Let’s face it – none of us wants our cash tied up in inventory, but that is what happens when we retail skin care, UNLESS we put a lot of thought into what to carry. Anti-aging skin care products tend to be the most expensive of all the products, so you should try and limit the number of these SKUS that you carry. There are many choices of products that target different aspects of aging. My advice is to choose:
A sunscreen
A retinoid
An ascorbic acid
A retinoid alternative product that stimulates fibroblasts to make more collagen and hyaluronic acid
There are many antiaging options, but limiting the ones you sell to four will help you keep your inventory down. In the Skin Type Solutions Software, over 40,000 regimens are created based on the patient’s Baumann Skin Type®. Physicians can choose from over 40 brands to sell in their practice. These four anti-aging products and a retinoid can cover all 40,000 of the regimens. Here a breakdown of the science and some advice for each product that will help you choose which ones to carry.
1. Sunscreen
Sunscreen, of course, is a key element of every skin care regimen, especially for patients who want to improve and prevent aging skin. Therefore, you must carry at least one physical SPF 15 in your practice, and encourage patients to use it every day. I know there are higher SPFs and chemical choices as well, but SPF 15 physicals sell the best, according to what we have seen in the 100+ offices that use our Skin Type Solutions software.
2. Retinoids
Retinoids are the second most important anti-aging treatment. Whichever retinoid you choose to use to recommend to your patients, make sure you also provide step-by-step written instructions on how to begin using it. Many patients quit using their retinoid product due to dryness and flaking, but you can minimize these side effects by having them ease into retinoids and only use them once every two or three days at first.
3. Vitamin C Serum
Vitamin C is another important anti-aging ingredient for several different reasons. First, it is a strong antioxidant that offers free radical protection to shield skin cells from damage from the sun, air pollution, and other causes of free radicals. The Essopi brand now has a retinol/ Vitamin C combination product that patients can sue at night to boost the antiaging properties.
Additionally, vitamin C plays a crucial role in the production of collagen within the skin, which is essential for diminishing the appearance of lines and wrinkles. It also helps to even the skin tone by inhibiting tyrosinase.
Vitamin C needs to be formulated, packaged, and stored properly in order to be effective, so only choose brands you trust. If you choose the Essopi retinol and vitamin C combination product, you won’t need this extra SKU.
4. A Retinoid Alternatives
The idea here is to offer a product that hastens keratinization but that is not a retinoid, since sensitive Baumann Skin Types® do not tolerate retinoids well. Some examples of effective alternatives to retinoids are:
Heparan sulfate. The skin care brand Senté now offers topical heparan sulfate anti-aging products that have been formulated using a smaller molecular form of this ingredient to improve skin penetration.
Defensins. Defensins are small peptides that can trigger the production of new growth factors within the skin. The brand DefenAge offers anti-aging products with defensins.
In Summary
Sunscreen, retinoids, vitamin C, and a retinoid alternative are the four basic anti-aging skin care products that you should carry in your office. If you don’t want to carry all of the inventory, you could choose to use the Skin Type Solutions online store. Your patients will take a mobile app-based quiz to first determine their Baumann Skin Type®, then you approve the regimen for that skin type, and they can order the products they need using one click on their mobile app. The products are shipped for you from STS. To learn more about how this system works and to schedule a time to discuss, click here.
©2018 Metabeauty, Inc.
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