Ep 376 – Beauty on Their Terms: The DIY Boom

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0:02:13.8 Maggie Staszak: Hello and welcome to ASCP's Esty Talk. I'm your co-host Maggie Staszak, ASCP's program director.

0:02:19.5 Ella Cressman: And I'm Ella Cressman, licensed esthetician, super fan of aesthetics, and content contributor for ASCP.

0:02:26.6 Maggie Staszak: Ella, be honest. Do you DIY anything?

0:02:29.6 Ella Cressman: In self-care?

0:02:32.6 Maggie Staszak: Yeah, self-care or, you know...

0:02:35.6 Ella Cressman: Yes, a lot. I DIY a lot of things. I should be called DIW, doing it wrong. No, but I do, I DIY some things. Yeah.

0:02:45.3 Maggie Staszak: Okay. I DIY everything.

0:02:47.0 Ella Cressman: Do you really?

0:02:48.7 Maggie Staszak: Yes. I DIY my brows, my bikini line. I DIY my hair.

0:02:52.4 Ella Cressman: You do?

0:02:56.1 Maggie Staszak: Yeah. Not... I do go to the hair salon, I get it cut and colored, and then I go home and...

0:03:02.1 Ella Cressman: Fix it.

0:03:04.4 Maggie Staszak: DIY.

0:03:05.0 Ella Cressman: Okay then. I'll change my answer.

0:03:06.8 Maggie Staszak: Yep. Yeah. So I think probably, and we've kind of talked about this, that we're DIYing in the sense that we go home and we trial and error and test. Right?

0:03:12.6 Ella Cressman: Right.

0:03:18.3 Maggie Staszak: Yeah. And in truth, this conversation isn't about judging DIY. This question, it connects to a much bigger shift we're seeing right now in the industry. People are feeling real financial pressure and being more selective with spending. They're looking for control in small personal ways. Are you feeling that or even seeing it in your treatment space?

0:03:43.4 Ella Cressman: Both. I'm seeing it and I'm feeling it too, because I'm seeing the shift in my treatment room in the duration of in between appointments is growing, right? So it used to be four weeks. I was proud that I had my people coming every four weeks. I was priced in a way that it was accessible and it was dependable and I could count on that. But a lot of my clients, for a lot of reasons, have felt insecure right now, like with everything going on. And so they're afraid to... They're bracing, I would say, for something that they just don't know if it's gonna come or when it's gonna come. And I get that and I'm down, I support that. Like, I support them. They're still coming to me, but then in turn, I'm nervous because now my financial security is a little bit uncertain. Well, just... Uncertain.

0:04:37.0 Maggie Staszak: Yeah.

0:04:38.2 Ella Cressman: So I'm seeing things. You mentioned the hair and it reminded me. At first I'm like, yeah, I DIY some things, but I do. I had bangs for a while and even like the curtain bangs and such, and I was DIYing them so much because you don't want to go back and I could stretch that out for a couple months, you know, my haircuts, because they're not cheap.

0:04:56.8 Maggie Staszak: Yeah.

0:04:57.8 Ella Cressman: And I pay full price. I don't trade anymore like I used to when I, you know, when I had space in a salon. And so I'm like, I'll just cut my bangs myself. And let me add a little bit more here. Oops, now I got to add a little bit more there. And my hairstylist is like, "Look, if you don't stop, you're going to have a mullet." I say, "Okay, but they're in right now."

0:05:16.1 Maggie Staszak: Yeah, yeah, for real. I mean, beauty has become a form of self-care. It's a sense of agency, if you will, and something people can do on their own terms. What I think is interesting is that beauty is something we've talked about, that in times of uncertainty or when the economy is experiencing this fluctuation, people are still spending.

0:05:42.0 Ella Cressman: They're still spending. They're caring or they're filling their cups or they're soothing.

0:05:45.2 Maggie Staszak: Yeah.

0:05:48.4 Ella Cressman: And I think there's something to be said about DIY giving confidence of "I can." So not just soothing, making you feel prettier, but also making you feel accomplished.

0:05:55.2 Maggie Staszak: Yeah.

