November 27, 2025 • 43 mins
Sit down with industry veteran and former DERMASCOPE associate editor, Patricia “Pat” Strunk, whose path runs from a small Dermacare clinic in West Texas to the bustling trade show floors and the editorial heartbeat of DERMASCOPE. We unpack the habits that still work after decades, dive into the early days — when massage was misunderstood and waxing paid the bills, and extract the timeless techniques that turn one service into a lifelong relationship. Additionally, hear Pat share candid “oops” moments that double as field-tested safety tips.
If you want real-world guidance on selling without being salesy, choosing brands that teach, and building a career that lasts, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review to help more pros find the show.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Aesthetic Report, a podcast for
skincare professionals who wantto grow in their careers by
hearing directly from theindividuals who have been there,
done that, and are paving thefuture of their industry.
Join us for the latest in allthings skincare, beauty,
wellness, business, and more.
From interviews with leadingexperts to the burning topics on
(00:22):
your mind.
The aesthetic report starts now.
SPEAKER_01 (00:34):
Hello, hello, everybody, and welcome to the
Aesthetic Report, a podcast byDermoscope.
I am your host, AIA Presidentand Director of Education,
Michelle DeAllard Brenner.
And as you guys all know, theAesthetic Report is for all of
you skincare professionals whowant to learn more about how to
make it in the industry byhearing straight from our
(00:57):
industry leaders with one-on-oneinterviews about the latest dish
on all things professionalskincare.
And today's episode is prettyspecial.
We have a special guest who wasthe associate publisher of
Dermoscope Magazine, a formerday spa owner, and a seasoned
professional in skincare andaesthetics, and a dear loving
(01:21):
friend of mine for a very longtime.
She is here to share her wisdom,her laughs, and her favorite SD
confessions.
Please welcome Patricia Strunk,Pat.
This is so exciting.
We've never done this before.
SPEAKER_02 (01:38):
Yeah, well, you know, I'm an oldie but goody, so
all of those old stories are,yeah, they're passe now, but
they're they're still there.
SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
They're there, and there's some good ones.
And the best part of all of thisis that so many times that I'm
always talking to everyone, Ifeel like, oh my gosh, I'm
dating myself.
I get to talk to someone who'sbeen in the business longer than
I have.
SPEAKER_02 (02:05):
Yeah, it's been a long ride, but what a wonderful
life it's been.
SPEAKER_01 (02:08):
It has.
It has.
And that's why I just this is agreat opportunity.
I mean, you have really seen somany changes, not only just in
the profession, but in thedifferent avenues of the
profession that you've been in.
And, you know, at living throughso many eras of the professional
industry.
Can you tell our listeners alittle bit about your journey
(02:32):
and ultimately how you ended upwith Dermoscope?
SPEAKER_02 (02:36):
Well, you want to go way back to the 70s and start
there?
I do, yes, yes.
Okay.
Well, in the 70s, I graduatedfrom college and I worked as a
fitness and health instructorfor the football team at
Nautilus.
When I graduated, then I went tothe Dallas area, worked in
(02:59):
fashion at the Apparel Mart, andgot involved with the Pat Walker
Figure Salon where I learnedspecial little tricks on
nutrition, skinny fatty, skinny,and stuff like that.
After I did that, then uh mymom, she's a she was a nurse and
was grandfathered in onaesthetics, body treatments.
(03:23):
She was a licensed electrolysistin the state of Florida.
And um, she bought a littledermicare clinic.
So when I got my divorce, shebegged me to come home, go back
to school, cosmetology school,get my aesthetic license, and
then join her in our new venturein the skincare in health
(03:45):
industry.
Oh my god.
So mom and I and a friend ofours, Angel, worked at a little
derma care clinic in West Texaswhere we basically brought
skincare and hair removal to anarea of the United States that
really was just brand new.
(04:06):
Uh, this was like in 1983.
I worked there for a couple ofyears.
Will and I met at an aesthetictrade show in Dallas.
My brother and my mother and Iwent up there.
I met Will.
He and my brother were lifelongfriends.
So Will and I kind of connected.
He was very interested in mypassion for making women feel
(04:31):
beautiful from the inside out.
You are what you eat, you know,the whole basic little
scenarios.
Will and I got married.
I moved to the Dallas area, wentto work at a little salon up
there.
And Will was in construction atthe time, but he was so
fascinated with my education andinterest in what was new and
(04:55):
coming out at that time, that Italked him into, or he
volunteered to go to massageschool.
And that's where he met RonRenee.
He finished his training there.
My mother at the time wanted togo ahead and retire.
So she said that if we didn'tcome back home and run the
little dermicare clinic, she wasgoing to sell it.
(05:16):
So Will goes, let's take ourbrand new baby, let's go back
home, let's run this littlebusiness.
And that's when he gotinterested in the computer.
When the computer came into ourlife, everything changed because
he was a massage therapist atthat time.
(05:36):
And he wanted to start educatingand reaching all of the massage.
And at that time, there was like600 registered massage
therapists just in the state ofTexas.
So he thought, well, if I canreach some of these massage
therapists and startcorresponding and sharing
information with them, then I'mgoing to start me a little
(05:57):
newspaper or a little magazinecalled Body Therapy.
Well, after he and Body Therapyput their first magazine out,
which I made the cover on, myfirst cover magazine.
SPEAKER_01 (06:11):
Do you still have that cover?
SPEAKER_02 (06:13):
Do you have that cover, Pat?
I still have that copy of thatmagazine, yes.
After we did, after he did that,then he was really interested in
trying to expand because he hadalso started a little newspaper
in a little town we call welived in called the Toenail
Tribune.
So he was quite interested inwriting and educating.
(06:36):
And at that time, he reachedback out to Ron Renee in Dallas
and said, Look, I'm trying toreach out to these massage
therapists and you know geteverybody connected.
Can you help me?
And um, Ron said, Come on uphere, I want to talk to you.
And when he got back up toDallas, Ron said, You know what?
(06:56):
I think that you would just be areally good turnover because I'm
ready to retire.
And how would you like to takeover the magazine?
Basically, it was an opportunitythat he couldn't refuse, and I
supported that.
I stayed at the Dermacare Clinicin West Texas while he moved to
(07:21):
Dallas, came into the Dermoscopemagazine, and at that time Ron
had six trade shows from Canadato Puerto Rico, New York,
Beverly Hills, you know, all ofthat.
So Will just stepped into anopportunity that he manhandled
(07:44):
and tried to figure out howeverything worked.
And so about six months later,the kids and I up and left
Dermicare Clinic in the hands ofmy electrolysist.
Oh my gosh.
And we moved to Dallas andstarted right off with trade
show business.
(08:04):
And that's how we basically gotstarted with Dermoscope.
SPEAKER_01 (08:07):
That's unbelievable.
SPEAKER_02 (08:08):
I still transposed Dermoscope with Dermicare
because we spent so much timewith each one.
But the salon business wasreally great and very important
in our first starting out withour marriage and the kids and
all that.
But by the time eight years wentby, you know, and the magazine
started going, we just fell intothat.
(08:32):
And I just loved sharingeverything that I knew with
whoever would listen.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (08:39):
Well, and I think Pat, you know what?
You you guys going into thebusiness that way with the
understanding of the day spabusiness and aesthetics and
massage gave you a wholedifferent perspective as you
enter into publishing at theexact same time.
You know, you knew your targetmarket in a very different way.
SPEAKER_02 (09:00):
Well, I was more of the hands-on, and Will was more
of the putting everything downpart of it.
He loved it.
He loves writing, he lovessharing all of his information,
and he's a great researcher too.
So that is absolutely true.
SPEAKER_01 (09:17):
So, Pat, when you if you go back to first opening the
day spa and going in with yourmom, what was the biggest, would
you say, back in the daychallenge that maybe today's
aestheticians would neverbelieve was such a challenge?
SPEAKER_02 (09:35):
My mother did um body massage treatments, but
with Will's license to do bodytherapy, and we started telling
our clients that we did bodytherapy, and then I had, you
know, a man to do it.
Then I think they either sharedit around and the news started
kind of going around West Texasthere, and we started getting
(09:59):
these really weird phone callswhere people would go, Y'all do
body massage?
And I go, Yes, sir.
Can we schedule you one?
Well, is it a man or a woman?
Well, I have you can have yourchoice.
Well, I want to have a full bodyrelease.
Oh my God.
I want to excuse me.
Excuse me.
(10:19):
Uh yes, do y'all do that?
Uh, and we only live like anhour or so from the Mexican
border.
So my comment would be well, youcan either go south or you can
go to the Metroplex.
I'm sure you could probably finda studio or something up there
that can help you with that.
