Here at our Wexford Town skin clinic we see so many people who come to us in desperation after an unqualified person has wrecked their skin, whether with bad advice, incorrect products or completely unsuitable treatments, that we felt we should write a guide to choosing a skincare professional: We hope this helps prevent future disasters!

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We know that you have a varied choice when you think about a skincare provider. I hope this post will help to clarify what each type of service provider is qualified to offer.

Cosmetic Counters: Great for makeup, not for skincare in general in my opinion. No specialist skincare training given, only the brand marketing hype.

Multi purpose beauty salon: a beauty therapist (which I started out as too!) will have a general education in facials as well as waxing, tanning, nails, massage among others. Without further advanced study you can expect at best a capable facial with (maybe) a good, professional-grade product. Best for: if you have no particular skin issues to correct.

Spa Facial: for me, just no! Spa facials tend to be highly fragranced and are completely one-size fits all. If you are treating yourself to a lovely spa day stick to the body treatments and leave your skin in the hands of your professional skincare provider.

Skin therapist: a skincare clinic will be staffed with therapists who have chosen to intensively upskill and retrain to dedicate themselves only to advanced study of the skin. This will include: anatomy & physiology, cosmetic chemistry, skin analysis and skin problems such as acne, ageing, hyper pigmentation and rosacea. They will have advanced qualifications in this area and you should be able to see evidence of this in displayed certificates and diplomas. If not, just ask. A qualified professional is delighted to talk about their achievements 🙂  Unfortunately as part of my work for the European standards committee, I have come across many beauty therapists with no advanced training calling themselves skin specialists. This is a dangerous practice as they have no in-depth training and all too often just blindly trot out the sales pitch from the company whose products they sell. Without in-depth ingredient knowledge, blended with advanced physiology study and comprehensive individual analysis, you can’t know what effect your products will have on any unique skin composition. The best possible scenario (and thankfully quite common) is that a lot of these products are so bland that they will just do nothing, but that’s not what you wanted , is it? Skin physiology is complicated, a sales rep can’t teach that.  We hope to address this grey area of regulation once and for all in the work of the European Standards committee but in the meantime do your research, ask about qualifications when you make an appointment and remember: it is very easy to damage skin, it is a living, breathing, hard-working organ, please only entrust yours to professionals!

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Now that you know how to choose a professional skin specialist, here are our reason why we think you should choose us!
– We are the most highly qualified skin therapists in the country and the only skin clinic in Ireland with the Advanced Skin Diagnostic Technician diploma in skin science, analysis and applications. We NEVER stop learning, science doesn’t stand still and neither do we.
-We developed our own range of products based on real-life client needs that we see in the clinic daily meaning that our products are made with Irish skin in mind, not off the shelf from another country with different skin needs in their target market.

– We are the only clinic in the region offering advanced cosmetic procedures such as skin tag removal, red vein removal and milia removal.
– We have the only diagnostic machine of it’s type in Ireland which reads skin samples in real time to allow you to truly track results.
– We are members of the International Association for Applied Corneotherapy, a global group dedicated to the advancement of scientific research in all matters relating to skin health, and of the Associated Skin Care Professionals, an association purposed to raising education of skincare professionals worldwide.
– Skin Essentials’ founder Mariga is an acknowledged and published thought-leader in the international beauty industry and writes for Irish Beauty professional magazine on all matters relating to the business and practice of skincare, along with being published on many international sites such as the Mother Nature Network, Dermstore and How to Be a Redhead. She also is a sought after speaker on both the practical and business aspects of working in the beauty industry and trains beauty therapists who wish to upskill to specialising in skin.
– Mariga is also at the forefront of establishing a set of practice, education and safety standards for beauty service providers across Europe through her work for the National Standards Association of Ireland.
– We thoroughly research any potential new treatment and gain independent qualifications before introducing it to our menu. We NEVER rely on sales reps for our training, a regrettable ‘norm’ in our industry.

I hope that helps even ONE person to avoid the distress of having their skin ruined by an unqualified practitioner. Please do get in touch if you have any questions or comments or browse our site for more information.

Skin Essentials By Mariga, 10 A Redmond Square, Wexford Town. 053 9145981.