Everyone Wants My Blood Testing Secrets... Here's My Answer

This week's episode is a little controversial… 👀

Blood testing has become one of the biggest trends in the skin industry, but do I believe every skin specialist should be offering it?

Absolutely not ❌ 

In this episode, I'm sharing my thoughts on why blood tests are a tool, not the treatment, why I don't believe you need them to become an incredible skin specialist, and why I choose not to publicly share the lab company I use.

We talk about the pressure social media creates, why competence should always come before access, and why mastering acne should come long before introducing blood work into your clinic.

Whether you're an acne specialist, a facialist, or simply feeling like you're falling behind because everyone else seems to be offering blood tests, this episode is for you.

Inside this episode, we cover:

✨ Why blood tests don't actually clear acne
✨ Why you should be able to achieve results without them first
✨ The huge responsibility that comes with interpreting biomarkers
✨ Why I keep my lab provider private
✨ Why not every skin specialist needs blood testing in their business
✨ The danger of comparing yourself to what everyone else is doing
✨ An exciting announcement 👀 

If you've ever found yourself wondering whether you need to offer blood tests to be taken seriously in this industry, I hope this episode gives you permission to stop chasing what everyone else is doing and focus on becoming exceptional at what you do best.

🎙️ Follow The Skindustry for weekly conversations on skin, business, mindset and everything in between.

