July 24, 2008

Is your spa water aging your clients?


There are many different forms of water available for your drinking pleasure. It’s important to understand the benefits of each to ensure that you and your clients are drinking and topically using the right type of water for healthier skin and body. According to Dr. Dennis Gross, tap water contains heavy metals that can act as free radicals, which can destroy collagen. Even by washing your face with tap water can lead to impurities and heavy metals to cling to your skin, creating a breeding ground for damage to occur throughout the day.

What kind of water is best for you?

Ionized water
What is it?
Water treated with electrolysis to remove acidic particles, such as sodium, calcium, iron, copper, chloride and bromide. The water has been purified from most impurities except organic compounds.

Benefits:

  • Acts as a natural antioxidant
  • Helps with the body’s natural oxygen production
  • Stabilizes body’s acid/alkaline balance – balancing the body’s pH
  • The molecular structure of ionized water is smaller, which allows for easier passage into the cells and tissues
  • Used externally, ionized water is beneficial for healthy skin, hair and scalp
Distilled water
What is it?
Water that has been heated to a boiling point eliminating impurities from the water as it vaporizes. Through a distiller, the vapor water is then cooled to become pure liquid water while the impurities such as the metals, ions, minerals, and contaminants are disposed of.

Benefits:
  • Helps to flush out impurities from the body
  • Allows the proper “flushing” of the blood through the kidneys, not having to have to deal with other impurities found in un-distilled water.
  • No impurities, just pure H2O
  • Acts as a solvent in the body by dissolving nutrients so they can be assimilated by the cell
  • Collects “rejected” minerals and flushes them out as waste
Filtered water
What is it?
Water that has been filtered through a carbon based filter to remove chemical agents such as chlorine.

Benefits:
  • Ensures that only organic minerals are retained in the water
  • Helps to remove synthetic compounds, which turn into vapor at relatively low temperatures leading to toxins in the body if not removed

Have any comments or questions? Please email us

July 23, 2008

Complexion Boosters: Keep summer skin beautiful


Summer is well under way! It’s the time of year where we need to protect our skin from the damaging effects of UV exposure that can lead to wrinkles, photo-aging and even the beginning stages of skin cancer. In recent studies, researchers have found that an array of antioxidants can protect specific skin cells against UVA and UVB induced damage. Exposure to UV light accounts for 90 percent of the symptoms associated with premature skin aging, and most of the effects by age 20.

Keep your skin youthful from 20 to 60

Skin in your 20’s: Your skin tends to be more stable than in your teens, usually oiliness and spots will disappear. You really do not see any visible facial lines yet, but if you look closely you will notice your expression marks will start forming. Some men and women will still see some acne depending on hormonal changes and cravings.

Solution: Make sure your diet is full of antioxidants like lutein, gogi berry, mangosteen, tomatoes and blueberries to support sun protection and skin elasticity. Drink lots of water and avoid smoking.

Skin in your 30’s: This is definitely a decade where you will begin seeing any overexposure to smoke, alcohol, pollution and UV light on your skin, that occurred in your teens and 20’s. You will begin to notice visible fine lines around the eyes and mouth and your cellular repair process begins to slow, which leads to weakened collagen. Skin may look duller and darker and may take longer to recover from late nights or stress.

Solution: Spend a little more time on learning what is good for your body. Choose the types of foods that enhance your metabolism, energy and provide beautifying properties from within. Supplementing with antioxidants like pomegranate, grape seed, green tea and alpha lipoic acid, which provide protection from free radical damage (the rusting effect of our cells). Increase your diet with vitamin A, E and C to boost your immune and diet for healthy looking skin and body. Try Sequence XO’s Fusion antioxidant supplement to help protect your skin. Learn more about our products

Skin in your 40’s: Wrinkles and spider veins will become more apparent during this stage of our lives if we did not protect our skin in earlier decades. Discoloration, uneven skin texture, dryness and dullness are more apparent.

Solution: Avoid yo-yo dieting, this will only add to dullness of your skin and create havoc on your hormones. Instead try portion control and don’t forget the most important meal of the day – breakfast. Women who eat breakfast tend to be 10 pounds lighter than woman who skip it all together. Try drinking your breakfast with yogurt, protein blended with a low-carb antioxidant beauty mix, like Sequence XO’s Radiance beverage powder. Learn more about our products

Skin in your 50’s and 60’s: Pigmentation and sagging skin are usually the biggest problems in this stage of our lives. Unless you have exercised regularly, you will see the effects in loss of tone and muscle. Also cellular regeneration and circulation will slow causing flaky patches, dullness, goose pimples and fragile skin spots.

Solution: Diet and exercise is very important to keep skin and muscles healthy. Increasing your protein and essential fatty acids like omega 3’s are crucial in keeping bones and joints healthy. Adding supplements with antioxidants, essential fatty acids, phyto-nutrients, protein and minerals are very important to the health of your collagen (muscles, connective tissue, joints, skin, hair and nails). Try Sequence XO’s Radiance to boost protein and phyto-nutrients in your diet. Learn more about our products

Have a question? Comment? Please email us, we’d love to hear from you.

July 10, 2008

Spa Professional: Customer Retention


It has been observed that in business, the idea of the “80/20” rule reigns supreme. Essentially, what this rule indicates is that 80% of your business is generated by 20% of your clients. Taking the 80/20 rule into consideration, it is more important now than ever to make sure your customers keep coming back to you. We have reached a point during these economic times where people are more selective on where they spend their money. Customer retention has become one the key factors in ensuring that your business flourishes and succeeds. Business is more than just completing a transaction. Building a relationship with your clients creates a bond that will ensure future business and buzz.

Here are a few ways you can ensure customer retention:

Follow up and follow through

If your clients have recently conducted business with you, follow up with them by sending them a “thank you” card with an added incentive for them to come back for a different treatment.

If you have clients that have not visited your spa in a while, send them a mailer or card that gives them an incentive to come in. The note will remind them that they are important to you.

Personalize your interaction

Your clients appreciate a memorable experience. They will tend to come back to a place where they are greeted and treated with a more personalized approach. Welcome them in your spa with a smile and by first name basis if possible.

Listen, listen, listen

Your clients will appreciate your efforts in understanding their needs and applying they’re suggestions. Good customer service and functional selling comes from listening and implementing what your clients are asking for. Again, sending a “thank you” card with a note that asks, “what would you like to see during your next visit” will initiate an interactive relationship with you and your clients.

Become a Resource

Individuals are always looking for more information. Why have your clients go to someone else if they can get the information they are looking for from you. Create an environment in your spa that provides educational information relating to the industry. Provide information relating to wellness and health for your clients. Being more than a place for pampering and more a destination for resources will drive your clients to visit your spa or your spa’s website more frequently. More frequency will ultimately drive more business.