I have always loved skincare. The skin is the body’s largest organ and it is an incredible organ that mesmerizes me. When I was younger, I loved using my mom’s skincare products all over my little body. As I have grown up, I am so appreciative of my mother for instilling the habit of a good skin care regimen.
Growing up, my plan was never to do skincare. It was to be a therapist and to heal the world, one person, at a time. I received an MA in Spiritual Psychology from The University of Santa Monica intending to do another MA to attain my MFT. In the process of that program, I realized that I could better serve in other capacities. I have found that my spiritual knowledge from my program pairs very well with the Healing Regenerative Facials that I specialize in.
Here is how my skincare story started. In 2003 I was living in Hawaii working towards my BA in Psychology. It was a stressful time in my life and my skin and hair did not do well in the humid climate. To my utter horror (I was very dramatic back then) I experienced acne and the emotional rollercoaster that goes along with it. I was not mentally prepared for the plethora of emotions that came up because of it. In general, I had experienced breakouts on my face but this acne was different. There were layers of acne that were extremely painful and it kept spreading out and getting worse as time was going on. Acne took an emotional toll on my self-esteem. All I would see when I looked in the mirror was a plethora of red marks that kept getting worse and worse and it felt devastating.
There was one night in particular, when I was home alone, too embarrassed to show my face in public (literally) when I had a moment of clarity. I was looking at myself in the mirror and feeling complete shame for what I saw reflecting back to me. I felt self-hatred towards my body for doing this to me and for “ruining” my life (as I said, I was super dramatic). I was full of self-pity and I was mastering the victim mentality of “Why is this happening to me?” Acne has the ability to send people into self depreciating cycles of despair. I was falling perfectly into that cycle and I had no idea as to how I was going to get myself out of it.
Yet, I knew that other people also suffered from acne and that surely there was a solution even though I had no idea as to what that solution would be.
That evening, as I sat alone and looked at the sad face in the mirror reflecting back to me, I made myself a promise. I knew I was not alone in my struggles and that surely solutions existed. I resolved that night to fix my skin and share all of my knowledge with the world. This experience is what led me down the path to where I am now. My path keeps changing and weaving but my passion will always be centered towards understanding the skin and what is truly ideal for it.
Healing my skin and my fragile ego didn’t happen overnight. I still work on myself constantly and tweak my opinions as new information is uncovered.
Throughout the last 10 years as an esthetician, I have come across a wide range of skin concerns. I have also met a lot of people who don’t have skin issues per se but who want to take care of their skin and prioritize themselves. I got into skincare intending to find products that work, that are a reasonable price point, and have zero-waste packaging.
Over the past decade of being an esthetician, I recognize a common theme. That theme, unfortunately, is, “I’m Not Good Enough.” We as a society have become so critical of ourselves and that theme has permeated into our subconscious beliefs. The Beauty Industry as is would encourage us to believe that the solution to our feelings of “Not Good Enough” is to spend a lot of money on products that will “fix us.” The. A plethora of what we are being sold is endless. There are amazing claims tempting us to buy products with the promise that this will finally be the solution that we have been looking for. As a beauty product consumer myself, I wanted to believe the claims and I trusted that the money I spent would be worth it. For years, I bought into the misunderstanding that I was “flawed” and that the only way to be attractive is to have a flawless youthful face.
It is my intention to change that unhealthy standard and to revolutionalize the beauty industry as we know it. The idea of perfection is absolute Bullshit. Beauty can be found in all places and in all people. My deep knowing is that our perfection lies in our imperfections. It may sound cliche, but the truth is that our beauty comes from the inside. To have glowing radiant skin, it is vital to have a nutrient-rich diet, to drink a lot of pure water, to use great and natural products on the skin and to have a healthy and realistic self-image. My approach is all-encompassing. Together we will look at your lifestyle to formulate the ideal facial protocol for each individual. The first thing that we see when we look at our reflection in the mirror is our face. We see our faces all of the time and are very particular when it comes to our particular nuances. It is so easy to obsess over little things that don’t matter in the larger scheme of life. We are our own worst critic and that has to change. I intend to shift the perspective of “Not Good Enough” to “ I embrace myself exactly as I am and I will do the best I can to love the skin that I am in.”
My purpose is to assist in restoring the individual’s inner power through reclaiming natural beauty. We are each beautiful and unique and possess interesting and varying facial features. We are each perfectly imperfect in these body’s and that is what makes each of us so unique and beautiful. The world would tell us that unless we are young and youthful we are flawed or less than. I adamantly disagree and would counter that argument by saying that beauty comes in an infinite number of ways that are unique to every organism. Beauty is a reflection of the whole and we receive back exactly what we put into ourselves. The truth in embracing our unique beauty is to have balance in all things.
Let’s celebrate our individuality and these beautiful bodies which were perfectly designed and beautifully made.