0:06:01.9 Ella Cressman: So DIY nails, we saw that a lot a couple years ago. DIY peels that you can do this or you feel... DIY sourdough bread, you know, that you, "Oh, I can do this." And same with crafts and things. So when bringing it back to beauty, it's emotional for sure, the DIY part of it.

0:06:23.1 Maggie Staszak: Yeah. And I think this isn't just people cutting back, it's that people are just choosing differently.

0:06:30.1 Ella Cressman: Mm-hmm. Yes, I think so. Yes. Now where they can just supplement.

0:06:34.6 Maggie Staszak: Yeah, yeah. So here's the psychology behind DIY right now. When life feels expensive or unpredictable, people are looking for control. You mentioned that. We have just said that there's this emotional component here a little bit. And small rituals matter.

0:06:54.5 Ella Cressman: Yeah. Because it's something that they are able to, first of all, count on, second of all, navigate, and they're the captain of that. So those small rituals are really, really important for emotional soothing, but also for calming any kind of uncertainty. So it's something they can count on in an environment where we don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow.

0:07:14.8 Maggie Staszak: Yeah, you're so right. And DIY beauty feels empowering. It's creative, it's personal. Social media makes DIY more accessible, more normalized, less intimidating. We've talked about social media and people posting like their TikTok reels and things like that, doing DIY or, what is it, "Get ready with me" or "do your facial with me" kind of videos and...

0:07:42.8 Ella Cressman: That's so funny. "Get ready with me."

0:07:43.6 Maggie Staszak: Yeah, okay. See...

0:07:45.4 Ella Cressman: I'm not getting dressed with anybody. She doesn't have social media, guys.

0:07:50.8 Maggie Staszak: I'm sorry, I don't know. I don't know.

0:07:54.0 Ella Cressman: But yeah, you were on the right page, just I'm not getting in that room with you. Yes, but I'm sorry to interrupt your thought process.

0:08:02.3 Maggie Staszak: Yeah, anyways.

0:08:06.5 Ella Cressman: Yeah, we're addicted to watching it, right?

0:08:06.8 Maggie Staszak: Yeah, we are.

0:08:08.9 Ella Cressman: Yeah.

0:08:09.0 Maggie Staszak: It's not always right, and we've talked about that, but there's something about it. It draws you in.

0:08:14.3 Ella Cressman: Okay, let me give a parallel, though. So do cooking videos for me.

0:08:17.3 Maggie Staszak: Oh, yeah.

0:08:20.3 Ella Cressman: So I add... Because I... I'm now going to the store, but I was ordering groceries for a long time. Tell me why I have butter beans and all these things. I would watch a reel, I'm like, "Oh, I'm gonna do that." Let me order all those things. I have them now. They're about to expire because I didn't get around to it. So word to the wise, like, I'm just saying, if it is like a switch or a cutback, be intentional... Be realistic about your DIYs, right? Remember also I bought that at-home IPL laser?

0:08:51.9 Maggie Staszak: Yes.

0:08:52.9 Ella Cressman: Yeah, I used it twice.

0:08:53.8 Maggie Staszak: That's it?

0:08:54.7 Ella Cressman: That's it.

0:08:55.8 Maggie Staszak: I will tell you, I see that online all the time. Reviews are off the charts. People say it works.

0:09:01.0 Ella Cressman: Well, I wouldn't know. I just used it, I think, twice. I don't even know where it is. Might be in the garage sale pile I'm gonna get to. Anyways, yeah.

0:09:11.1 Maggie Staszak: Okay. So in the treatment room, Ella, you said you do notice this with your clients?

0:09:15.7 Ella Cressman: Yes, 100%. They're booking less. They're buying smarter. And like you can see, like before, let's just go back three years ago, they were like, "Oh, okay, I need it. Sounds good. I'll get it. Cool. You want me to get this next time? Cool." And now they're like, "Wait, how does it work? And why do I need it? And where do I use this?" It's more discerning. It's more intentional. They're, you know, trying to be really smart with their purchases. I had to pivot a little bit, too, because I switched lines and I brought in a line that's more expensive. So I had to change the way I talk about it and the way I encourage it because it was not an ideal time for me to do that. I'm fine. Everything's cool. It worked out great. But it was a challenge. You had to relearn how to speak 2025 and 2026 and then also how to speak in a new product, you know, language. So it was hard.

