The day I learned I was exfoliating clients all wrong after 8 years

Last Tuesday I was doing a hydrafacial on a regular client, Mrs. Patterson, and she casually asked why I always go clockwise on the cheeks. She said her last esthetician in Phoenix did counter-clockwise because of the lymphatic drainage direction. I froze for a second and realized I had been doing it one way since school because that's just how my teacher showed me. I never questioned it. Has anyone else had a moment where you found out a basic move you do every day is actually backwards or wrong?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrewh431mo ago

Yeah I used to think it didn't matter but now I check the lymph direction every time.

amybarnes1mo ago

Thirty bucks and eight years, that's a rough one. I had a similar thing happen when I was about five years into training clients. I was always correcting people's squats by telling them to push their knees out, but then a physical therapist buddy of mine showed me that for some people with certain hip shapes, that can actually cause pinching. I had to unlearn that whole cue and start checking everyone's bone structure first. Now I watch for the ankle caving in more than the knees. It's humbling to realize you've been teaching something almost everyone wrong for years.