Episode Transcript
[00:00:21] Speaker A: Hey, this is Lacey with smartcast. And I'm here today with Kate. And what we're going to do is try to give you guys as the audience the opportunity to see and understand, like, what it would feel like if you were walking in the doors at Smart Skin as a first time patient. So this is actually my very first time meeting Kate. Kate is a friend of Sage's. They work together at Frothy Monkey here in Homewood. So if you guys are local, make sure you go and check them out. They've got some really great cappuccinos and some yummy food. So ask for Kate or Sage when you go in for that. But we just wanted to give you guys kind of like the inside scoop of what it would feel like to come in as a new patient. So Kate has actually never been to Smart Skin before. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you're wanting to do with your skin right now.
[00:01:10] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I'm 22, so honestly just kind of preserve the skin I have now is my end goal.
I have combination skin, so in the winter it gets pretty dry. So I guess something kind of more like moisturizing, something to make it more dewy.
It's a little flaky right now.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: Yeah. With this crazy weather. It's like hot one week and cold one week. And the heat and the air has got everybody's skin a little bit overly reactive right now. So we're seeing a lot of itchy skin, reactive skin. Just their skin's a little bit freaking out right now because it's not quite sure how to regulate with this weather going back and forth. Which lovely Alabama, that's what you can expect.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: Sometimes it's dry, sometimes it's humid.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Have you ever had a facial before?
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Oh, gosh, once in like high school. So very inexperienced.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: What kind of facial did you get?
[00:02:01] Speaker B: I think it was just kind of a like, general facial. I'm not really sure what they did to it, to my skin.
[00:02:11] Speaker A: Was it like a European relaxation style facial?
[00:02:14] Speaker B: It was, yeah. It was like very calming. They did some like facial, massage a little bit. Not a whole lot of product. I guess it was just like exfoliating, moisturizing. They did some extraction. Yeah, Yeah.
[00:02:28] Speaker A: I mean, that sounds pretty typical of what most people expect when they get a facial. So I think a lot of times people come into Smart Skin to get a facial and expect something similar to that. And I like to say we're something in between a traditional day spa and a dermatologist, but we're in an environment that feels really relaxing. And we're going to get you really great results, but you're going to feel good while you do that.
So we do like to explain to our patients that come in that everything that we do is for a purpose. And while most of them do feel good, the goal is to get you a really great outcome to achieve the goals that you're looking for. And with you being so young and you have beautiful skin, you obviously aren't working on any issues with your skin. You're really just wanting to maintain the skin that you have and prevent any, like, any aging as you get older and make sure that you're taking care of what you've got right now. So typically for somebody like you, we would recommend that you sign up for our membership program, so that way you can be really super consistent with it. And then if you get busy and you can't make it in, you don't lose it. The money that you pay covers the treatment that you're going to get. And then if you don't make it in, it goes onto your account as a rollover credit. And then you can double up and do extra treatments or you can put that value towards upgraded deluxe services. So a lot of people your age really even like to do like our Luminous Micro Needling treatment or Diamond Glow is one of my personal favorites. So a lot of people like to use the value of their membership and put it towards that or let it roll over and put towards deluxe services too. So with the membership program, it's a one year membership agreement. It comes out of your account on the first of the month. You come in anytime during the month that's convenient for you. And then you get to talk to one of our estheticians. We have 12 estheticians between two locations now. So you can go to either one here in Homewood, or we also have one in Ross Bridge. And they're going to go over your skin with you every single visit. And they're going to have all of your patient records so that no matter who you see, you're gonna get the best results, no matter what. And they're all gonna know exactly how to address your skin. If you had any sensitivities to anything or any questions or concerns, they'll all know that and be able to keep up with it across the board. So that gives it really a lot of flexibility for you too. So you can come in on whatever day of the week, time of the day, whichever location works best for you. And they're gonna Tell you what treatment they recommend that you do that day, and then for your first visit, and then after that, each time that you come in, they'll make a recommendation of what treatment for you to do the next time. So we can go ahead and get you scheduled out for the next time. And whoever does your treatment knows exactly what you're doing that day.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Oh, great.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: So it makes it really easy for everybody. We also have a skin analysis device. So typically, if you came in for your first visit for your consult, they'll do a skin analysis and kind of just get a little benchmark to show you exactly where your skin is right now. And anything that we see that could be a concern that you want to some point work on. And then after about three months or so, they might do another scan to reevaluate and see your progress.
Or if you're doing a series of like, say, chemical pills or microneedling or anything like that, they'll be able to show your progress with that as well.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: Very nice.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: So a lot of people really love, too, about our membership, that you're not paying a fee just to be a member. What you pay is actually covering your service, which is really nice. And then after the year is up, if you needed to cancel for any reason, you just turn in your cancellation notice two weeks beforehand. And then after the year is up, it's auto renewal. But we're not making you recommit for a whole nother year. So basically, once you've committed for a year, we know that you've gotten into a routine and you're seeing results and you're excited. And then after that, we leave it up to you if you need to cancel for some reason. It's super easy. There's not a lot of red tape. You don't have to do anything, you know, crazy to try to get out of it. So we treat people the way that we would want to be treated, and so we just extend that courtesy for our clients, too. So it's just month to month after that comes out each month until you tell us you don't want to do it anymore, which hardly ever happens unless they move.
