grater. pH testing would solve half these problems, but instead everyone's just winging it like we're mixing cocktails at a dive bar. Guess I'll add "actually check pH" to my list of things to do between panicking about my own expired supplies.

maxm501mo ago

Is anyone actually checking the pH of these peels before slapping them on? I learned that glycolic acid gets way more aggressive at lower pH levels, but most estheticians just grab whatever solution their supplier pushes without even testing it first. You could have a 30% peel that's totally fine at one pH and destroying faces at another, and nobody seems to care about that difference. It's like handing someone a knife without asking if they know how to use it, you know? That extra step of pH testing would stop so many of these barrier meltdowns, but it's completely ignored in the race to offer the strongest thing on the menu.