So, really educating the womenand the husbands that massage
(10:45):
was healthy.
It was a lymphatic drainage, itstimulated circulation, it did
all these wonderful healthythings instead of the personal
aspects that they thoughtmassage led to.
Right.
That's so that was a really bigeducational uh jump because when
mother and I first started, wedid electrolysis, waxing,
(11:07):
facials, nail care.
We didn't do hair, you know.
I didn't want the perm smell andall that in my aesthetics area.
We had a nice massage room allset up, you know, but yeah, we
had to screen our calls atfirst.
Was it when they would come inand then go, uh, excuse me, I
got a man doing my massage?
I go, Yes, yes, you do.
(11:28):
I I think I'll I'll rescheduleit another time.
unknown (11:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (11:33):
So I can imagine one of the hardest to really get
around.
SPEAKER_01 (11:38):
So, you know, so that leads me into and maybe you
answered it, but at that time,well, what was the most popular
treatment when you started out?
Was that it or was that not it?
SPEAKER_02 (11:51):
No, our most popular treatment back then in the early
80s, late 70s, early 80s, wasfacial waxing.
Really?
Lip waxing, lip waxing andeyebrow waxing paid all of our
bills.
Really?
So between the dermicaregalvanic treatments, yeah,
(12:11):
because back then dermatologistsdidn't do any work on healthy
skin.
Right.
So if a lady would go in andsay, you know, I have blackhead
through this or that, they wouldrefer them to me.
They would say, Well, there's adermicare clinic here in town,
and they do extractions.
If you want your skin cleaned,you can go over there.
(12:31):
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Oh, the waxing paid our bills.
So it was a great, it was agreat service.
SPEAKER_01 (12:38):
And you know, and Pat, the interesting thing is,
is it still is a great servicethat's that I honestly feel as
though so many aestheticians arelive m missing out on.
Back then, a lip wax was fivedollars.
SPEAKER_02 (12:50):
Oh my god.
So you know how many five dollarlip waxes I did?
I mean, you just bring them in,bring them in, bring them in.
And of course, after they got onyour table, you tell them, oh, I
can do a bikini wax, I can doyour underarm waxes, you know, I
can do your little facial oreyebrow waxes.
So waxing just built and builtand built.
(13:11):
And the more I had somebodylaying on my table, the more I
could upsell them with the othersurfaces that we sell.
I'd go, oh, well, you know, wecould do a paraffin dip on your
feet, you know, they're allcracked.
Or we can do, you know, aEuropean facial with that has
more moisturizing and massaging.
Basically, the galvanictreatment and the um waxing was
(13:34):
our bread and butter for theservices back in the early 80s.
SPEAKER_01 (13:38):
That's amazing.
And you know what, you you justsaid something that I also find
very interesting.
That I mean, you know, as a as aschool owner, but even
professionals that are outthere, today's professionals,
and I see it here in the schooltoo, everyone's afraid to
upsell.
They're afraid to makesuggestions, they're afraid, not
even upsell, sell period.
(14:00):
Just say, you know, this is whatyou need to take home.
I mean, it's been for years.
SPEAKER_02 (14:06):
I would start with, I would start with, can you
please tell me what you use onyour skin?
And they'd go, oh, you know,Irish spring, oil of Olay, you
know, my dermatologist told mejust to use soap and water.
That gives you an opening toeducate them on what tallow does
to the skin and how you need toremove the extra, you know, dead
(14:28):
skin cells to give you a nicelittle radiant, you know, glow.
It gave you a captive audiencelaying there on the table to
educate them as to why we arehere and what we can provide to
make them look better, feelbetter, and be able to make
better purchases.
You know how many women wouldcome in with a bag of stuff and
(14:51):
dump it all out and go, I'vetried all of this and it doesn't
work.
I'll go, baby, you need to startsimple, clean, moisturize,
exfoliate, protect, you know.
So it was just a great way ofstarting out and building your
clientele because once you hadthe woman in, then the husband
and then the daughter, and thenyou know, the word would spread.
(15:12):
So we had a great littlebusiness back then.
I really liked it.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:17):
Well, and you know what you make, you make another
interesting point as you saidthat too, because you know, I
spend so much time answering,you know, Instagram or questions
and all this stuff that's outthere.
And social media has become sohuge that so many aestheticians
feel that that's how they'regoing to build their business.
(15:37):
And you just said it, you know,once you get one client in, you
get the husband, you get thewife, you get the best friend,
you get the daughter.
It's it hasn't changed.
SPEAKER_02 (15:48):
Well, it's networking and it's trust and
confidence in yourself.
Yeah.
You have to know what you'retalking about, don't
over-explain it.
You have to talk to them in anex in a conversation that fits
them and their lifestyle.
You can't put something onsomebody that has exactly four
(16:11):
minutes, you know, to jump outof bed, get the kids dressed,
and get up, you know, to the busand all that kind of stuff.
So every woman and every routineis very different.
And just communicating with themand learning what they need and
what they're looking, what theyexpect to get is how you can
(16:31):
build the confidence inproviding professional services
for them.
Otherwise, they're gonna go, Ican do that for myself at home.
SPEAKER_03 (16:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:39):
Or, you know.
Right.
So, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (16:51):
And it was either, and you know, and it just kind
of worked out okay afterwards.
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
Well, like I told you, the waxing was our best
sale.
And I had clients from allwalks.
I had a particular younggentleman that was a model for
like catalogs, and uh he wantedthe body waxing.
So, of course, I was happy tooblige him.
(17:17):
And the only problem with thatwas is that I put my waxing
table on a rolling tray.
So when you're trying to walkaround a body with a rolling
tray of wax on there, there'soops, that happens.
So I'm just letting all thegirls know that my point of view
(17:40):
is to always keep your waxstation permanent because
accidents do happen.
And if you drop a wax pot insomebody's shoes or blue jeans,
you're basically re liable toreplace them, which I did.
So, you know, a lot of littleoops things, you know, if you
(18:01):
wax somebody's little part oftheir eyebrow or whatever off,
things happen.
You know, you get over it, theyget over it.
You know, you're learning.
So don't be afraid to make acouple of uh oops things, you
know.
You can joke about it, you can,you know, compliment their
service.
You know, there's other thingsthat you can do, but most of my
(18:22):
oops things were little goofthings.
I had one oops thing from aremember back in the old the
equipment had like all these 13different operations on it or
whatever, and they had thelittle vacuum things with the
tubes on it.
Absolutely.
Well, you have to remember todial the vacuum tube down before
(18:43):
you start because when I didthis woman's neck, it looked
like she had hickeys up her neckfrom me vacuuming it without
turning the thing down.
So you have to remember thinnerskin and older skin doesn't
require that much suction.
If it's a young kid that has alot of blackheads and stuff like
(19:03):
that, turn that booger up.
But you have to just you have totest things.
So, yes, I I told her that theredness would go away tomorrow.
And it did, maybe tomorrow orthe next day.
She was very happy.
She said it was verystimulating.
(19:25):
So, yeah, I love doing all thelittle vacuuming things.
I loved using all of myequipment and all that.
So I do too, and we still teach,we still teach all of it.
Things happen.
Learn from your lessons.
SPEAKER_01 (19:39):
Yep.
You know what you do.
And you know what?
It goes back to you just saidthe word, the the one of the
most important words foraestheticians is you have to be
confident.
You've got to be confident inyour abilities.
You're gonna mess up.
We're not all perfect.
It happens and it's okay.
SPEAKER_02 (19:56):
Yes, yes, yes.
There are many, many oops thingsthat happen in um your
workplace, but the confidencethat you have in being able to
handle it and calm the clientand to reassure her that you
know everything's gonna turn outjust fine.
That's important.
SPEAKER_01 (20:16):
So aside from like the massage calls and your oops,
I mean, this is there's so manyunforgettables.
Is there any other moment thatyou're like, yeah, this could
only happen in Americanskincare?
This could not be possible.
SPEAKER_02 (20:31):
Well, that brings me to, you know, when you go to
trade shows, you go there tonetwork, you go there to pick up
new ideas, to learn out, learnwhat's new, to see who's doing
what, what's been improved.
Will and I were working on atrade show floor, and um this
man approaches him.
(20:52):
I think it was uh from SouthAmerica, but anyway, he comes in
with a dolly and asks Will howhe can get involved in this
clinic because he has a newpiece of equipment that he would
like to bring to the industry.
And Will looked down at it andit literally looked like a
(21:14):
battery charger on wheels.
It was a microderm abrasionmachine, but the word vacuum was
misspelled on it.
So Will looked at him and hesaid, No, I don't think that
there's a uh a place right nowwhere you know that would fit
in.
(21:34):
So, you know, maybe if you goback and you know, redo it.
