Nidah Barber-Raymond would hand-mix chemical peels and test them on herself when she was getting started.
Nidah Barber-Raymond
Nidah Barber-Raymond had her first chemical-skin peel in 2009 and was hooked on the process.
She began making her own peels and left her job in real estate to become a full-time aesthetician.
After building her brand and creating an at-home peel kit, Barber-Raymond had a six-figure 2020.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 47-year-old Nidah Barber-Raymond, the owner of The Peel Connection. Barber-Raymond’s income has been verified with documentation by Insider. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
In 2009, I was getting a facial and I felt a light sting on my face. I asked the aesthetician what she was using, and she told me it was acid that would boost my skin’s collagen production.
I was sold on my first peel. Now, I’m an aesthetician making six figures in revenue a year peeling people’s skin.
A chemical peel exfoliates the top layer of skin to shed all the dead cells, revealing smoother skin underneath.
After my first peel in 2009, I became obsessed with the process. I would order chemicals online, mix them, and then apply them to myself before applying them to friends, family, and neighbors.
I experimented for about a year and would always test the mixes on myself first. I only burnt myself once in this process. My parents stressed to me to do everything by the book so I didn’t harm myself.
I quit my nine-to-five in property management to go all in on skin peels
At the time, I was a property manager, but it didn’t excite me. I left the industry in 2010 to focus on becoming an aesthetician. Using some residual income from the rentals I was managing, I had the financial flexibility to start training. The six-month course to become a licensed aesthetician cost $4,000.
The moment I got my license, I became a full-time aesthetician focused on chemical peels for the face and body. I took on family, friends, and neighbors as my first clients, and they gave me a lot of referrals.
I also posted ads on Yahoo’s local directory to help people with extreme cases of hyperpigmentation or acne in exchange for pictures and honest reviews — free of charge. Specializing in peels gave me a good niche to market myself.
I would approach people on the street and offer them free chemical peels.
I got mixed responses. …read more
Source:: Business Insider