[00:06:35] Speaker B: Oh, very nice. That sounds easy.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: So do you ever hear about smart skin at, like, within your group of friends, or are there concerns with skincare? Or what's the scoop with the girlies your age these days?
Did they talk about this?
[00:06:55] Speaker B: Most of our skincare stuff comes from TikTok. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. That's usually kind of what we go off of.
But, yeah, we'd all like to get more facials? Certainly. My friends and I.
[00:07:08] Speaker A: So do you guys, like, are you using regular skincare products at home? Do y'all talk about skincare products? Are y'all interested in learning more about.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: I'm definitely interested. I've been into skincare since I was, you know, since I started needing it, like, 15, probably.
And it changes with the seasons. Like I said, I have combination skin. So right now I'm actually opting for, like, ponds because I just need something super rich. Like, my skin is so dry. But normally I'll just go to Sephora and kind of go off of, like, tick tock. Recommendations.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: So who on TikTok are you watching for recommendations? Just other girls your age. Are you watching like it's licensed professionals or, like, who are you getting your.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: You know, it's not professionals.
[00:07:59] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: It's honestly just influencers. Yeah. Someone that says, like, I have this skin that I have, and I'm like, okay, well, she has my skin type. And so I'll go off of that.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: So do you guys ever have concerns about maybe the motivation of those influencers?
[00:08:16] Speaker B: A lot of the financial incentive? Yeah, definitely I do, for sure. And I see a dermatologist as well. Okay. Because I have eczema.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: So I have to go see a dermatologist about that. And so I try to mix, like, trendy with medicinal influences.
[00:08:35] Speaker A: So what does your dermatologist have you on for eczema?
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Rinvoq, Actually. It's an oral medication.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:08:42] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: And then I take or I apply clobetazole into the affected areas.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: So skin barrier is really a very serious thing for you to make sure that you're maintaining a good, healthy skin barrier with eczema. I have three children, and my son has worse eczema than the girls do. Bailey, my oldest, kind of grew out of hers. She had it more when she was little. And then my middle, she'll have, like, a little eczema flare pop up every once in a while. But my son tends to be a little bit more sensitive. And we just recently took a trip to the dermatologist ourselves to get some topical medication for them. But definitely skin barrier has been a big issue for them as well. And being young, having compromised skin and being very sensitive to what they can and can't use, we've got to be very cautious as well.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: And the person on TikTok isn't talking to me. They're just posting about their experience. And so, like, I'm sure you would Be like, actually talking about me specifically.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: Exactly. And a lot of times we'll have patients call in and say, my friend, so. And so does this treatment. I want to do that too. And, and so we typically will steer away from that because everybody's skin type is very different. And so we really want to have them come in so that we can take a look at their skin, analyze their specific needs. And so that's another really good thing about Smart Skin is that we have a very vast variety of skin treatments for services as well as skincare. And so we can really tailor a customized plan for your unique skin type. And we can tailor that throughout the seasons. Whenever your skin is changing, we can adjust that as needed, too.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: Okay, so, yeah, sounds way better than TikTok.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: And the good thing is, is that we do complimentary consultations as well. So we'll have. We have a virtual consultation guide on our website. And so that's really a great place to start too, is you can go on the website, fill out any concerns that you have. The virtual consult consultation tool will tell you everything that we offer to address those concerns. And then our front desk patient coordinator team would then reach out to those people and offer a complimentary consultation to review those results with one of our licensed estheticians. And then we would have them come in and do that complimentary consultation, do the skin scan, go over any options that we have that would meet their goals. And then we could go over any, like, holiday open house specials that we have going on, depending upon, you know, what works for them, whether they want to do a single visit or a package or membership. We have lots of options for anybody and everybody. But somebody that's wanting to do like a maintenance plan, the membership is typically the go to pick for everybody. And then a lot of times people will want to try it before they buy it. So they'll do like a little either a Groupon offer or one of our open house specials, or even a single visit special too, just to do a couple of them and see how they like it and if it's something that they say themselves doing consistently. Right.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: You mentioned a skin scan. I have to know what that means.
[00:11:41] Speaker A: What is a skin scan? So the skin scan is a device that we use at Smart Skin that you actually put your face in this little camera and it's a dome that goes over the back of your head, and it takes four different pictures of your skin to look underneath the skin. So we can also see the sebum on your. On your skin. We can see Your hydration levels. We can see fine lines and wrinkles. We can see discoloration in the skin. So we see a lot of different things going on underneath the surface of the skin that you can't see just by looking at it in the mirror.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: So it's pretty neat. And it's like a really great insurance policy too. So if we're doing specifically like say a chemical pill treatment series or microneedling treatment series, we can see in real time underneath the skin that sun damage being treated and going away, which is really fun because sometimes that damage is deep, deep down in the skin and you don't necessarily see it until after. As you age and those skin layers start to exfoliate off, they start to surface to the top of the skin. But if we can address that at a younger age and get rid of it, then that's really great. And it's really fun to be able to kind of prove that what you're doing is actually working, which is fun.