But back then that's when dermabrasions were first coming out,
and he thought he could justmake a home version of one and
bring it in.
And I thought, you know, only inAmerica can somebody come in and
go, I got something, somebodywill buy it.
I know somebody will buy it.
So true.
(21:54):
So true.
SPEAKER_01 (22:00):
Did you know that Dermoscope is celebrating 50
years this year?
Founded in 1975, Dermoscope hasbeen bringing skin professionals
the best in continuing educationfor half a century, with more to
come.
Follow us on social media atDermascope on all platforms.
Subscribe to the print magazineat www.dermoscope.com backslash
(22:24):
subscribe and tune in to theaesthetic report weekly to stay
in the know on our semiciennialcalendar.
Celebrate 50 years withDermoscope in 2025 and join us
as we usher in 50 more of thebest generic non-branded
education in the industry.
(22:45):
In all of your years, you haveyou have worked with so many
different brands, some that havelasted, some that haven't.
In your opinion and what you'veseen, what do you think makes
the difference for those brandsthat have stuck around and are
still there?
SPEAKER_02 (23:02):
They usually provide quarterly training seminars at
their training facilities, andthey invite all the distributors
and all the estheticians thatuse that product to come.
I would highly recommend anyline that you carry that you do
all of the educational classesthat they give because reading a
(23:24):
manual is not the same as seeinga service performed.
Plus, while the practitioner orthe esthetician is doing the
treatment, you also learn somuch by watching them do the
treatment.
So I think that with Will and I,when we had our Dermacare
clinic, we carried three brands: a top-of-the-line brand, a (23:44):
undefined
private label brand, and a brandthat went with the Dermicare
clinic machine, these theirproduct line.
So with each one of thoseproduct lines, and I do think
that estheticians should have avariety because at the
(24:04):
dermicare, when Will and I wereworking there, if you had
teenagers coming in, they werenot going to be able to afford
the top of the line.
But you did want to get them offof Oil of Olay or Irish Spring
or whatever they were using.
So you would start them on theprivate label or the dermicare
line.
And then if a doctor's wife camein and she was going to Dallas
(24:29):
to buy all of her products, youknow, at Neiman's, then the top
of the line would be somethingthat you could educate her on,
the difference betweenprofessional and retail skincare
that was available.
So really educating the clientafter what you've learned, the
(24:51):
differences from the ingredientsthat that brand provided gave
you the confidence to tell herthat well, you could save her
the trip to Dallas, you know,because you have the best that's
available right now in aprofessional line, a full range
of anything that she wanted toaddress.
Yeah.
(25:12):
So, and then even then going totrade shows, I would highly
recommend that you step intoother lines and listen to what
they have too.
Yeah.
You can always add other thingsthat can fill the hole if there
was one in the line that youwere using.
And that's what we did with theprivate label, because vitamin
(25:34):
E, avocado oils, little thingslike that that I would use, you
know, for soothing or topicalmoisturizing, I got with the
private label.
A specific product, I would use,you know, my top of the line,
particularly when we did theEuropean facials.
I used the top of the lineproduct to do all of that
treatment with.
SPEAKER_01 (25:54):
Yep.
You know, I just I lovelistening to what you're saying
because those are all thingsthat haven't changed in the
industry.
They're all business builders,they're all customer service
skills, they are they're allattributes that make you a
successful aesthetician.
I mean, that hasn't changed inall these years.
SPEAKER_02 (26:13):
Well, you know, also going to the trade shows and
bumping into somebody that youhadn't seen since the last trade
show.
Yeah, it's really nice to beable to share those oops moments
and also those bonus momentsthat made you really shine, you
know, something that you reallydid to somebody that, you know,
(26:35):
helped them so much, you go, ohmy God, I wish I'd had a before
and after.
These were before we ever evendid before and afters.
Right, yeah, right.
Right.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (26:44):
So in such a in such a tight-knit industry, you know,
stories and legends travel fastwithout naming any names.
What's a rumor that's just toogood not to share with our
listeners?
SPEAKER_02 (26:58):
Well, Will and I had the Dermic Care Clinic in West
Texas.
We were nobodies.
We were just two passionatepeople trying to make a
difference in a small community,less than 100,000 people, but
our territory went from almostLubbock to Mexico, from Dallas,
you know, to El Paso.
We had, you know, 250 squaremiles of clients that would come
(27:23):
because it was, you know, sonew.
We were new.
We got the Dermoscope, we werenew.
Our first trade show was LongBeach.
Oh my gosh.
And we get there, and you knowthe Long Beach Convention
Center, they have that hugecafeteria you're in there.
We're sitting in there havingour little sandwich, you know,
beforehand.
(27:44):
And there is gossip on thefloor.
You can hear people saying,Dermoscope's been sold.
That guy that has Dermoscope, Iwonder how he got connected with
Ron Renee.
The news would go around.
We were sitting there listeningto people talking about us.
They didn't even know who wewere.
We were sitting right in themiddle of the cafeteria.
(28:05):
And pretty soon you could hearthis.
Well, you know, Ron's Ron's gay.
I bet that guy's his love.
I bet that guy's his lover, andthey just passed it on so they
could keep it in the family.
Will and I were sitting theregoing, um, I guess, honey, I'm
gonna keep my arm connected toyours all day while we walk
around so that there's notanother guy that comes up and
(28:28):
gives you some attention.
I'll be letting everybody knowyou're mine, you're mine.
I love it.
I love it.
So yeah, we had to fight that.
We had to fight that littlemisnomer for the first round of
trade shows because you know itgoes the same people basically
work the trade show industry.
So from coast to coast, Canadato San Juan, you know, everybody
(28:53):
would go, oh, you're you're WillStrunk, you're the new owner of
Dermascope magazine.
Yes, yes, I am, you know.
And of course, Will and I haveuh, you know, we have kind of
Texan accents.
So, you know, they were going,well, you know, y'all are from
Texas, you know, Ron Renee'sfrom Texas.
And how'd y'all meet?
Oh, Will got his massage licensein Ron's school.
(29:15):
Uh-huh.
So you can see they startedconnecting all the little false,
false fingers there.
But yeah, we worked throughthat.
That's a pretty good thing.
SPEAKER_01 (29:26):
I can't believe in all of the years I've known you
guys, I never heard that story.
Well, it's not one that Willlikes to tell.
I love it.
I love it.
So, Pat, bringing us fastforward and where we are this
summer.
You help celebrate Thermoscope's50th anniversary after the
(29:47):
Ukrainians have stepped away foroh my god, for for quite a
while.
I mean, what was that?
What was that like?
That had to be amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (29:58):
You know what's amazing.
Is our children traveled withus?
We had them in a school where wecould take them out and take
them with us.
You know, we are beat it fromcoast to coast.
So they grew up in thisindustry.
And Amanda, she loved standingat the bottom of the escalators,
(30:21):
passing out that dermoscopemagazine.
So from the time she was fouryears old passing out that
dermoscope magazine, she alwayssaid, This is what I want to do.
This is what I want to do.
I love this.
I love meeting all these people.
I love having all this stuff.
I like traveling.
I like, you know, sharingeverything that I know.
I like talking to all the peoplethat want to share all the
(30:41):
things that they know.
And so after 50 years of Willand I keeping the magazine in a
certain way, watching Amanda'sexuberance and her newfound
passion and social media, whichWill and I, you know, weren't
(31:02):
involved in that decade ofeverything coming up.
Watching her progress gives us alilted heart, knowing that she's
found something that she knowsthat she can make her career in,
keeping everybody in the networkconnected and also providing a
(31:24):
platform for people to share andcontinue offering up all the
little notes of wisdom and oopsmoments and things to build
confidence in the professionalindustry because the wellness
industry, and Will basicallycoined this back in the 80s when
(31:45):
he started Body TherapyMagazine, wellness, you know, it
includes everything.
So with Amanda includingeverything in the magazine, you
know, highlighting, you know,people and their journeys,
highlighting spas and their, youknow, decisions of what you know
they lean towards and how youspecialize to draw more
clientele in.
(32:05):
And I think she's just done awonderful job and bring it into
the 21st century.
Yeah.
I'm a from the last century.
So we did our job the best thatwe could we knew how.
And now watching Amanda do herjob and sharing with this
educational format and havingfriends and people like yourself
(32:26):
and Dorian and everybody withinthe magazine and in the
industry, you know, supportingher, I think it's going to
continue for another 25 or 30years without breaking a stride.
SPEAKER_01 (32:39):
So yay! Yeah, I would well, I would agree.
And that brings me into my lastquestion is you know, given
everything that you've seen andthe insight and your experience,
and at the same time what you'veseen Amanda do in the last few
years, if you had to give atoast to Dermoscope for the next
50 years, what would it be?