Instagram:
@foxieskinclinic
@theskindustry_

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi guys and welcome back to the skin industry. I hope you're all having a gorgeous Monday and you've had a lovely weekend. I well, I'm filming this before the weekend, but I will have been and still will be in Wales for the weekend, spending time with my dad and stepmum because obviously it's Father's Day this weekend, so I thought I should probably make the trip to spend some time with them. Um this week's episode is I think a little bit of a controversial one, but I do think it is an important conversation to have because over the last couple of years, blood testing has become one of the biggest, newest trends in our industry. And I feel like everywhere you look on socials, somebody is talking about hormones and functional testing and biomarkers and how it's the only way to clear acne and blah blah blah. And while I absolutely believe blood testing has its place and I offer it myself, I also believe we've reached a point where some specialists feel like they need to offer it in order to be a good skin specialist. And I don't really think that that's true. I think it's one of those things that, you know, adds a string to your bow, but it's not absolutely necessary to offer. And I think introducing blood testing too early can actually do more harm than good. So blood tests are a tool, they're not the treatment. And I think people really need to understand is that blood tests don't clear acne, they don't magically fix skin, they don't replace understanding how to actually treat acne. They're just a tool that gives us more information. But if you don't know how to clear acne without blood tests, then having a sheet full of biomarkers in front of you isn't suddenly going to make you better at treating acne. It's honestly gonna make your life even harder because at the end of the day, your client isn't paying for blood tests, they're paying for results. They want you to clear their skin, and if you can't do that without doing a blood test, you need more training, you need more understanding, you need to do more research, and you need more experience, you need to strengthen your foundations because blood testing, like I said before, just adds that strength to your bow, it just helps you get that sort of deeper understanding. But if you don't already have that foundational understanding, it's not something that I well I believe you should be offering. I have only just introduced blood testing into clinic and into my programs. I've been helping clients with acne for years, I've been in the industry for 12 years, I've been, you know, a business owner for 10. And only now have I brought it in. I've been looking into it for years and I never felt ready, so I never brought it in. And then about it must be about a year ago now, just shy of a year, is when I started actually researching bloods and introducing them, and I tried loads of different labs and services and different types of testing as well, with different biomarkers in, and I researched it so, so, so much, and I also spent a lot of money on it because I had the tests myself. I wanted to see what the experience was like, what the labs were like, what the customer service was like, everything before I introduced something into my clinic because with bloods, I think it does give you that more clinical feel, and clients then feel like it's a more clinical setting. So you need that clinical experience. But blood testing wasn't the thing that taught me how to clear acne. Learning acne did. I've done the courses, I've done the advanced acne academy, I'm currently doing the functional skin academy with Faye. I've treated countless acne clients, so I've got the experience, I've seen all of the different types of acne and the different causes of acne and had different experiences where I was really, really struggling to clear clients' skin, and then we eventually worked it out in the end. And I got to the point where I felt, right, I feel like I'm ready now to introduce it. I feel like I understand the foundations, I feel confident treating it. This is now just gonna bring that extra layer in for me and my clients so that those more difficult cases that I'd struggle with for months and months and months and months, I can actually get to the root of a little bit quicker now. It's not about replacing that knowledge, it's about adding to it. So I have, you know, done so much learning and education and research on inflammations, hormones, skin barrier dysfunction, lifestyle factors, sleep, stress, diet, nutrition, behaviour changes, literally everything that can be linked to acne. I have researched it until I cannot research it anymore. It's not because I've now started doing bloods. Oh, well, I don't need any of that anymore. No, all of that is still so, so relevant, and I still use that, and that's what helps me then understand the bloods and understand those readings that I get back from the labs. Without that functional foundational knowledge, the bloods are going to be pointless if you don't know this stuff. Taking a client's blood is going to be absolutely pointless for you. You will not understand it, it will not make any difference for you when it comes to treating them because yes, you might get bloods back with I had some back the other day of a client that has really low iron. So if I didn't have the found the like foundation knowledge that I did of how to treat acne functionally, a client having low iron, I'd be like, right, okay, well, I don't know what to do now. Now what? Why have they got low iron? How do I treat that? How do I advise them to bring that those iron levels up without just taking an iron supplement? Because that's not a fix. You can't just put a client on a supplement and expect them to just take that for the rest of their life to fix the problems. That's not what I do. I look at fixing the client's foundations and fixing their basics before then adding in supplements, before adding anything like that in. I get their absolute bare bones basics sorted with them. And that is why I get the results that I do because it's not a oh, here's some supplements, and then when they stop taking them in a couple of months' time because they don't want to, you know, have to take them every day for the rest of their lives, the acne comes back, or give them a massive, really overwhelming plan to do, and they start it, and then they just find it really hard to keep up with everything, so they stop doing it and their acne comes back. The way I work