Why I Made Dermatique a Mobile Service

Dermatique used to have a room. Now it has a car, and I think it is a better service for it.

This is not a story about overheads. It is about something I noticed in almost every appointment I did in a fixed room: people arrived slightly late, slightly flustered, having found somewhere to park, and spent the first ten minutes coming down from the journey. Then at the end, with skin that was warm and a little pink and wanted nothing more than to be left alone, they got back in the car and drove home.

The treatment was the same. The experience around it was working against it.

What actually changes

You are not travelling. Not before, when you are trying to arrive on time, and not after, when your skin is freshly exfoliated or microneedled and you would rather not be in traffic with the sun on the side of your face.

The timing works around you, not around opening hours. Seven days a week, including evenings. During a nap, after the school run, at eight on a Tuesday. A fixed room has to be open when it is open; a car does not.

You are properly relaxed. This one surprised me most. People behave differently in their own homes. They ask more questions, they are more honest about what they actually do with their skincare at night, and they do not perform the slightly self-conscious politeness that comes with being a guest somewhere. I get better information, so I give better advice.

Aftercare is easier to follow. When the appointment ends in your own bathroom, "no makeup for 24 hours" is trivial. When it ends somewhere you have to travel home from, it often is not.

What does not change

This is the part worth being firm about, because "mobile" carries an assumption of "lesser" and it should not.

The couch is a proper professional portable couch, not a dining chair. The devices are the same certified equipment, not a consumer version. Sterile consumables are single-use and go into a sharps container that travels with me. The lighting is a professional lamp, because you cannot assess skin under a ceiling bulb and neither can I treat it. The products are the same professional-grade range.

Hygiene protocol does not relax because the setting is domestic. If anything I am stricter, because everything has to be packed, transported and set up correctly every single time rather than living permanently in one clean room.

And every appointment still starts with a free consultation. That has never been an extra and it is not going to become one.

What you need at home

Very little, which is the point.

• Floor space roughly the size of a dining table, so the couch can go up with room to work around it
• A plug socket within reach
• A room you are comfortable in — a lounge, a spare room, a kitchen with the chairs pushed back

That is genuinely it. Towels, products, lighting, couch, consumables — all of it arrives with me and leaves with me. You do not need to tidy, and you do not need to make anything nice. I have set up in front of a television with cartoons on and a toddler asleep upstairs, and that was a perfectly good appointment.

Where I travel

Northampton and roughly ten miles around it — Kingsthorpe, Boothville, Moulton, Duston, Wootton, Weston Favell, Brixworth and the villages in between. There is no travel charge inside that area. If you are a little outside it, ask anyway; it is usually fine. The full list is here.

The honest downside

There is one, and it would be odd not to mention it.

A fixed room is always ready. A mobile service has set-up and pack-down either side of every appointment — about ten minutes each way — which means I can fit fewer treatments into a day than a salon can. Evening and weekend slots in particular go quickly, and I cannot always accommodate a same-day request the way somewhere with a waiting room might.

The trade-off, from where I stand, is worth it. But if you need to be seen this afternoon, I would rather tell you that upfront than have you find out by messaging.

If you are thinking about booking

Send me a message with your postcode and a line about what your skin is doing. I will tell you honestly whether what you are after is the right treatment, whether something cheaper would do the job, or whether the thing you are describing is actually one for a GP.

The treatments are all here and the prices are all here. Nothing is hidden and nothing is quoted on application.

Common questions

Is a home appointment as hygienic as a salon?

Yes, provided the practitioner works properly. Blades and needling cartridges are sterile, single-use and disposed of in a sharps container. Surfaces are covered with single-use protection. Nothing is reused between clients, wherever the treatment takes place.

Do I need to provide towels or products?

No. Everything comes with me.

What if my house is a mess?

It makes no difference at all. I need floor space and a socket, not a show home.

Can you treat more than one person in the same visit?

Yes, and it is a good way to do it — two treatments back to back in one house works well and saves a second set-up. Just mention it when you book so I can allow the time.

Are you insured and qualified?

Yes. Fully qualified, CPD accredited and insured, with training kept current. You are welcome to ask to see any of it.

Do you charge extra for evenings or weekends?

No. The prices in the price guide are the prices, whenever the appointment is.