SPEAKER_02 (33:02):
Love your educators.
Yeah, yeah.
I love them.
Lift them up high.
It takes a lot of energy towrite.
It takes a lot of your time outto put things on paper and to
share them with Dermoscope.
It's a commitment that workingpeople just don't make room for
(33:24):
stuff like that.
So having a platform for her tobe able to include anybody that
wants to share, that's you know,a valid conversationalist that
can share something is um, Ithink, a great, a great platform
for her to keep using Dermoscopeand to keep the educational
platform and to keep supportingthe schools, the trade shows,
(33:46):
all the symposiums and seminars.
I think Dermoscope is just acenter of a networking hub.
Yeah.
So the more she can do with it,the better it'll be.
And we've connected, you know,the medical industry, the you
know, so many things to it overthe last, you know, 30, 40 years
that there's no telling wherewhere it can go from here.
(34:08):
So I think just keeping theprofessional industry a step
above the retail and you know,right underneath the level of
the medical gives everybody aplatform to succeed in and
continue growing.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (34:22):
Yep.
I I agree with thatwholeheartedly.
So if there were, and I think Iknow what your answer is gonna
be to this, but if there wereone thing that you could say to
our listeners to be sure to do,or to do to succeed or move
forward, what would that be?
SPEAKER_02 (34:42):
Take care of yourself.
If you don't love yourself, howare you gonna share the love
with those that you have yourhands on?
Your body is an energy field,and when you come into a room,
that ambiance, your energy whenyou walk into the room, don't
(35:04):
carry the baggage with you whenyou go into a room to do
treatment.
When you walk into that room,that client should feel
confident, you should berelaxed, and you should have had
sleep and water, and you shouldhave had treatments.
You need to know what thatclient is feeling.
I think any esthetician thatdoesn't do monthly treatments on
(35:28):
themselves should be ashamed ofthemselves for not making time
for themselves.
So, you know, kudos for all ofthose that take the Mondays that
are closed days off.
That's what we used to do onMondays when we were closed.
That's when the girls could comein.
We'd do whatever they wanted.
They wanted to wax their legs,they wanted to have a galvanic
treatment, they wanted to dotheir own nails.
(35:49):
You know, the the salon was kindof open for them to use that on
that time.
So I would say, girls, practicewhat you preach.
I knew you were gonna say that.
Learn more about yourself andwhat you need so that you can
share that with those that arein question as to why is this
happening to me?
(36:10):
So um, yeah, that's what I wouldsay.
Take care of yourself, and umall other things will come.
I love that.
SPEAKER_01 (36:18):
Okay, so this is really due to Amanda, but we
always have to play a game atthe end of every podcast.
Would you rather?
So I have five questions foryou, and I'm gonna give you the
question, and you have to answerit as quickly as you possibly
(36:39):
can with as little thought asyou possibly can give to it.
I'll try.
Okay.
Question number one (36:44):
one spa treatment from the 80s or 90s
that you secretly loved orsecretly hated.
SPEAKER_02 (36:55):
Well, back in the 80s, when a gentleman would come
in and want to have hair removaldone, it would surprise me when
it was on his genitals.
SPEAKER_01 (37:08):
Really?
That would surprise me too inthe 80s and 90s, especially the
80s.
It did.
It was it was a big surprise.
SPEAKER_02 (37:15):
I would go, how can I help you?
Well, I'm doing a littletransformation, and I need to
have some facial hair removedand some body hair removed.
And I go, okay, let's get withit.
You hold it, I'll work on it.
SPEAKER_01 (37:32):
That's it.
I love it.
I love it.
Okay, question number two.
A product launch you witnessedthat went totally wrong.
SPEAKER_02 (37:44):
Um, a product launch.
I don't know, but you know, thatjust brings me to this big
picture that I see.
You know, when you go to a tradeshow and you're in a great big
classroom, they have these greatbig huge screens on the stage
where they can show you what'sgoing on up close.
(38:04):
It was kind of a faux pontbecause I didn't really know
whether or not this was going tobe good or not.
But there was this waxing classgoing on and this great big blue
ball on the stage.
And my son was running errands,and he just happened to stop by
(38:25):
just about the time thisBrazilian wax was being done on
stage.
And he said, I wish I'd neverseen that.
SPEAKER_01 (38:38):
I can actually see his face right now.
SPEAKER_02 (38:42):
Brazilian wax going on.
And he walked by and he goes, Ohmy god, I wish I hadn't seen
that.
That's hysterical.
So that was kind of a faux pasthing.
We should keep the doors closedon personal things like that to
protect the uh demonstration.
SPEAKER_01 (38:58):
Yep, that's great.
Okay, how about a mentor or acolleague that left a lasting
impression?
SPEAKER_02 (39:05):
Oh my goodness, I had so many, you know, Erica,
Robert Demer, uh, Mark Lees, uh,you know, there were so many of
those from the very beginning.
They all left an impression.
Silly things from like hidingtheir drinking bottle behind
their booth in the trade show.
Uh, you know, I mean, all kindsof things go on, and all kinds
(39:30):
of impressions are left.
I think one time I was trying tohurry through the trade show
because there's an emergencyphone call.
And so I can't remember if itwas Paula or Will or somebody,
but they came up to me, they go,please go find this man, please
go find this man.
There's an emergency phone call.
And I went, All right, so theygave me this name on this piece
(39:51):
of paper.
So I was walking through thetrade show, hollering out this
name of this French Canadian manwith my Texas accent.
So, of course, it made a bigimpression on everybody in the
trade show because all weekendthey were walking around saying
his name Texan instead ofFrench.
His name was Jean Brian.
(40:12):
But I was going around going,Gene Breen, Gene Breen, is there
Gene Green here?
So, you know, when you havesomebody, and he was like a big
distributor for like, I can'tremember, Touch America or one
of those great big equipmentcompanies that involve this
stuff in.
Oh, so everybody on the tradeshow floor the rest of the
weekend was going around going,hey Gene.
(40:35):
That's hysterical.
You know, they're just littlethings that leave impressions on
you, but they're all prettyquirky and funny.
And one of my favoriteimpressions right now is just
thinking about the spa thatPaula built for Erica here in
Hot Springs.
It's a gazebo outside with twomatching massage tables on the
(40:56):
lake, and you can go and havethis fantastic couple's massage
anytime during the day at thisresort up there, and it's all in
Erica's name.
So, I mean, little things likethat.
I mean, I love Erica, she youknow, she's been gone a long,
long time, but you know,everybody still you think about
people like that that have madeimpressions in your life.
(41:18):
Paul and Erica were one of them.
I used to love going to theirspa in Dallas.
I mean, they had all thoselittle dogs, you know, they were
playing.
Anyway, it was great.
They were great institutions andgreat mentors, too.
SPEAKER_01 (41:31):
That's awesome.
All right, my last question isthe funniest nickname or term
that you've heard in theprofessional skincare world?
SPEAKER_02 (41:41):
A nickname or a term?
I guess when we first learnedhow to do chemical peels, and
I'd be explaining to someone howto remove the melasma or to take
care of their littlepigmentations and stuff.
You know, we'd just go, you wantto peel it?
We're gonna peel it.
We're just gonna peel it off.
(42:02):
We're just gonna put it on thereuntil it's all frosty and then
it'll just peel it off.
But don't scratch it, just letit come off by itself.
That's awesome.
So they come in, I go, You readyfor a peel?
And basically, girls, this timeright now is prime peeling time.
There you go.
There you go.
Because you have no sun,everybody can hide indoors for a
(42:26):
week, and um, then your skinwill be absolutely gorgeous.
So, my beauty tip to you at theend of this right now is set
your beauty routine.
Go ahead and get ready for thatnew year's look and schedule
yourself a nice easy peel.
That's yay!
SPEAKER_01 (42:45):
Yeah, yay.
Excellent advice.
Excellent advice.
Well, Pat, we have known eachother a long time and I just
love you to pieces.
So thank you for doing this withme today.
It was so much fun.
SPEAKER_02 (42:58):
Thank you for letting me share.
Y'all have a great weekend andenjoy your holiday season too.
SPEAKER_01 (43:04):
All right, love ya.
All right, everybody, foreveryone listening, thank you so
much for spending the time withus.
I am Michelle De Allerbrenner.
This has been the aestheticreport, and we'll talk to you
all real soon.
SPEAKER_00 (43:15):
Okay.
Thank you for listening to theAesthetic Report.
Be sure to subscribe whereveryou listen to podcasts so you'll
never miss an episode.
If you love the show, leave areview on Apple Podcasts and
Spotify and tell all your FDbesties to give us a listen.
