The 4-1-1 on Skin Analysis
Why is a skin analysis so important for every facial?
When I taught esthetics, I instilled the importance of skin analysis to my students: Listen to what your client tells you, but also use your eyes to determine the full story. What symptoms and signs do you see that indicate their concerns are valid, or maybe their concerns tell a different story (ex. They’re not oily. That shine is their protective layer). Then use that information to plan out their service. I would have them present their product choice for their client and tell me one ingredient from each product and how that relates to what they found in their skin analysis.
A proper skin analysis isn’t just a quick glance in the mirror, or a simple “what’s your skin type?” or “what are your concerns?” — it’s the base where you build your treatment plan, your homecare, and your long/short-term goals.
A thorough skin analysis allows your esthetician to:
Identify your skin type and any skin conditions
Create realistic treatment goals
Customize your facial service for what your skin actually needs
Prevent over-treating or under-treating the skin
Track how your skin changes over time — seasonally, hormonally, and situationally
Simply put, a skin analysis helps us work with your skin… not against it. Your skin is a living, layered organ made up of multiple systems that work together. Some of these layers being:
The epidermis – your protective outer layer
The lipid barrier – protects against water loss and irritants
The microbiome – your skin’s ecosystem of microbiota
The dermis – where collagen, elastin, and blood supply live
When any of these layers are compromised, the skin doesn’t always behave and that can form confusion. This is why determining your skin type isn’t as simple as answering, “Are you oily or dry?” You may exhibit dry-skin symptoms when, at heart, you're an oily girl (or dude, or human).
Skin Type vs. Skin Condition
Your skin type is your genetic baseline. This is what you were born with. Skin types include: dry, oily, normal, combination, sensitive, and acne-prone.
A skin condition is what’s happening right now. Skin conditions can consist of dehydration, inflammation, barrier impairment, breakouts, pigmentation, sensitivity, etc.
Typically, a skin type can only be maintained while a skin condition can be corrected. Here’s where things can get a little confusing:
Someone can confuse themselves as sensitive, when really they are sensitized.
For example: A client’s skin becomes red when they use anything on their skin, so they opt to not use anything, but what’s really going on is their skin is compromised (their lipid barrier isn’t barrier-ing, and they may be experiencing some skin dysbiosis). Because of the inflammation, anything that is used on their skin is irritating them because their skin isn’t balanced.
When the skin is brought back to homeostasis (its healthy balanced state), then your true skin type shows up clearly.
That’s why in my practice, we let the skin do the talking — because it usually tells the truth long before we do.
Note: Sensitive skin is skin that is genetically highly reactive to ingredients, whether that’s due to allergies or an inflammatory response, whereas sensitized skin is skin that is temporarily unhappy because of external factors and needs to be nourished back to its natural state.
Pro Note: Valerie will argue that acne-prone skin and sensitive skin are skin types because they are genetically dispositioned to experience sensitivity and acne – they can only be managed, not cured. Acne and sensitized skin are skin conditions where someone’s skin is experiencing these due to external factors. But Valerie will argue a lot of things, like combination skin doesn’t actually exist - you’re either dry, normal or oily. But she will digress.
Skin Analysis + Treatments
Imagine you book a chemical peel because you’re breaking out. Great, chemical peels help speed up cell renewal, kill bacteria and brighten pigmentation. There should be nothing scary about chemical peels, they’ve been utilized, studied and improved for decades.
You get to your appointment and you proceed with the service without a skin analysis. It’s kind of burning during the service, but you figured that’s normal… It's a chemical peel, right? Then after 20-ish hours your skin is irritated, angry, and breaking out even more.
With a proper skin analysis (and maybe a few questions) your esthetician would have recognized that your skin is experiencing irritation from an impaired barrier, and the products you’re using at home are not supporting what your skin needs. Your skin isn’t ready for that level of exfoliation yet.
If a skin analysis would have been performed, instead of proceeding with the chemical peel the focus would shift to repairing the barrier and adjusting your homecare to acclimate to advanced treatments. Skin analysis protects your skin from well-intended but poorly timed treatments.
Your Skin Changes — Your Care Should Too
Your skin today is not the same skin you had last year (or even last season).
I live in Wisconsin. There is a good chance the person reading this is also a Wisconsinite, so you know that we experience all four seasons, two of them are extreme opposites. Our winters consist of dry air and as low as below zero temps. This can lead to dehydration and a compromised barrier. Our summers are often humid with much higher temperatures (comparatively to how low it can get). This can lead to more sweating and oil production leading to skin congestion (let’s also not forget that sun exposure, eh?).
Your winter routine should not be your summer routine — and skin analysis (and routine facials) help guide those shifts. This still applies to living in other parts of the world, if you have seasons then it’s always a good idea to have your skin analysed every season.
Before we dive deep into how travel and environment affects your skin, we first need to understand the microbiome. As mentioned before, this layer is your skin's ecosystem of microbiota. Microbiota are the bacteria, fungi, viruses and mites found on everyone’s skin. This layer is about balance - similar to gut bacteria, you want to have a balance of “good” bacteria and “bad” bacteria to create a healthy environment.
There are two types of microbiota (the organisms that are part of the microbiome): transient and resident. Resident microbiota is exactly what it sounds like, it has taken residence on your skin and is there for the long-haul. Transient microbiota are there for a short stay - so when you are on vacation or passing by a new location, so are organisms on your skin. And this can cause some hiccups with your skin health.
Your skin microbiome responds to changes in climate, different water quality, air pollution and stress - all associated with traveling or a change in environment. I always advise my clients to get their routine facial after a big trip so we can bring it back to normalcy.
Aging isn’t just a number — it’s a biological transition (or a rite of passage for some ages).
Over time we experience slower cell turnover, decreased sebum production, reduced collagen and elastin, and thinner skin structure. It’s literally not called the quarter-life-crisis for nothin’. At the age of 25 that’s when things start to go downhill – you lose collagen and elastic production around that time (plus, there’s a good chance your hormones are changing). What worked for your skin at 25 probably won’t serve it the same way at age 40 and that’s normal. We adapt to what your skin needs and allow it to age with grace (not with force).
Talking about hormones, this shift can affect:
Oil production
Pigmentation
Inflammation
Healing speed
Pregnancy, illness, stress, trauma, medications — all of these leave fingerprints on the skin. A good skin analysis takes your life into account.
The Bottom Line
A skin analysis isn’t an extra step. It ensures your facial isn’t just relaxing…
…it’s intentional
…it’s corrective
…it’s purposeful
That is why it is so important to make sure your skin expert intentionally looks at your skin with every service.
Sources:
Merrill, R. (n.d.). Skin analysis methodology: Proper steps and equipment for dermal assessment in the clinical practice and spa. Dermascope.
Face Reality Skincare. (n.d.). Skin analysis (Acne Expert Certification Training). Face Reality.
Face Reality Skincare. (n.d.). Stress, diet, and acne [Webinar]. Face Reality Skin+.
Zukhruf, M. (n.d.). An overview of the human microbiome in microbiology [Video]. YouTube.
Tuel Berodin. (2024). The professional’s guide to skin types vs. skin conditions. Tuel Berodin.
About the author
Hi! I’m Valerie Hansel, owner of V’s Skin Studio in Appleton, WI. I earned my esthetics license in 2016, opened my studio in 2019, and became a Certified Acne Expert with Face Reality in 2020 (though my acne deep-dive started long before that). I’m big on continued education and staying current with the science so my clients get care that actually makes sense for their skin and my team stays educated throughout their time with me.
Email: valerie@vskinstudio.com
Instagram: @vskinstudio