对美容院与美容师的一点建议 / Some suggestions to the beauticians & beauty salons

我昨天与我的同事一起去Tampines的一家美容院作美容。美容师首先为我们检查了肤质，我的皮肤有一点点干，决不油腻；而她的皮肤则是油性的。相差甚远，然而最后我们的治疗确是完全一模一样的，听起来未免令人觉得有点诡异。先是给我们洗了脸，然后敷上活细胞精华素作面部按摩，据说这能促进细胞的新陈代谢，按摩则有利于血液循环，并帮助提拉紧致肌肤，从而达到减少皱纹和细纹的效果，并可以促进肌肤对精华素的吸收。最后敷上维生素C面膜和眼膜。维生素C可以起到美白作用，眼膜有一点点温热，据说可以起到帮助眼部的血液循环，从而减少肿眼泡和消除黑眼圈。我并不是说这些治疗不好，我是觉得治疗应更有针对性。如干燥皮肤的人须作保湿，调整最后达到不再干燥。而油性肌肤要想办法帮他们减少油脂的分泌；毛孔粗大则要缩小毛孔；皮肤暗哑则要提亮皮肤的色度等等。要对症下药，美容师应根据每次的治疗结果不断的做出相应的调整，而不是以昧地照着一个模子生搬硬套，这样才能真正帮助顾客达到改善肌肤的目的。

Last night, I went to a beauty salon with my colleague at Tampines. First the beauticians there checked our skin type. Mine is a bit dry while hers is rather oily. It’s totally different. But guess what, in the end, our treatment was nonetheless exactly the same. Sounds appalling, right? First they cleaned our faces, then applied life cell essence together with massage. It is said that this essence will help the cell metabolism. Massage will help with the blood circulation and firm the skin so that it will reduce the wrinkles and fine lines and also it will help to absorb the essence. It ended with Vitamin C mask and eye hot mask. Vitamin C has a whitening effect and the eye hot mask will help with the blood circulation around the eye area so that it will reduce the puffy eyes and dark circles around the eyes. I’m not trying to say these treatments are useless. What I’m trying to suggest here is that the treatment should be more specific. For example, with a dry skin condition, the focus needs to be on hydration. The end result should not make the skin any drier; oily skin types are over secreting excessive oil. Prominent skin pores need to be minimized; dull skin need help to make it more radiant. Generally speaking we must treat every skin condition accordingly, and beautician assessment should be based on feedback from the previous occasion. Every skin type needs an individual assessment and treatments that have been tailored to suit different skin types. This is the only way to improve our skin.