Custom made

With savvy clients increasingly seeking out natural ingredients, yet unwilling to compromise on results, it can be hard to deliver treatments that meet their demands.

So, when Sally Curson opened Hampshirebased salon and store Face Matters two years ago, she knew she needed effective technologies to pair with the natural skincare brand she had created herself, also named Face Matters.

Curson trained as a therapist 30 years ago but stepped away from hands-on treatments while she created her skincare brand. “When I came back to it and opened my salon, I knew client demand had shifted. People definitely want visible results,” she says.

Blending technologies

Initially, she launched her one-room treatment studio with radiofrequency and mesotherapy machines but soon wanted to broaden her offer and include additional technologies. “I went to the Professional Beauty show and the first stand I saw was Carlton Professional. They’re such an established brand and have a very wide range of technologies,” she says.

Curson bought Carlton machines including RF Pro Thermavisage, needle-free Meso Lift, High Frequency and Dermavisage. She now uses the technologies alongside her own natural skincare products, plus a few from Carlton and Italian range Dibi Milano, which Carlton also supplies.

“I cherry pick so I have everything I need, because clients book an hour of my time and I bespoke their facial on the day,” she explains. “With the choice of technologies and by mixing the products up I get some fabulous, tailored results.”

Working alone from her studio, three days a week, Curson now has a full column of loyal clients. She charges £60 per hour, regardless of products used, meaning every treatment is bespoke. “My core client tends to be women just turning 40, who really look after their bodies and realise they need to look after their skin better,” she says.

“I educate them that what I do is like the gym for your face – I use the Meso Lift to work on muscle tone, mesotherapy for product infusion, radiofrequency for lifting and tightening, and high frequency for the texture and tone of the skin. So, it’s a bit like going to the gym in that you don’t just go once and walk out with a six pack, you get progressive results so you have to keep coming back.”

Growth plan

In the future, Curson is looking to expand by adding more treatment rooms and by employing therapists to work alongside her, to accommodate growing demand. “I’m fully booked weeks in advance because everybody rebooks at least once a month,” she says. “The way I explain it is I charge £60 for an hour, so that works out at £2 a day, which is the price of a coffee, to have really fabulous skin for the rest of your life.”

She is also revamping her skincare line, focusing the messaging around skin health rather than anti-ageing and eliminating all unnecessary packaging. When it comes to the tech, though, she is sticking with Carlton. “It’s not just the quality of the machines, it’s the service,” she says. “When you call, you can speak to an engineer. Ultimately, I’m working with people’s faces so I need to know any machine is reliable.”