The Trolley—Part 1

As you have hopefully read in Furniture you’ll need to get started (see link below), there are many piece of equipment and furniture items that you will need in your treatment room—and salon, if you are furnishing that. The trolley that sits next to you in the facial room is probably the most important component of all. It holds all the things you will be using in every facial treatment. Below I will explain what I have on my trolley(s) and why I have them there.

In most of my salons I have only used one trolley. Now, in my Boulder store, I employ two. The reason for this is I have no other place to keep towels and other items I would have stored in a drawer system in other salons.

Both trolleys are on wheels, something I recommend. You might be moving the trolley toward and away from you with each facial, or in my case (my trolleys remain stationary), it’s really easy to move them in order to clean. Maybe you won’t need wheels, but I do recommend them for ease-of-movement.

The trolleys I have were not purchased from salon catalogs. The reason being: those catalogs for professionals sell commonly found items (in some cases) for extraordinarily high prices. Certain important components, like a sterilizer, can only be found in professional catalogs. But in the case of a trolley, for instance, you can save a lot of money purchasing this piece of equipment in general retail stores.

This trolley came from Bed Bath & Beyond. I looked on their website and couldn’t find the exact trolley I have, but if you google trolley with shelves there are many places where you can get a trolley for under $50. As you can see, this piece is covered with towels on the top two shelves, so how “beautiful” your trolley is isn’t that important. Go for function over aesthetics since you won’t be seeing much of the trolley. (The trolley pictured at the beginning of this article is almost $120, shipping not included. It may look sleeker, but eventually the trolley will be covered with all your work tools and products, so the sleekness will give way to function.)

On the top of the trolley (below) I have glass bowls; one filled with aromatic sponge water and another bowl for my essential oil toner mixture. I use this frequently throughout the facial. I also have all of my cleansers on top. All open ampoules are kept in small glass containers—actually shot glasses. They are the perfect size. Here again, you can either wash those out at your salon or you can wash all the glassware (bowls and shot glasses) in your dishwasher at home. Up until recently, I had a small digital clock on the trolley top. Now I have a large clock on the wall near my chair.

On the bottom shelf of the trolley I have containers for my round and square cotton These containers can be purchased at stores like Bed Bath & Beyond. They need to seal so the cotton stays cleans and pristine.

The red container you see in this photo below, which sits on the bottom shelf on my trolley, is a necessary (and actually mandatory) sanitary disposal container for any and all used lancets. This item is something I discuss further in Odds & ends you’ll need (see below).

I keep the containers of cotton (square and round) on this bottom shelf. The containers are large and having them low makes them easy to get to while I’m sitting down giving the facial.

For more information, see:

• Furniture you’ll need to get started
• Essential equipment you’ll need
• The Trolley—Part 2
• Odds & ends you’ll need