is so specific because I have the experience, because I've made the mistakes in the past with clients, and now I understand, right, okay, we're not going to do that again because that just wasn't sustainable. I give the clients everything in really small pieces and get them to implement really small things so that it is sustainable, so that then becomes habit in their life that just carries on as normal then, and they're not having to cut out entire food groups because I hate that. I think that is one of the worst things that you can possibly do is cutting out an entire food group. It's not necessary and it's not sustainable. And if that is something that you are advising people to do, I think you do need to go back and do some more education around this and not be offering bloods currently. Blood testing is so deep. I think some people underestimate just how in-depth blood interpretation really is. You're looking at iron markers, thyroid markers, cholesterol, blood sugar regulation, inflammation, liver enzymes, nutrient deficiencies, sex hormones, amongst other things. Some of the things that were on the blood markers list that I offer, I was like, I have no idea what that is. Like I had to research, I've had to learn how to read blood, I've not done a course on it, I've had no information about it, I have taught myself how to do it. And understanding all of those things that are on the markers list isn't just about learning what high and low means, it's about understanding what they mean in the context of the person sitting in front of you. So, how does the these results relate to their symptoms? How might that affect the skin? When do they need referring back to their GP? Because that is something I will do. I know I sag GPs off online all the time, but sometimes you do need to refer them back to their GP because something just isn't quite right. And I think, ooh, that's out of my scope. I could tell them, you know, probably what's wrong with them, but that's out of my scope. I'm not a medical professional, so we send them to the GP then. So it's knowing when to do that and when they need that, what's like within your scope and what isn't. These are really, really, really big responsibilities, and I think we do need to respect that. We are skin specialists, we are acne specialists, we do have a lot of knowledge, but we're not doctors, we're not medical, you know, unless you're a nurse. Um, but you know, I think the majority of us, we're not from a medical background, this is all just research. You do need to be very, very careful about what you're advising people and what you're telling people, and having a really deep understanding of this is so important because if somebody's bloods came back and you you don't understand them and you don't know how to read them, and something quite serious came up, and you didn't know how to pick up on that, that could be detrimental for somebody. Like, I've had bloods come back where I've thought, oh, that that's a bit worrying, that shouldn't be like that. So I have sent them to their GP and they have then got answers, and they've had tests with GPs before about this exact thing, but the GP's tests, they're just not that great. So my test is so in-depth, and it adds so much more depth to what we're looking at that they can then take that entire list, go back to their GP with my advice and say, look, this has come up, this is the other things that have come up. What do you think? And then they get the help that they might, you know, really need, and that could potentially, you know, this is it sounds dramatic, but could literally save their life. So since I started offering bloods, I've had a lot of people message me and ask me who I use, and this isn't something that I share. Um, I feel like I share a lot, I share basically everything. As you know, we have this podcast, like there's not much that I gatekeep, but this one thing is something that I do keep to myself, and respectfully I think I've earned the right to. Um, I have spent an awful lot of time and money on finding the provider that I've, you know, gone with. I've tested a lot of different ones, and yeah, I just I feel like that's for me to not have to give away for free. You know, I think I I've spent an awful lot of time and money on my entire education and everything that I do give away currently. I think this one thing, along with the fact that you know it's cost me a lot and it's taken me a lot of time and I put a lot of effort into the research and everything. I also think alongside that, with my belief that not everybody should be offering bloods and not everybody's ready to offer bloods, this isn't information that should just be given out willy-nilly. Come in asshole if you want, but that is just my personal opinion. Um, I don't think access to this should come before somebody is competent competent enough to offer it. I don't want somebody seeing a lab company recommendation from me, signing up tomorrow, and then suddenly offering blood tests without really understanding acne or how to interpret them, because ultimately our clients deserve more than that. They deserve somebody that really does understand what's going on, and they're not just giving their money to somebody that like has no clue it is just sort of practicing in a way. Like I know we all have to start somewhere, but I think when it comes to bloods, it it is deep, like it is deep, it's very in-depth, and it can be quite dangerous if you're giving people the wrong advice. Like, we are moving more into a medical scope here, and yeah, I just think we do need to be really, really careful. And I think what has happened with this is people are seeing this and thinking, oh my god, well, she's offering bloods, and I need to do that now because that's clearly the next like thing, that's the next trend. This is all over socials, everybody's offering bloods, and I'm not, so it makes me a shit skin specialist. Just because somebody else offers this does not mean you need to. I think again, it's like classic. Social media can make us feel like we're behind when we see things like this come up. Somebody's offering blood, somebody's offering Dutch tests, somebody's offering hormone tests, somebody's talking about functional medicine, and suddenly I like we're thinking, Oh, should I be doing that as well? If if I'm not doing that, maybe I'm shit at my job, maybe I don't know enough, maybe I shouldn't the imposter syndrome, you know, it starts to kick in, it starts to kick our ass. So I think we need to remember, and I talk about this