The client’s skin and hair structure varies depending on their ethnic
origin.

Black Skin
Black skin will usually look shiny, and it is often presumed that the
client’s skin is oily. Black skin’s gen eral l y produce more sebum and
sweat than a white Caucasian skin and also have less body hair than
white or Asian skin. Quite often the epidermis is thicker and also
desquamates quicker resulting in the skin appearing grey. Erythema
would normally be seen as redness, how ever on a black skin it will look
purple. The hair follicles are curved and therefore it is common for ingrowing hairs or hair breakage to occur after a waxing or sugaring
treatment. This skin is also prone to irregular pigmentation after a
waxing/sugaring treatment.

Asian skin
Asian skin quite often has irregular pigmentation, often under the eye
area and around the mouth. The hair will usually be heavier on the face,
scalp and body and it tends to grow relatively coarse and straight. The
sweat glands are usually larger and more numerous. The client’s skin
usually ages well as the protein fibres of the skin degenerate slowly.

White skin
Have a relatively low amount of melanin compared to the other skin
types. The skin is often comparatively thin and prone to freckles. This
skin type is more prone to sunburn and premature ageing as it has
limited defence to the sunlight. White skin will usually have
fewer and less active sebaceous glands than the other skin types. The
hair growth will tend to be light to medium.

Oriental skin
Oriental skin contains more melanin than white skins, although less
than the other two types. This skin rarely shows signs of bl emishes as
the sebaceous glands are less active. Scarring is more likely to occur
resulting in unevenness, hyper- pigmentation and pitting. This skin has
the least amount of face and body hair.

Did you know?

• A single strand of hair is stronger than an equivalent strand of nylon.
• At any one time 85% of hairs on the scalp are in the anagen stage of
  growth.
• Previously bleached hair tends to break off when waxed – due to the
  fact that the bleach weakens the hair structure.
• A women’s pain threshold is the lowest just before or after her period.

Remember: No matter what the skin colour they have a similar num- ber of melanocytes. In dark skins the melanosomes are large and d ist ributed singularly. In white skins they are smaller and distributed in
clusters.