Search skin consultation near me and you get a page of clinics inviting you to book one. Hardly any of them tell you whether it costs anything, how long it lasts, or what you are meant to do when you arrive.
So here it is. A skin consultation at House of Glam HQ in Southsea is £15 and takes fifteen minutes, and the £15 comes off your treatment if you go ahead. Book a treatment directly and the same conversation happens at the start of that appointment with no separate fee.
Below is what happens in those fifteen minutes, what the four different consultations here cost, and when you do not need to book one at all. Every price is published, where most Portsmouth clinics quote only after a consultation.
How much does a skin consultation cost?
There are four consultations at this clinic and they are not the same appointment. Three are £15 and one is £25, and what separates them is what is being assessed.
| Consultation | What it is for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Skin consultation | Facials, skin health, filler and most treatments | £15 |
| Laser patch test and consultation | Before a first laser appointment, one appointment and one charge | £15 |
| Dissolve patch test and consultation | Booked at least a week before lip filler is dissolved | £15 |
| Prescriber consultation | Legally required before a first anti-wrinkle treatment | £25 |
All three £15 appointments are deducted from the treatment they lead to. The £25 prescriber consultation works differently and I have given it its own section further down.
What does a skin consultation do?
It answers one question: which treatment, and what it costs.
I look at your skin, ask what is bothering you, and confirm which treatment suits it. Most people who message me can describe the problem straight away. What they cannot do, reasonably, is work out which of seven facials, or a peel, or microneedling, is the right answer to it. That is the gap the fifteen minutes is there to close.
It is not a sales appointment. If a shorter treatment will do what you want, I will say so, and if something on the list is wrong for you I will say that rather than go ahead. I would far rather lose a booking than place a treatment that was never going to work.
What happens in the fifteen minutes
There is no mystery to it. You arrive, I ask what has brought you in and what you have had done before, and I look at the skin properly rather than from across the room. Then I name a treatment, tell you what it costs, and tell you what it will and will not change.
What does not happen is the treatment. A standalone consultation is a fifteen-minute slot and there is not the time in it to treat you as well. I may have a client booked in straight after. If you want to go ahead, we book the treatment there and then for a date that works, rather than squeezing it into the end of the slot.
You decide afterwards, not before. Nobody is asked to commit to anything in the room.
Why the consultation is not free
Because a fifteen-minute slot is a fifteen-minute slot. I am the sole practitioner here, so an appointment nobody turns up to is one another client wanted and could not have.
The £15 holds it, and then it comes off your treatment. So if you book something, the consultation has cost you nothing. If you decide against it, you have paid £15 for fifteen minutes of honest advice from the person who would have done the treatment, which seems to me a fair exchange either way.
There is a second reason, and it is the more important one. Charging for it means I have no reason to send you out with a treatment plan. A consultation that only pays for itself if you buy something is not really a consultation.
When you do not need a consultation at all
Most of the time, honestly.
If you already know what you want, book the treatment. The skin check happens at the start of that appointment, it is included in the time rather than added to it, and there is no separate fee. For a facial that means the first few minutes of your slot; for lip filler it means I look at your lips, ask what you want and say which technique and how much before anything is injected.
The standalone £15 appointment is for the other case: when you want to talk it through before committing to anything, when you are not sure which treatment you need, or when you have had work done elsewhere and want someone to look at it first. It is also a sensible first step if you are nervous, because nothing happens at it.
The laser patch test is the consultation, and it is one charge
Laser works differently, and this is the part people most often get wrong when they are comparing clinics.
Every new laser client starts with the £15 patch test and consultation. It is one appointment and one charge, not two fees, it takes about fifteen minutes, and it comes off your first treatment. In it I check your skin type, your hair colour and your history, set the SMARTDiode for you and test a small patch. You decide after that, not before.