all the time, and I feel like I'm flogging a dead horse with it, but I will continue flogging this horse. Understand your niche. If you're not treating acne, if acne isn't your niche, why do you need to be doing blood tests? The only other place where I kind of feel like it would be relevant is if you treat a lot of rosacea or melasma, because melasma is like is triggered by hormones a lot of the time. Other than that, if you're treating aging, if you're just like you're just a skin specialist that loves doing glass skin, you don't need to be offering any of this. Like you really don't. If you're an acne specialist, yes, at some point introducing bloods will be a really beneficial thing for you, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's right now. Not every skin specialist needs to be doing blood testing, and not every skin specialist should be doing blood testing, in my opinion. If you are acne focused, you need to become exceptional at treating acne before introducing blood testing, because blood tests are just an extension of your knowledge, they shouldn't replace it. Like I said before, it's not something that you're gonna bring in, and then all of the information you've learned prior to bringing them in just goes out the window because you're oh, I don't need that anymore because I've got the bloods. You need all of that information, you need a really in-depth understanding of how to treat acne before introducing bloods. Like it I it honestly, I feel like I'm just saying the same things over and over again, but this is it's such a thing. Like, I think we do really just get caught up, and then the imposter syndrome kicks in of oh well they're doing that and I'm not doing it, and maybe that means I'm shit, you're not shit. Just because you're not offering blood tests doesn't mean you're shit. It means that there is space for you to grow, and you don't need to do that overnight, you do not need to be offering bloods or offering any testing to be a good skin specialist. You need to be a good skin specialist with a deep understanding and a deep knowledge of whatever it is that you're treating before introducing testing because it will only strengthen you further. Whereas if you do introduce it too early and try and use it as not an excuse, but as a stepping stone to try and become that specialist with all that knowledge, it will detriment you, like it will not be beneficial for you or make life harder because you'll then have to go backwards to learn all of the stuff that you should have learned first again. So I am working on something. When am I not? You know, at this point, like I feel like I just will not give myself a break, but I know that this is something that I've been asked for a lot, and I know that it will be really, really helpful for people. But towards the end of this year, I will be launching an acne course, and blood testing will be included. So in in it, I'll teach you know how to read the bloods. I'll have like a whole guide on that. I'll also talk about who I use and also other options. Um, but it will not be one of the first modules, it will actually be the last module. You will not be able to access it until I believe that you are a competent acne specialist, and I've seen that you can treat acne competently without, you know, needing to use bloods. Um, so it'll basically be a locked module at the end that once everything else is done and the case studies are done and everything, everything else, you will then get access to when I've like assigned it off because I want people to understand acne first. I want them to understand the skin and inflammations and hormones and root causes and how to get the results before we actually start with the blood. Because I know what will happen, people will buy the course just for the blood section, race to that, do that, and then start offering it, and that's completely beside the point. Like, that's not what we're doing at all. Um, so yeah, only after you've completed the course and I feel that you're competent enough will you actually gain access to the blood testing section? And that that's just how any of my training will go. It won't be a case of right, you're just gonna get all of the information and go do with it what you want to do kind of thing. It will be you have to be a certain level to get access to certain things because I think there's just too many people that just want to profit off cheap shit training, and that's not gonna be me, unfortunately, for you guys. Um but yeah, I just that is coming, it is in the works, it'll probably be a Black Friday launch. So you've been warned, start saving your pennies, it's coming. So yeah, if you have been feeling like you need to add the blood testing because everyone else is doing it, I really, really want to just reassure you that you don't. Don't let social media convince you that you're somehow lacking if you're not offering it. Don't feel pressured into adding services that don't align with your business and don't think blood testing is the thing standing between you and being a really good skin specialist because it isn't. Knowledges, experiences, results are, and if you can consistently transform acne without the blood tests, you're already doing an incredible job. Blood tests are just another tool in the toolbox, not the toolbox itself. So this has been a little short but sweet one, but I didn't want to ramble on about it too long. I just know that I get asked about it a lot, so it it was something that I did want to cover. Um but yeah, I hope everybody has a gorgeous week and thank you for listening to this one again. As always, if you have enjoyed it, I'd love if you can share it on your stories, tag us in it, both uh Foxy Skin Clinic and the Skin Distry. And I will see you next week for another episode. We actually have I almost forgot, we have Faye from the Functional Skin Academy on next week, which I know is gonna be a good one because she's just incredible. I'm as most of you know, doing the Functional Skin Academy at the minute, and oh, so good. That's if you want to start doing blood testing, do that course first, like absolutely incredible. And she does actually have a blood testing section on it. Um, but again, very similar to how I would do it, it's locked until you've completed the majority of the course. So yes, we've got Faye next week. I am gonna put a question box on the story tomorrow so you can ask any questions that you want to ask her, and we'll get them all answered. But yeah, again, have a gorgeous week, and I will see you next Monday.