And don't forget, the educationdoesn't stop here.
The Aesthetic Report is one ofmany platforms offered by
(43:38):
Dermascope.
Visit Dermascope.com for moreeducation and industry news from
the Authority on ProfessionalSkin Care.
Stay tuned and we'll see younext time for another episode of
the Aesthetic Report.
Welcome to the Aesthetic Report, a podcast for
skincare professionals who wantto grow in their careers by
hearing directly from theindividuals who have been there,
done that, and are paving thefuture of their industry.
Join us for the latest in allthings skincare, beauty,
wellness, business, and more.
From interviews with leadingexperts to the burning topics on
(00:22):
your mind.
The aesthetic report starts now.
SPEAKER_01 (00:34):
Hello, hello, everybody, and welcome to the
Aesthetic Report, a podcast byDermoscope.
I am your host, AIA Presidentand Director of Education,
Michelle DeAllard Brenner.
And as you guys all know, theAesthetic Report is for all of
you skincare professionals whowant to learn more about how to
make it in the industry byhearing straight from our
(00:57):
industry leaders with one-on-oneinterviews about the latest dish
on all things professionalskincare.
And today's episode is prettyspecial.
We have a special guest who wasthe associate publisher of
Dermoscope Magazine, a formerday spa owner, and a seasoned
professional in skincare andaesthetics, and a dear loving
(01:21):
friend of mine for a very longtime.
She is here to share her wisdom,her laughs, and her favorite SD
confessions.
Please welcome Patricia Strunk,Pat.
This is so exciting.
We've never done this before.
SPEAKER_02 (01:38):
Yeah, well, you know, I'm an oldie but goody, so
all of those old stories are,yeah, they're passe now, but
they're they're still there.
SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
They're there, and there's some good ones.
And the best part of all of thisis that so many times that I'm
always talking to everyone, Ifeel like, oh my gosh, I'm
dating myself.
I get to talk to someone who'sbeen in the business longer than
I have.
SPEAKER_02 (02:05):
Yeah, it's been a long ride, but what a wonderful
life it's been.
SPEAKER_01 (02:08):
It has.
It has.
And that's why I just this is agreat opportunity.
I mean, you have really seen somany changes, not only just in
the profession, but in thedifferent avenues of the
profession that you've been in.
And, you know, at living throughso many eras of the professional
industry.
Can you tell our listeners alittle bit about your journey
(02:32):
and ultimately how you ended upwith Dermoscope?
SPEAKER_02 (02:36):
Well, you want to go way back to the 70s and start
there?
I do, yes, yes.
Okay.
Well, in the 70s, I graduatedfrom college and I worked as a
fitness and health instructorfor the football team at
Nautilus.
When I graduated, then I went tothe Dallas area, worked in
(02:59):
fashion at the Apparel Mart, andgot involved with the Pat Walker
Figure Salon where I learnedspecial little tricks on
nutrition, skinny fatty, skinny,and stuff like that.
After I did that, then uh mymom, she's a she was a nurse and
was grandfathered in onaesthetics, body treatments.
(03:23):
She was a licensed electrolysistin the state of Florida.
And um, she bought a littledermicare clinic.
So when I got my divorce, shebegged me to come home, go back
to school, cosmetology school,get my aesthetic license, and
then join her in our new venturein the skincare in health
(03:45):
industry.
Oh my god.
So mom and I and a friend ofours, Angel, worked at a little
derma care clinic in West Texaswhere we basically brought
skincare and hair removal to anarea of the United States that
really was just brand new.
(04:06):
Uh, this was like in 1983.
I worked there for a couple ofyears.
Will and I met at an aesthetictrade show in Dallas.
My brother and my mother and Iwent up there.
I met Will.
He and my brother were lifelongfriends.
So Will and I kind of connected.
He was very interested in mypassion for making women feel
(04:31):
beautiful from the inside out.
You are what you eat, you know,the whole basic little
scenarios.
Will and I got married.
I moved to the Dallas area, wentto work at a little salon up
there.
And Will was in construction atthe time, but he was so
fascinated with my education andinterest in what was new and
(04:55):
coming out at that time, that Italked him into, or he
volunteered to go to massageschool.
And that's where he met RonRenee.
He finished his training there.
My mother at the time wanted togo ahead and retire.
So she said that if we didn'tcome back home and run the
little dermicare clinic, she wasgoing to sell it.
(05:16):
So Will goes, let's take ourbrand new baby, let's go back
home, let's run this littlebusiness.
And that's when he gotinterested in the computer.
When the computer came into ourlife, everything changed because
he was a massage therapist atthat time.
(05:36):
And he wanted to start educatingand reaching all of the massage.
And at that time, there was like600 registered massage
therapists just in the state ofTexas.
So he thought, well, if I canreach some of these massage
therapists and startcorresponding and sharing
information with them, then I'mgoing to start me a little
(05:57):
newspaper or a little magazinecalled Body Therapy.
Well, after he and Body Therapyput their first magazine out,
which I made the cover on, myfirst cover magazine.
SPEAKER_01 (06:11):
Do you still have that cover?
SPEAKER_02 (06:13):
Do you have that cover, Pat?
I still have that copy of thatmagazine, yes.
After we did, after he did that,then he was really interested in
trying to expand because he hadalso started a little newspaper
in a little town we call welived in called the Toenail
Tribune.
So he was quite interested inwriting and educating.
(06:36):
And at that time, he reachedback out to Ron Renee in Dallas
and said, Look, I'm trying toreach out to these massage
therapists and you know geteverybody connected.
Can you help me?
And um, Ron said, Come on uphere, I want to talk to you.
And when he got back up toDallas, Ron said, You know what?
(06:56):
I think that you would just be areally good turnover because I'm
ready to retire.
And how would you like to takeover the magazine?
Basically, it was an opportunitythat he couldn't refuse, and I
supported that.
I stayed at the Dermacare Clinicin West Texas while he moved to
(07:21):
Dallas, came into the Dermoscopemagazine, and at that time Ron
had six trade shows from Canadato Puerto Rico, New York,
Beverly Hills, you know, all ofthat.
So Will just stepped into anopportunity that he manhandled
(07:44):
and tried to figure out howeverything worked.
And so about six months later,the kids and I up and left
Dermicare Clinic in the hands ofmy electrolysist.
Oh my gosh.
And we moved to Dallas andstarted right off with trade
show business.
(08:04):
And that's how we basically gotstarted with Dermoscope.
SPEAKER_01 (08:07):
That's unbelievable.
SPEAKER_02 (08:08):
I still transposed Dermoscope with Dermicare
because we spent so much timewith each one.
But the salon business wasreally great and very important
in our first starting out withour marriage and the kids and
all that.
But by the time eight years wentby, you know, and the magazine
started going, we just fell intothat.
(08:32):
And I just loved sharingeverything that I knew with
whoever would listen.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (08:39):
Well, and I think Pat, you know what?
You you guys going into thebusiness that way with the
understanding of the day spabusiness and aesthetics and
massage gave you a wholedifferent perspective as you
enter into publishing at theexact same time.
You know, you knew your targetmarket in a very different way.
SPEAKER_02 (09:00):
Well, I was more of the hands-on, and Will was more
of the putting everything downpart of it.
He loved it.
He loves writing, he lovessharing all of his information,
and he's a great researcher too.
So that is absolutely true.
SPEAKER_01 (09:17):
So, Pat, when you if you go back to first opening the
day spa and going in with yourmom, what was the biggest, would
you say, back in the daychallenge that maybe today's
aestheticians would neverbelieve was such a challenge?
SPEAKER_02 (09:35):
My mother did um body massage treatments, but
with Will's license to do bodytherapy, and we started telling
our clients that we did bodytherapy, and then I had, you
know, a man to do it.
Then I think they either sharedit around and the news started
kind of going around West Texasthere, and we started getting
(09:59):
these really weird phone callswhere people would go, Y'all do
body massage?
And I go, Yes, sir.
Can we schedule you one?
Well, is it a man or a woman?
Well, I have you can have yourchoice.
Well, I want to have a full bodyrelease.
Oh my God.
I want to excuse me.
Excuse me.
(10:19):
Uh yes, do y'all do that?
Uh, and we only live like anhour or so from the Mexican
border.
So my comment would be well, youcan either go south or you can
go to the Metroplex.
I'm sure you could probably finda studio or something up there
that can help you with that.
So, really educating the womenand the husbands that massage
(10:45):
was healthy.
It was a lymphatic drainage, itstimulated circulation, it did
all these wonderful healthythings instead of the personal
aspects that they thoughtmassage led to.
Right.
That's so that was a really bigeducational uh jump because when
mother and I first started, wedid electrolysis, waxing,
(11:07):
facials, nail care.
