The Forces Behind SkinSpirit, Ever/Body And Vspot On The State Of The Med Spa Industry

Characterized by the BBC and Business of Fashion as the “Zoom boom,” med spas are noticing people flocking to their services to remedy what they perceive as problems with the faces they’re staring at all day on screens. Unlike manicures, facials and haircuts, med spa procedures are extremely tough to replicate at home, a critical reason why med spas have been a relatively resilient segment of the beauty services sector amid the pandemic.

To find out more about what’s going on at them, Beauty Independent gathered a panel of med spa experts—SkinSpirit co-founder and CEO Lynn Heublein, Vspot founder Cindy Barshop and Ever/Body CEO Amy Shecter—last week for an informative installment of the In Conversation webinar series. They discussed areas they believe could use improvement in the med spa segment, factors driving its growth and emerging trends.

Expansion 

The med spa industry has attracted investment—Ever/Body, for example, has raised $52 million in funding—and several concepts are gaining in size. Ever/Body has two locations in New York City and plans to expand. SkinSpirit recently entered New York City with its 20th location. Previous locations are in California, Texas, Washington and Utah.

“Whenever you see a highly fragmented market, there are opportunities for consolidation,” said Heublein. “When you reach a certain level of scale, you can train better, you can market better, you can manage your facilities better. That provides an enhanced customer experience versus somebody who’s working individually. And that’s not to say that there aren’t highly successful single-operator businesses, it’s just a lot of work for somebody to be able to execute every single facet of the business.”

Med spa concepts are gaining ground at a moment when med spas are reaching people they might not have in the past. “The Zoom boom is real,” said Shecter. “I think that more people have been looking at themselves in a way that they haven’t before. People are really hyper-focused on the way they look, especially from the neck up.”

Along with the Zoom boom med spas are being boosted by waning stigma around the services they offer. “It used to be that this was sort of hushed in corners,” said Shecter. “I go to dinner now, and everybody’s like pulling their shirts open and showing you the side of their face. And there’s a badge of honor that you’re taking care of yourself in a way that was quiet conversation in the past.”

INCLUSIVITY

As other areas of the beauty industry cater to an ever-more diverse clientele, the med-spa industry is also making strides toward inclusivity. “Different treatments will impact the skin differently, and different skin types have different levels of risk,” said Heublein. “And, then, the photo-aging impacts different skin types differently as well. I do believe that the majority of products and procedures have been developed for the Caucasian marketplace, but there is a lot of emphasis from our vendors on expanding that because it will expand the market. People see the benefit of providing technologies for more diverse skin types.” She continued, “It used to be really hard to do any kind of laser treatments or energy-based treatments on people with darker skin types, but now manufacturers are coming out with lasers that can address that.”

Shecter emphasized it’s important that the people providing med spa procedures and educating about them are well-versed in the options for diverse clientele. She shares half of Ever/Body’s workforce is people of color in order to help customers of color feel understood. “It has been a conscious effort to ensure that our workforce is representative of the types of people we want to service,” said Shecter. “We have created educational modules against all different kinds of skin tone as well as sexual orientation and gender identity. It is an effort that takes a considerable amount of resources, time and effort. And, quite frankly, in this industry, there isn’t a lot out there to use existing training modules on speaking to and working with different gender issues. And, so, as a business, we’re really taking ownership of this ourselves and surrounding ourselves with people that can teach and educate.”

Emerging TRENDS

Barshop is bullish on the sexual wellness category proliferating. Vspot specializes in vaginal health and has an associated intimate care line. “There’s a million arousal serums out there, but is it really changing the vascularity of the women’s orgasm and enhancing it? What we’re focused on as a company is using the new technology that’s coming out that is corrective for women’s intimate health,” said Barshop. “That’s where our technology’s going.” For men, she said, “There are millions of things out there that have gone through the FDA. Right now, it’s the woman’s turn. Our product should be all over the place, but it’s so difficult to get people to understand. We’re not just putting a cream on, we’re changing the vascularity and really changing the way you orgasm.”

At Ever/Body, Shecter is interested in innovative body treatments. She added, “And as we look at filler and neurotoxin, there are areas that are going from off-label to on-label. When that happens, there’ll be more training and education around it. So, that’s exciting for us as well.” Heublein said, “I think that some of the injectable products that are available in Europe that are going to come to the United States are going to be game changers for facial rejuvenation.”

To watch a replay of the webinar on med spas, visit Beauty Independent’s premium In Conversation webinar library.