[00:12:56] Speaker B: Yeah, that sounds really cool.
[00:12:57] Speaker A: And then another really fun study that we recently came across is they're finding now that if you're doing chemical pills and laser treatments, you're less likely to have skin cancer.
[00:13:09] Speaker B: Interesting.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: Yeah. So the skin scanner will also tell you your real age. So, like, you'll put in your birthday and all of that, and it'll essentially compare your skin to its entire database of other people your age and tell you how much younger your skin is than what you really are or how much older your skin is than you really are.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: Oh, wow. So that sounds like I could either be flattered or. Yes, very humbled, for sure.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: So. And we. It's been really cool too, because we had some patients that just to be able to see what a difference medical grade skincare is able to do to their skin is age them backwards in reverse by a whole year in just like a month or two.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: Which is wild. That's really just with topical medical grade skincare.
So do you have any other questions or concerns or, like, what would be something else that you would want to know from an esthetician at a consultation?
[00:14:07] Speaker B: Hmm.
I guess one thing I've been curious about is like, products that. Or product treatments that boast like, tightening, because it's like, if I don't have to get like filler or stuff like that, and like, I could just do skincare instead. Like, is that a viable option?
[00:14:29] Speaker A: Yeah. So anytime that you have a product that has peptide complexes in it or growth factors in it, those are going to be skin rejuvenating treatments that are going to tighten and tone the skin and help to stimulate that collagen production within your skin. So those are going to be things that are going to help be preventative of that as well.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: Very cool. I guess another question I have is like, do you just do like face skincare or is there like other, like, I don't know, like, sometimes my arms break out. Like, do you have stuff for that?
[00:15:00] Speaker A: We do. Okay, so we can do body exfoliation treatments with our Diamond Glow. We have a body handpiece for that. And then we also can do body treatments with our hydrafacial as well.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: Very cool.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: And the hydrafacial also has lymphatic drainage on it too. So, like, if you get puffy and then it also has attachments called the perk lip and the perk eye that we can do specific, like, lip and eye treatments too, which is really fun. And then the hydrafacial also has specific boosters. So if you want to customize your treatment based on you're really dry or you're gonna travel and you need a vitamin C infusion or you want some sort of peptide infusion, we can do add on boosters with the Hydrafacial too, which is really cool.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: Yeah, that sounds super cool.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: We also do body treatments. We have three doctors that do injectables. So I know a lot of young girls like to get like baby toxin or lip flips or little half syringes of filler in their lips. And as a member, you guys would get membership discounts for that too. Mm, that's enticing. Yes, we do hair restoration treatments. I know a lot of people experience some hair loss even at a young age, either postpartum or after Covid.
If they experienced Covid, they would sometimes experience some hair loss from that. And we have some hair restoration treatments too.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Okay. Do you do anything for hands?
[00:16:22] Speaker A: Yeah, so we do hand treatments with either a scarlet microneedling with radio frequency add on. We also do injectable treatments for the hands. And then we just got a new laser for resurfacing that we're going to be doing a lot of body and hand resurfacing for too.
[00:16:38] Speaker B: That sounds great.
[00:16:39] Speaker A: The neck, chest, hands, those are the first things that really will show your age, right? Yeah, so we definitely. We treat the whole body head to toe. Yeah, we really do.
[00:16:48] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: So. So if you were to come into Smart Skin and get a consult, would you have any, like, reservations? Would you be nervous? Like, what would your overall feeling be about having A facial done at a spa.
[00:17:08] Speaker B: Reservations.
I don't know. A lot of it would honestly be, like, the personal experience, because it seems like kind of an intimate interaction you're having with, like, a stranger. And so, yeah, I guess. Like, what does a facial look like with your estheticians?
[00:17:29] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you'll have to find out for yourself.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: I would love to find out.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: So we'll have to definitely get you scheduled to come in and have that consultation and experience a facial service, and then we'll have you come back afterwards and you can tell me all about your experience. How does that sound?
[00:17:44] Speaker B: That sounds great.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: Okay, well, that sounds good. Well, thank you so much for coming in and chatting with me, and I look forward to hearing all about your experience and any feedback that you have. One of the things that I really take pride in in our company is that I feel like all of our patients know that they can talk to us, and if they have a suggestion or advice or feedback, that we take it very seriously. And we want to make sure that our patients are always having the best experience and that they enjoy their time with us. We know that there's a lot of things that they can spend their money on, and we want them to be excited about spending their money here and that this is something that they look forward to and enjoy doing and that they genuinely feel like they're getting a great value for their money and the outcomes that they're for.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: So, well, I will have Sage get with our front desk coordinator teams and get you scheduled for that consultation and treatment, and then we'll schedule for you to come back and be on the podcast, and we'll talk all about it.
[00:18:41] Speaker B: Okay, I'm excited.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: Yay. Sounds good. Thank you so much.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:18:46] Speaker A: Thank you for joining us on today's episode of Smart Cast, and we'll see you next week.