We didn't do hair, you know.
I didn't want the perm smell andall that in my aesthetics area.
We had a nice massage room allset up, you know, but yeah, we
had to screen our calls atfirst.
Was it when they would come inand then go, uh, excuse me, I
got a man doing my massage?
I go, Yes, yes, you do.
(11:28):
I I think I'll I'll rescheduleit another time.
unknown (11:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (11:33):
So I can imagine one of the hardest to really get
around.
SPEAKER_01 (11:38):
So, you know, so that leads me into and maybe you
answered it, but at that time,well, what was the most popular
treatment when you started out?
Was that it or was that not it?
SPEAKER_02 (11:51):
No, our most popular treatment back then in the early
80s, late 70s, early 80s, wasfacial waxing.
Really?
Lip waxing, lip waxing andeyebrow waxing paid all of our
bills.
Really?
So between the dermicaregalvanic treatments, yeah,
(12:11):
because back then dermatologistsdidn't do any work on healthy
skin.
Right.
So if a lady would go in andsay, you know, I have blackhead
through this or that, they wouldrefer them to me.
They would say, Well, there's adermicare clinic here in town,
and they do extractions.
If you want your skin cleaned,you can go over there.
(12:31):
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Oh, the waxing paid our bills.
So it was a great, it was agreat service.
SPEAKER_01 (12:38):
And you know, and Pat, the interesting thing is,
is it still is a great servicethat's that I honestly feel as
though so many aestheticians arelive m missing out on.
Back then, a lip wax was fivedollars.
SPEAKER_02 (12:50):
Oh my god.
So you know how many five dollarlip waxes I did?
I mean, you just bring them in,bring them in, bring them in.
And of course, after they got onyour table, you tell them, oh, I
can do a bikini wax, I can doyour underarm waxes, you know, I
can do your little facial oreyebrow waxes.
So waxing just built and builtand built.
(13:11):
And the more I had somebodylaying on my table, the more I
could upsell them with the othersurfaces that we sell.
I'd go, oh, well, you know, wecould do a paraffin dip on your
feet, you know, they're allcracked.
Or we can do, you know, aEuropean facial with that has
more moisturizing and massaging.
Basically, the galvanictreatment and the um waxing was
(13:34):
our bread and butter for theservices back in the early 80s.
SPEAKER_01 (13:38):
That's amazing.
And you know what, you you justsaid something that I also find
very interesting.
That I mean, you know, as a as aschool owner, but even
professionals that are outthere, today's professionals,
and I see it here in the schooltoo, everyone's afraid to
upsell.
They're afraid to makesuggestions, they're afraid, not
even upsell, sell period.
(14:00):
Just say, you know, this is whatyou need to take home.
I mean, it's been for years.
SPEAKER_02 (14:06):
I would start with, I would start with, can you
please tell me what you use onyour skin?
And they'd go, oh, you know,Irish spring, oil of Olay, you
know, my dermatologist told mejust to use soap and water.
That gives you an opening toeducate them on what tallow does
to the skin and how you need toremove the extra, you know, dead
(14:28):
skin cells to give you a nicelittle radiant, you know, glow.
It gave you a captive audiencelaying there on the table to
educate them as to why we arehere and what we can provide to
make them look better, feelbetter, and be able to make
better purchases.
You know how many women wouldcome in with a bag of stuff and
(14:51):
dump it all out and go, I'vetried all of this and it doesn't
work.
I'll go, baby, you need to startsimple, clean, moisturize,
exfoliate, protect, you know.
So it was just a great way ofstarting out and building your
clientele because once you hadthe woman in, then the husband
and then the daughter, and thenyou know, the word would spread.
(15:12):
So we had a great littlebusiness back then.
I really liked it.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:17):
Well, and you know what you make, you make another
interesting point as you saidthat too, because you know, I
spend so much time answering,you know, Instagram or questions
and all this stuff that's outthere.
And social media has become sohuge that so many aestheticians
feel that that's how they'regoing to build their business.
(15:37):
And you just said it, you know,once you get one client in, you
get the husband, you get thewife, you get the best friend,
you get the daughter.
It's it hasn't changed.
SPEAKER_02 (15:48):
Well, it's networking and it's trust and
confidence in yourself.
Yeah.
You have to know what you'retalking about, don't
over-explain it.
You have to talk to them in anex in a conversation that fits
them and their lifestyle.
You can't put something onsomebody that has exactly four
(16:11):
minutes, you know, to jump outof bed, get the kids dressed,
and get up, you know, to the busand all that kind of stuff.
So every woman and every routineis very different.
And just communicating with themand learning what they need and
what they're looking, what theyexpect to get is how you can
(16:31):
build the confidence inproviding professional services
for them.
Otherwise, they're gonna go, Ican do that for myself at home.
SPEAKER_03 (16:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:39):
Or, you know.
Right.
So, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (16:51):
And it was either, and you know, and it just kind
of worked out okay afterwards.
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
Well, like I told you, the waxing was our best
sale.
And I had clients from allwalks.
I had a particular younggentleman that was a model for
like catalogs, and uh he wantedthe body waxing.
So, of course, I was happy tooblige him.
(17:17):
And the only problem with thatwas is that I put my waxing
table on a rolling tray.
So when you're trying to walkaround a body with a rolling
tray of wax on there, there'soops, that happens.
So I'm just letting all thegirls know that my point of view
(17:40):
is to always keep your waxstation permanent because
accidents do happen.
And if you drop a wax pot insomebody's shoes or blue jeans,
you're basically re liable toreplace them, which I did.
So, you know, a lot of littleoops things, you know, if you
(18:01):
wax somebody's little part oftheir eyebrow or whatever off,
things happen.
You know, you get over it, theyget over it.
You know, you're learning.
So don't be afraid to make acouple of uh oops things, you
know.
You can joke about it, you can,you know, compliment their
service.
You know, there's other thingsthat you can do, but most of my
(18:22):
oops things were little goofthings.
I had one oops thing from aremember back in the old the
equipment had like all these 13different operations on it or
whatever, and they had thelittle vacuum things with the
tubes on it.
Absolutely.
Well, you have to remember todial the vacuum tube down before
(18:43):
you start because when I didthis woman's neck, it looked
like she had hickeys up her neckfrom me vacuuming it without
turning the thing down.
So you have to remember thinnerskin and older skin doesn't
require that much suction.
If it's a young kid that has alot of blackheads and stuff like
(19:03):
that, turn that booger up.
But you have to just you have totest things.
So, yes, I I told her that theredness would go away tomorrow.
And it did, maybe tomorrow orthe next day.
She was very happy.
She said it was verystimulating.
(19:25):
So, yeah, I love doing all thelittle vacuuming things.
I loved using all of myequipment and all that.
So I do too, and we still teach,we still teach all of it.
Things happen.
Learn from your lessons.
SPEAKER_01 (19:39):
Yep.
You know what you do.
And you know what?
It goes back to you just saidthe word, the the one of the
most important words foraestheticians is you have to be
confident.
You've got to be confident inyour abilities.
You're gonna mess up.
We're not all perfect.
It happens and it's okay.
SPEAKER_02 (19:56):
Yes, yes, yes.
There are many, many oops thingsthat happen in um your
workplace, but the confidencethat you have in being able to
handle it and calm the clientand to reassure her that you
know everything's gonna turn outjust fine.
That's important.
SPEAKER_01 (20:16):
So aside from like the massage calls and your oops,
I mean, this is there's so manyunforgettables.
Is there any other moment thatyou're like, yeah, this could
only happen in Americanskincare?
This could not be possible.
SPEAKER_02 (20:31):
Well, that brings me to, you know, when you go to
trade shows, you go there tonetwork, you go there to pick up
new ideas, to learn out, learnwhat's new, to see who's doing
what, what's been improved.
Will and I were working on atrade show floor, and um this
man approaches him.
(20:52):
I think it was uh from SouthAmerica, but anyway, he comes in
with a dolly and asks Will howhe can get involved in this
clinic because he has a newpiece of equipment that he would
like to bring to the industry.
And Will looked down at it andit literally looked like a
(21:14):
battery charger on wheels.
It was a microderm abrasionmachine, but the word vacuum was
misspelled on it.
So Will looked at him and hesaid, No, I don't think that
there's a uh a place right nowwhere you know that would fit
in.
(21:34):
So, you know, maybe if you goback and you know, redo it.
But back then that's when dermabrasions were first coming out,
and he thought he could justmake a home version of one and
bring it in.
And I thought, you know, only inAmerica can somebody come in and
go, I got something, somebodywill buy it.
I know somebody will buy it.
So true.
(21:54):
So true.