It is also where I tell you if laser is not going to work for you. Grey, white and very pale blonde hair has too little pigment for the laser to find, and I would rather say so at the patch test than sell you a course of six. What a full course gives is permanent hair reduction, typically 80 to 90 per cent, rather than permanent removal. Laser hair removal here is for women. The full area list and every price is on the laser hair removal page.
The £25 prescriber consultation is a different appointment
Anti-wrinkle injections use a prescription-only medicine, so a prescriber has to assess you before a first treatment. That is a legal requirement rather than a clinic policy, and it is £25.
It is paid once per prescription period, not at every visit, and I arrange it for you: message me or call before you book. The areas and the exact price are agreed before anything starts, and the 14-day review afterwards is included at no charge. If you already have your prescription, you can book straight onto Fresha. Prices and areas are on the anti-wrinkle injections page.
The £25 is separate from the £15 skin consultation. If you want to talk through whether anti-wrinkle injections are even the right answer for you before committing to the prescriber appointment, the £15 consultation is the one to book.
Polynucleotides and skin boosters: book the treatment, not a consultation
For polynucleotides there is no consultation first. You pick the treatment on Fresha and the assessment happens at the start of that appointment, with no separate fee, because the appointment is long enough to carry it: 40 to 45 minutes, including going through your medical history, cleaning and mapping the area and applying numbing cream.
If what is bothering you is a shape or a loss of structure, polynucleotides are the wrong treatment and I will say so rather than sell you a course of them. There is more on what they do and do not do on the polynucleotides page.
What a skin consultation will not do
It will not treat anything. Nothing goes on your skin in those fifteen minutes beyond a proper look at it.
It will not give you a guaranteed result either. What I can tell you is what a treatment typically does, how long it typically holds and what it will not touch. A facial works on the surface, so it will brighten and smooth and clear congestion and it will not change the structure of your skin. Filler settles over about two weeks and that is the shape you keep. Those are the honest limits, and you are better off hearing them before you pay than after.
And it is not an appointment for a skin condition. If your skin is cracked, itchy, inflamed or sore, a pharmacist or your GP is the right person, not me.
Which treatment a skin check usually points to
This is the honest match, and it is roughly what I would say in the room. Prices are what you pay.
| What is bothering you | What I usually suggest | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Dull or tired skin | Ultimate Glow Facial, 45 minutes | £65 |
| Blackheads and congestion | Steam and Extraction Facial, 35 minutes | £50 |
| Peach fuzz and rough texture | Dermaplaning Express, 30 minutes | £45 |
| A first facial, and not sure | Rejuvenating Facial, 35 minutes | £50 |
| Dehydration you want to hold | Signature Skin Booster Facial, 1 hour | £110 |
| The longest appointment on the list | Halo Ritual, 1 hour 30 | £115 |
| Texture or scarring under the surface | Microneedling, face, 40 minutes | £80 |
Most people who come for a facial book again every four to six weeks. Oily or breakout-prone skin usually does best on a regular booking rather than a one-off when it flares. If you only ever want one, before an event or because you have never had a facial, that is a perfectly reasonable way to use it. There is more on what each one includes on the facials and skin treatments page, and I have written separately about what a facial costs in Portsmouth and how long each one takes.
Booking a skin consultation in Southsea
I carry out every House of Glam HQ treatment personally, at 1A Auckland Road East, Southsea, Portsmouth PO5 2HA. Clients come for skin appointments from Southsea, Fratton, Cosham, Havant, Fareham and Gosport.
- Skin consultation, £15, 15 minutes, deducted from your treatment
- Laser patch test and consultation, £15, one charge, deducted from your first laser treatment
- Dissolve patch test and consultation, £15, booked at least a week before a dissolve
For a first anti-wrinkle treatment, message me instead and I will arrange the £25 prescriber consultation. Klarna spreads any treatment over three monthly payments.
If you would rather ask something before you book anything at all, message me on WhatsApp at wa.me/447831846273 or ring 07831 846273 and tell me what is bothering you. I will answer honestly, including when the answer is that you do not need a consultation and should just book the treatment.