0:10:09.2 Maggie Staszak: This may be more like a hair question, but are your clients coming in for corrective work because they DIYed at home and messed up their face?

0:10:16.7 Ella Cressman: I have not seen too much of that. A little bit. Like, a little bit. I would say if I had to put a percentage, I would say maybe 30%, which sounds like a lot, but it's not bad. But a lot of those are some other things. Like, the new clients that I've been getting are more in that percentage. "I've tried all these things at home. It's still not working, and I think I made it worse."

0:10:36.4 Maggie Staszak: Yeah.

0:10:37.6 Ella Cressman: So, yeah, a little bit. That's awesome.

0:10:39.2 Maggie Staszak: So I think, generally speaking, in the treatment room, clients may be seeing that appointment spacing is spreading out. Clients are maybe more openly admitting that they're DIYing. There's less shame and more confidence about it. And I think we can point to social media in helping open the door to that. Would you agree?

0:10:59.0 Ella Cressman: Oh, yeah, absolutely. And I would also say allowing them the space to be open about using those things is important. And then re-educating what they should in that arena, should and should not do. "You want to make your own lip gloss? That's cool. Maybe not your own chemical peel at home."

0:11:18.5 Maggie Staszak: Right. Yeah. So is DIY really a new phenomenon?

0:11:21.2 Ella Cressman: Not really.

0:11:24.0 Maggie Staszak: Not really. Yeah. So what's new, though, I think, is the attitude around it.

0:11:29.3 Ella Cressman: Yeah. I think to your point, social media made it look so good, like it was so easy. And they're telling you in 30 seconds or 90 seconds what you can do, and you can do it. That, yeah, it's like normalized versus what you would have heard, like, at book club or in your social circles. "Have you tried this? Have you tried that?" It's different. Absolutely different.

0:11:52.7 Maggie Staszak: Yeah. And I think for the estheticians listening, DIY doesn't mean clients don't value professionals. It means they're prioritizing differently. They still want expertise, but just in a different way. And you have to shift your perspective. So it's, "Let's talk about how to do this safely and when to come see me."

0:12:14.1 Ella Cressman: Oh, nailed it.

0:12:15.5 Maggie Staszak: So how can pros adapt? Beauty doesn't disappear in tough times. It evolves.

0:12:20.5 Ella Cressman: Yes. I don't even know... I'm glad you agreed. ____ I'm like, "Yes, I agree." Very good.

0:12:29.1 Maggie Staszak: Okay. So clients, they're still caring about feeling good, looking good. They want to look like themselves but elevated. And they want to have those moments of care, especially when they feel like perhaps they're facing tough times.

0:12:42.8 Ella Cressman: More than ever, clients' emotional state is fragile. More than ever, more than I've seen it in 20 years. That we have to be very, very careful with our emotional approaches about invalidating or validating where they are and not positioning ourselves as this finger-wagging, "You should do it this way." Like, removing the judgment from our approach is the adaptation for professional estheticians right now. And coming at it in a way of, "Oh, thank you. I understand. I get it. I see why you're saying that." And that's for anything. "I see why you want to do this at home. Have you thought about..." instead of going, "Girl, that is nuts," unless you know them. But, you know what I'm saying, having a compassionate approach is the adaptation for us.

0:13:30.7 Maggie Staszak: Yeah. And I think equipping them with the proper tools to do it.

0:13:33.8 Ella Cressman: And that's education. That's ideas.

0:13:37.2 Maggie Staszak: Yeah. Yeah. So offering maintenance guidance, between-appointment strategies, targeted services, or maybe it's even lower-commitment services.

0:13:46.4 Ella Cressman: Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Or packages or easy ways to pay and break that up, for sure. Yeah.

0:13:52.7 Maggie Staszak: Yeah. Absolutely. So estheticians who listen, adapt, and lead with empathy stay relevant and trusted. Listeners, we want to hear from you. What's your take on the DIY boom? Share with us on social media through Instagram, Facebook, or by emailing getconnected@ascpskincare.com. Thank you for listening to ASCP Esty Talk. And as always, for more information on this episode or for ways to connect with Ella and myself or to learn more about ASCP, check out the show notes.