SPEAKER_01 (22:00):
Did you know that Dermoscope is celebrating 50
years this year?
Founded in 1975, Dermoscope hasbeen bringing skin professionals
the best in continuing educationfor half a century, with more to
come.
Follow us on social media atDermascope on all platforms.
Subscribe to the print magazineat www.dermoscope.com backslash
(22:24):
subscribe and tune in to theaesthetic report weekly to stay
in the know on our semiciennialcalendar.
Celebrate 50 years withDermoscope in 2025 and join us
as we usher in 50 more of thebest generic non-branded
education in the industry.
(22:45):
In all of your years, you haveyou have worked with so many
different brands, some that havelasted, some that haven't.
In your opinion and what you'veseen, what do you think makes
the difference for those brandsthat have stuck around and are
still there?
SPEAKER_02 (23:02):
They usually provide quarterly training seminars at
their training facilities, andthey invite all the distributors
and all the estheticians thatuse that product to come.
I would highly recommend anyline that you carry that you do
all of the educational classesthat they give because reading a
(23:24):
manual is not the same as seeinga service performed.
Plus, while the practitioner orthe esthetician is doing the
treatment, you also learn somuch by watching them do the
treatment.
So I think that with Will and I,when we had our Dermacare
clinic, we carried three brands: a top-of-the-line brand, a (23:44):
undefined
private label brand, and a brandthat went with the Dermicare
clinic machine, these theirproduct line.
So with each one of thoseproduct lines, and I do think
that estheticians should have avariety because at the
(24:04):
dermicare, when Will and I wereworking there, if you had
teenagers coming in, they werenot going to be able to afford
the top of the line.
But you did want to get them offof Oil of Olay or Irish Spring
or whatever they were using.
So you would start them on theprivate label or the dermicare
line.
And then if a doctor's wife camein and she was going to Dallas
(24:29):
to buy all of her products, youknow, at Neiman's, then the top
of the line would be somethingthat you could educate her on,
the difference betweenprofessional and retail skincare
that was available.
So really educating the clientafter what you've learned, the
(24:51):
differences from the ingredientsthat that brand provided gave
you the confidence to tell herthat well, you could save her
the trip to Dallas, you know,because you have the best that's
available right now in aprofessional line, a full range
of anything that she wanted toaddress.
Yeah.
(25:12):
So, and then even then going totrade shows, I would highly
recommend that you step intoother lines and listen to what
they have too.
Yeah.
You can always add other thingsthat can fill the hole if there
was one in the line that youwere using.
And that's what we did with theprivate label, because vitamin
(25:34):
E, avocado oils, little thingslike that that I would use, you
know, for soothing or topicalmoisturizing, I got with the
private label.
A specific product, I would use,you know, my top of the line,
particularly when we did theEuropean facials.
I used the top of the lineproduct to do all of that
treatment with.
SPEAKER_01 (25:54):
Yep.
You know, I just I lovelistening to what you're saying
because those are all thingsthat haven't changed in the
industry.
They're all business builders,they're all customer service
skills, they are they're allattributes that make you a
successful aesthetician.
I mean, that hasn't changed inall these years.
SPEAKER_02 (26:13):
Well, you know, also going to the trade shows and
bumping into somebody that youhadn't seen since the last trade
show.
Yeah, it's really nice to beable to share those oops moments
and also those bonus momentsthat made you really shine, you
know, something that you reallydid to somebody that, you know,
(26:35):
helped them so much, you go, ohmy God, I wish I'd had a before
and after.
These were before we ever evendid before and afters.
Right, yeah, right.
Right.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (26:44):
So in such a in such a tight-knit industry, you know,
stories and legends travel fastwithout naming any names.
What's a rumor that's just toogood not to share with our
listeners?
SPEAKER_02 (26:58):
Well, Will and I had the Dermic Care Clinic in West
Texas.
We were nobodies.
We were just two passionatepeople trying to make a
difference in a small community,less than 100,000 people, but
our territory went from almostLubbock to Mexico, from Dallas,
you know, to El Paso.
We had, you know, 250 squaremiles of clients that would come
(27:23):
because it was, you know, sonew.
We were new.
We got the Dermoscope, we werenew.
Our first trade show was LongBeach.
Oh my gosh.
And we get there, and you knowthe Long Beach Convention
Center, they have that hugecafeteria you're in there.
We're sitting in there havingour little sandwich, you know,
beforehand.
(27:44):
And there is gossip on thefloor.
You can hear people saying,Dermoscope's been sold.
That guy that has Dermoscope, Iwonder how he got connected with
Ron Renee.
The news would go around.
We were sitting there listeningto people talking about us.
They didn't even know who wewere.
We were sitting right in themiddle of the cafeteria.
(28:05):
And pretty soon you could hearthis.
Well, you know, Ron's Ron's gay.
I bet that guy's his love.
I bet that guy's his lover, andthey just passed it on so they
could keep it in the family.
Will and I were sitting theregoing, um, I guess, honey, I'm
gonna keep my arm connected toyours all day while we walk
around so that there's notanother guy that comes up and
(28:28):
gives you some attention.
I'll be letting everybody knowyou're mine, you're mine.
I love it.
I love it.
So yeah, we had to fight that.
We had to fight that littlemisnomer for the first round of
trade shows because you know itgoes the same people basically
work the trade show industry.
So from coast to coast, Canadato San Juan, you know, everybody
(28:53):
would go, oh, you're you're WillStrunk, you're the new owner of
Dermascope magazine.
Yes, yes, I am, you know.
And of course, Will and I haveuh, you know, we have kind of
Texan accents.
So, you know, they were going,well, you know, y'all are from
Texas, you know, Ron Renee'sfrom Texas.
And how'd y'all meet?
Oh, Will got his massage licensein Ron's school.
(29:15):
Uh-huh.
So you can see they startedconnecting all the little false,
false fingers there.
But yeah, we worked throughthat.
That's a pretty good thing.
SPEAKER_01 (29:26):
I can't believe in all of the years I've known you
guys, I never heard that story.
Well, it's not one that Willlikes to tell.
I love it.
I love it.
So, Pat, bringing us fastforward and where we are this
summer.
You help celebrate Thermoscope's50th anniversary after the
(29:47):
Ukrainians have stepped away foroh my god, for for quite a
while.
I mean, what was that?
What was that like?
That had to be amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (29:58):
You know what's amazing.
Is our children traveled withus?
We had them in a school where wecould take them out and take
them with us.
You know, we are beat it fromcoast to coast.
So they grew up in thisindustry.
And Amanda, she loved standingat the bottom of the escalators,
(30:21):
passing out that dermoscopemagazine.
So from the time she was fouryears old passing out that
dermoscope magazine, she alwayssaid, This is what I want to do.
This is what I want to do.
I love this.
I love meeting all these people.
I love having all this stuff.
I like traveling.
I like, you know, sharingeverything that I know.
I like talking to all the peoplethat want to share all the
(30:41):
things that they know.
And so after 50 years of Willand I keeping the magazine in a
certain way, watching Amanda'sexuberance and her newfound
passion and social media, whichWill and I, you know, weren't
(31:02):
involved in that decade ofeverything coming up.
Watching her progress gives us alilted heart, knowing that she's
found something that she knowsthat she can make her career in,
keeping everybody in the networkconnected and also providing a
(31:24):
platform for people to share andcontinue offering up all the
little notes of wisdom and oopsmoments and things to build
confidence in the professionalindustry because the wellness
industry, and Will basicallycoined this back in the 80s when
(31:45):
he started Body TherapyMagazine, wellness, you know, it
includes everything.
So with Amanda includingeverything in the magazine, you
know, highlighting, you know,people and their journeys,
highlighting spas and their, youknow, decisions of what you know
they lean towards and how youspecialize to draw more
clientele in.
(32:05):
And I think she's just done awonderful job and bring it into
the 21st century.
Yeah.
I'm a from the last century.
So we did our job the best thatwe could we knew how.
And now watching Amanda do herjob and sharing with this
educational format and havingfriends and people like yourself
(32:26):
and Dorian and everybody withinthe magazine and in the
industry, you know, supportingher, I think it's going to
continue for another 25 or 30years without breaking a stride.
SPEAKER_01 (32:39):
So yay! Yeah, I would well, I would agree.
And that brings me into my lastquestion is you know, given
everything that you've seen andthe insight and your experience,
and at the same time what you'veseen Amanda do in the last few
years, if you had to give atoast to Dermoscope for the next
50 years, what would it be?
SPEAKER_02 (33:02):
Love your educators.
Yeah, yeah.
I love them.
Lift them up high.
It takes a lot of energy towrite.
It takes a lot of your time outto put things on paper and to
share them with Dermoscope.
