Ultimate Skin Care and Wellness Plan for Acne

If you suffer from acne, but also live a very busy lifestyle and don’t often have time for your skin care and wellness routines, I have a solution for you.

Spa Trends Final Assignment

For my final exam in my spa emerging trends and technology course, I created an ultimate skin care and wellness plan for a case study. The case study was based on a women in her mid-late 30’s, who has acne and lives a very busy life.

My task was to come up with a 4 week skincare and treatment protocol, choose a suitable skin care line, and make skincare recommendations for lifestyle, wellness, nutrition, and any other aspects that could help the client. I also. created a 4 week calendar with Canva.com, to schedule my recommendations for my client, in which I will also add to this post down below.

Ultimate Skin Care and Wellness Plan for Acne (and Busy Living)

Skinceuticals Skin Care

I decided to go with Skinceuticals because I wanted to recommend a product line that were catered to acne skin concerns. I also wanted to ensure that they had medical-grade products for overall skin health and wellness because I was seeking to find a brand that would give my client the best results.

Skinceuticals has acne clearing products that can be incorporated into a specific facial treatment for acne prone skin, even an acne photo facial treatment. 

I chose a cleanser, toner, exfoliant, mask, serum, moisturizer, eye, cream, SPF, and night cream that can provide many benefits. These products are perfect for the client because they are purifying, cleansing, exfoliating, and moisturizing, which is just what the client’s acne-prone skin needs.

Recommended Treatments

IPL Photo-Facial

This treatment would help to target the client’s acne skin concerns, especially cystic acne. An IPL photo-facial would help reduce acne spots, pigmentation, and redness, while also providing a deeply relaxing skincare treatment.

I recommend that anyone wishing to get an IPL photo-facial treatment, to get one 2x/week for one week, then 1x/week every 2 weeks for best results.

Skinceuticals Protocol Recommendations

Steps	Product	Instructions	Frequency
Cleanse	. LHA Cleansing Gel	(Double Cleanse) Add 1-2 pumps into clean hands, rub together to get it warm. Apply all over face and neck by patting it on, then gently rubbing into skin until absorbed.	2x/day, morning & night.
Remove Cleanser	Cotton pads & lukewarm water	Remove Cleanser with cotton pads & lukewarm water.	2x/day, morning & night.
Tone/Hydrate	LHA Toner		2x/day, morning & night.
Exfoliate	Micro-Exfoliating Scrub	Apply a pea-size amount to (gloved hands) and apply to face. Focus on scrubbing areas with acne spots. Scrub for approx. 1-2min. (Remove with a hot towel).	1x/week (3-4 days before a treatment). Do not exfoliate for 24-48 hours after treatment.
Facial Steam	Warm water & add-ins.	Add 1-2 tsp. dried flowers, herbs, etc. into a bowl of hot water. Place head just above bowl and a towel over head.	1x/week at night. Just before applying the night cream.
Extractions	None	Please do not extract at home. Let your Esthetician do them for you when you come into the spa for your treatments.	1x/week when you come into the spa for your treatments. – Performed during a facial.
Mask	Clarifying Clay Masque	Apply 1tbsp. of mask to the whole face in a thin, even layer. (Leave on 5-10min). Remove with hot towel.	2x/week, at night. (Before night cream).
Serum	LHA Serum	Apply a tiny amount to the face, by patting it on until absorbed.	2x/day, morning & night.
Moisturizer	Daily Moisture	Apply the same way as the serum.	2x/day, morning & night.
Eye Cream	Eye Balm	Apply a very small amount under eye area and just below brow area. Pat gently until absorbed.	2x/day, morning & night.
SPF (Sunscreen)	Physical Matte UV Defence Sunscreen (Skinceuticals)	Apply a tiny amount to the face, by patting it on until absorbed.	1x/day, in the morning.
Night Cream	Glycolic Brightening Renew Overnight	Apply a tiny amount to the face, by patting it on until absorbed. (Leave on overnight).	1x/night, before going to bed.

Wellness Recommendations

• Put relaxing music and guided audio meditations onto phone to listen to while on the go. (Spa music, nature sounds, flute music, piano music, Celtic relaxation music, etc.).
• Make a Pinterest account and an inspiration board. Create a Pinterest widget on phone, where images from the inspiration board show up whenever you unlock the phone screen.
• Self-care family activity: If you have children, your whole family may benefit from sitting down and colouring into colouring books together. Use vibrant and complimentary colours and books with positive quotes and images. (This helps to involve the whole family in her wellness and self-care regime, so they can all benefit from it).

Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations

• Reduce sugar & dairy intake. Try dairy-alternative oat or soy-based beverages that are fortified with a wide range of vitamins & minerals.
• Try adding some stevia in to your coffee & tea, instead of sugar.
• Meal planning: On-the-go snacks like berries, carrot sticks & hummus, whole-grain crackers, dried chickpea snacks, etc. Could also meal plan her family meals or make enough each night so there are plenty of leftovers for the next night. (Reduces the amount of time spent cooking each night).
• Light morning stretches and 3 positive affirmations.
• Use a daily planner for all family and individual activities, including self-care, diet, and wellness activities.

Nutrition Recommendations

• Wellness supplements may be of benefit on busy days with no time to eat healthy. One could take magnesium, any type of vitamins to see if they provide any benefits.
  • Collagen supplements may help with her skin and acne, especially since it can start to age around ages 30+.
  • Always talk to your Doctor before taking supplements to understand how they can work best for you.

Scheduled 4 Week Skin Care and Wellness Recommendations

– Created with Canva.com.

Daily and Weekly Recommendations

Daily:  

• Skinceuticals daily skincare regime 2x/day (morning & night).
  • If stressed for time, just cleanse, tone, moisturize, and use the night cream.
• I recommend trying collagen and vitamin supplements to support health skin and physical health, especially on days that are very hectic.
• Light morning stretches and say 3 positive affirmations out loud/write them on paper.
• Drink morning coffee with stevia, instead of sugar.
• Eat cereal with fortified oat milk, instead of cow’s milk.
• Write in daily planner: family time, self-care, diet recommendations (or track daily food intake), & wellness activities. This can reduce stress and give a sense of control over one’s life.
  • Suggested Dosage: 1 collagen supplement and 1 multivitamin (specific for women) 1x/day. Take in the morning with breakfast. – This is only a suggestion, as I do not provide medical advice.

Weekly:

–IPL Acne Photo Facial: 2x/week, then 1x/every 2 weeks. (See above in “recommended treatments”).

– Full Body Relaxation Massage: Once a week, every 2 weeks, I think the client would also benefit from a full body relaxation massage. The massage, products and essential oils used during the treatment would help ease her stress (and reduce cortisol levels), while also relaxing her muscles.

–  Family Self Care Fridays & Family Meal Planning Saturdays:

• I thought it would be a cool idea for the client involve her whole family in self-care and meal planning activities, so they too can reap the benefits.

As Needed Recommendations

• Deep breathing exercises to reduce stress and ease the mind.
• Progressive muscle relaxation to ease any muscle tension in the body.
• Read uplifting poetry/books/quotes/listen to peaceful music.
• Positive visualizations of a serene place in nature.
• Family nature therapy: Peaceful walks in beautiful nature. Could take photos of nature/animals/birds and record them in a journal for a nice family activity.

*I also recommend booking an appointment with a Dermatologist to discuss other treatment options for acne and to get medical advice. I am recommending this because as an esthetician, I can only treat acne on the surface, any other type of acne care is out of my scope of practice.

A dermatologist will be able to advise medically on how to best treat the skin. I put the Dermatology appointment on the calendar for 9am-11am, the 3^rd Monday of the month.

Conclusion

As a professional esthetician, I created a treatment plan that includes a full skin care protocol (using Skinceuticals), and recommendations for wellness, lifestyle, diet, and stress reductions.

In each area of my client’s 4-week treatment plan, I focused on the concerns to reduce stress, have more time to eat healthily, to treat her acne, and to discover a new acne skincare regime (with professional esthetician advice) that will reduce the symptoms. 

I also created a full monthly calendar, where I scheduled appointments and family time, with days of rest in-between. I wanted to include family in the treatment plan, so that the client can promote wellness for them as well and be a good role model. 

Every detail I’ve included in this 4-week treatment plan was well thought out, based on my client’s needs. I chose activities that would give her the most benefits and the correct products that she needs to manage her skin concerns.

I took a holistic approach to my client’s overall wellness because I believe that to truly heal the skin, you need to incorporate all aspects of the mind, body, and soul (they are all connected). Attempting to rebalance skin health and overall wellness was my sole purpose for this assignment. I did go a little overboard with my recommendations, but that is because this is something I am very passionate about.

I feel that this 4-week treatment plan can be used in real life to help real-client achieve holistic health and wellness. I will be using this to recommend to my own clients in the future.

Share Your Thoughts!

How do you care for your acne?

What are some ways you eat healthy and engage in wellness for your self-care?

if you are also a professional esthetician reading this post, what else would you recommend for someone who has acne, but also has a busy lifestyle?

• Please share your thoughts below. Thank you for taking the time to comment. I look forward to reading your thoughts!