It's a commitment that workingpeople just don't make room for
(33:24):
stuff like that.
So having a platform for her tobe able to include anybody that
wants to share, that's you know,a valid conversationalist that
can share something is um, Ithink, a great, a great platform
for her to keep using Dermoscopeand to keep the educational
platform and to keep supportingthe schools, the trade shows,
(33:46):
all the symposiums and seminars.
I think Dermoscope is just acenter of a networking hub.
Yeah.
So the more she can do with it,the better it'll be.
And we've connected, you know,the medical industry, the you
know, so many things to it overthe last, you know, 30, 40 years
that there's no telling wherewhere it can go from here.
(34:08):
So I think just keeping theprofessional industry a step
above the retail and you know,right underneath the level of
the medical gives everybody aplatform to succeed in and
continue growing.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (34:22):
Yep.
I I agree with thatwholeheartedly.
So if there were, and I think Iknow what your answer is gonna
be to this, but if there wereone thing that you could say to
our listeners to be sure to do,or to do to succeed or move
forward, what would that be?
SPEAKER_02 (34:42):
Take care of yourself.
If you don't love yourself, howare you gonna share the love
with those that you have yourhands on?
Your body is an energy field,and when you come into a room,
that ambiance, your energy whenyou walk into the room, don't
(35:04):
carry the baggage with you whenyou go into a room to do
treatment.
When you walk into that room,that client should feel
confident, you should berelaxed, and you should have had
sleep and water, and you shouldhave had treatments.
You need to know what thatclient is feeling.
I think any esthetician thatdoesn't do monthly treatments on
(35:28):
themselves should be ashamed ofthemselves for not making time
for themselves.
So, you know, kudos for all ofthose that take the Mondays that
are closed days off.
That's what we used to do onMondays when we were closed.
That's when the girls could comein.
We'd do whatever they wanted.
They wanted to wax their legs,they wanted to have a galvanic
treatment, they wanted to dotheir own nails.
(35:49):
You know, the the salon was kindof open for them to use that on
that time.
So I would say, girls, practicewhat you preach.
I knew you were gonna say that.
Learn more about yourself andwhat you need so that you can
share that with those that arein question as to why is this
happening to me?
(36:10):
So um, yeah, that's what I wouldsay.
Take care of yourself, and umall other things will come.
I love that.
SPEAKER_01 (36:18):
Okay, so this is really due to Amanda, but we
always have to play a game atthe end of every podcast.
Would you rather?
So I have five questions foryou, and I'm gonna give you the
question, and you have to answerit as quickly as you possibly
(36:39):
can with as little thought asyou possibly can give to it.
I'll try.
Okay.
Question number one (36:44):
one spa treatment from the 80s or 90s
that you secretly loved orsecretly hated.
SPEAKER_02 (36:55):
Well, back in the 80s, when a gentleman would come
in and want to have hair removaldone, it would surprise me when
it was on his genitals.
SPEAKER_01 (37:08):
Really?
That would surprise me too inthe 80s and 90s, especially the
80s.
It did.
It was it was a big surprise.
SPEAKER_02 (37:15):
I would go, how can I help you?
Well, I'm doing a littletransformation, and I need to
have some facial hair removedand some body hair removed.
And I go, okay, let's get withit.
You hold it, I'll work on it.
SPEAKER_01 (37:32):
That's it.
I love it.
I love it.
Okay, question number two.
A product launch you witnessedthat went totally wrong.
SPEAKER_02 (37:44):
Um, a product launch.
I don't know, but you know, thatjust brings me to this big
picture that I see.
You know, when you go to a tradeshow and you're in a great big
classroom, they have these greatbig huge screens on the stage
where they can show you what'sgoing on up close.
(38:04):
It was kind of a faux pontbecause I didn't really know
whether or not this was going tobe good or not.
But there was this waxing classgoing on and this great big blue
ball on the stage.
And my son was running errands,and he just happened to stop by
(38:25):
just about the time thisBrazilian wax was being done on
stage.
And he said, I wish I'd neverseen that.
SPEAKER_01 (38:38):
I can actually see his face right now.
SPEAKER_02 (38:42):
Brazilian wax going on.
And he walked by and he goes, Ohmy god, I wish I hadn't seen
that.
That's hysterical.
So that was kind of a faux pasthing.
We should keep the doors closedon personal things like that to
protect the uh demonstration.
SPEAKER_01 (38:58):
Yep, that's great.
Okay, how about a mentor or acolleague that left a lasting
impression?
SPEAKER_02 (39:05):
Oh my goodness, I had so many, you know, Erica,
Robert Demer, uh, Mark Lees, uh,you know, there were so many of
those from the very beginning.
They all left an impression.
Silly things from like hidingtheir drinking bottle behind
their booth in the trade show.
Uh, you know, I mean, all kindsof things go on, and all kinds
(39:30):
of impressions are left.
I think one time I was trying tohurry through the trade show
because there's an emergencyphone call.
And so I can't remember if itwas Paula or Will or somebody,
but they came up to me, they go,please go find this man, please
go find this man.
There's an emergency phone call.
And I went, All right, so theygave me this name on this piece
(39:51):
of paper.
So I was walking through thetrade show, hollering out this
name of this French Canadian manwith my Texas accent.
So, of course, it made a bigimpression on everybody in the
trade show because all weekendthey were walking around saying
his name Texan instead ofFrench.
His name was Jean Brian.
(40:12):
But I was going around going,Gene Breen, Gene Breen, is there
Gene Green here?
So, you know, when you havesomebody, and he was like a big
distributor for like, I can'tremember, Touch America or one
of those great big equipmentcompanies that involve this
stuff in.
Oh, so everybody on the tradeshow floor the rest of the
weekend was going around going,hey Gene.
(40:35):
That's hysterical.
You know, they're just littlethings that leave impressions on
you, but they're all prettyquirky and funny.
And one of my favoriteimpressions right now is just
thinking about the spa thatPaula built for Erica here in
Hot Springs.
It's a gazebo outside with twomatching massage tables on the
(40:56):
lake, and you can go and havethis fantastic couple's massage
anytime during the day at thisresort up there, and it's all in
Erica's name.
So, I mean, little things likethat.
I mean, I love Erica, she youknow, she's been gone a long,
long time, but you know,everybody still you think about
people like that that have madeimpressions in your life.
(41:18):
Paul and Erica were one of them.
I used to love going to theirspa in Dallas.
I mean, they had all thoselittle dogs, you know, they were
playing.
Anyway, it was great.
They were great institutions andgreat mentors, too.
SPEAKER_01 (41:31):
That's awesome.
All right, my last question isthe funniest nickname or term
that you've heard in theprofessional skincare world?
SPEAKER_02 (41:41):
A nickname or a term?
I guess when we first learnedhow to do chemical peels, and
I'd be explaining to someone howto remove the melasma or to take
care of their littlepigmentations and stuff.
You know, we'd just go, you wantto peel it?
We're gonna peel it.
We're just gonna peel it off.
(42:02):
We're just gonna put it on thereuntil it's all frosty and then
it'll just peel it off.
But don't scratch it, just letit come off by itself.
That's awesome.
So they come in, I go, You readyfor a peel?
And basically, girls, this timeright now is prime peeling time.
There you go.
There you go.
Because you have no sun,everybody can hide indoors for a
(42:26):
week, and um, then your skinwill be absolutely gorgeous.
So, my beauty tip to you at theend of this right now is set
your beauty routine.
Go ahead and get ready for thatnew year's look and schedule
yourself a nice easy peel.
That's yay!
SPEAKER_01 (42:45):
Yeah, yay.
Excellent advice.
Excellent advice.
Well, Pat, we have known eachother a long time and I just
love you to pieces.
So thank you for doing this withme today.
It was so much fun.
SPEAKER_02 (42:58):
Thank you for letting me share.
Y'all have a great weekend andenjoy your holiday season too.
SPEAKER_01 (43:04):
All right, love ya.
All right, everybody, foreveryone listening, thank you so
much for spending the time withus.
I am Michelle De Allerbrenner.
This has been the aestheticreport, and we'll talk to you
all real soon.
SPEAKER_00 (43:15):
Okay.
Thank you for listening to theAesthetic Report.
Be sure to subscribe whereveryou listen to podcasts so you'll
never miss an episode.
If you love the show, leave areview on Apple Podcasts and
Spotify and tell all your FDbesties to give us a listen.
And don't forget, the educationdoesn't stop here.
The Aesthetic Report is one ofmany platforms offered by
(43:38):
Dermascope.
Visit Dermascope.com for moreeducation and industry news from
the Authority on ProfessionalSkin Care.
Stay tuned and we'll see younext time for another episode of
the Aesthetic Report.
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