Wellness Practices for Small Spas

Simple Skin Health

The very first step in adopting a clean routine to promote healthy, beautiful skin is simple: prioritize our health. This is not groundbreaking information but it’s astonishing how many clients will complain about the dryness of their skin or the bags under their eyes and then admit to not drinking water or getting enough sleep.

Drinking enough water, getting plenty of sleep, exercising regularly, eating healthily and adopting mindful practices to reduce stress and toxicity in our lives will do more for our skin and our overall well being than any of the fanciest treatments or expensive products combined. If we’re truly looking to clean up our beauty routine, adopting a healthy lifestyle is an imperative first step.

Clean Professional Treatments

Once our health is under control and is reflected in our skin, we can focus our attention on clean beauty treatments that will lift, tone and refine the skin.

Adopting a healthier beauty regimen does not mean letting nature and/ or gravity take its course. There are amazing alternative methods for reversing and preventing undesirable skin conditions like wrinkling, sagging, porousness and coarseness.

As mentioned above, one of the foundations of health is exercising, but we often always neglect to exercise our face. There are 57 muscles in the face and neck and over time, they begin to sag and there is no moisturizer or advanced “active” serum that will reverse it. Therefore, it is imperative to build and maintain our facial and neck muscles in order to support and lift the tissue and layers of skin blanketing them.

The most advanced face-toning and tightening professional modality is Microcurrent. These miracle machines create results that satisfy the “instantlygratifying” demand for younger looking skin in addition to falling perfectly in line with the category of healthy/clean beauty. Microcurrent is safe, noninvasive and doubles as a health treatment by delivering fresh, vital oxygen and nutrients to the skin and revitalizing tissue. In fact Microcurrent was developed to treat patients with facial paralysis due to stroke and Bell’s palsy.

Clean Routine at Home

To maintain facial muscles at home (preferably in between microcurrent treatments) I recommend creating a consistent gua-sha and face exercise practice.

A gua-sha is a tool used in chinese medicine (predating acupuncture) used to move lymph (carrying away toxins including blackheads), stimulate chi (the Chinese word for life force energy), tone muscles and firm the skin.

Practicing consistent face exercises (especially for specific areas of concern) will not only create a youthful, healthy appearance, and a clear, radiant complexion but will also promote a host of other health benefits like releasing toxins from the skin. It can even alleviate symptoms of TMJ disorder and Bell’s palsy.

Setting an Intention for Skin Care

When looking for a clean skincare line, confirm the products you’re considering are clearly labeled with certifications (i.e. organic, non-gmo, fair trade, leaping bunny seal, etc.) and ingredients. Also knowing where and how the ingredients are sourced is an important factor in guaranteeing clean ingredients and practices. As the green beauty industry continues to explode, there is no shortage of brands backed by integrity and transparency, so there is no need to settle.

Next, clarify your intention for what it is you wish to gain by using a product. Traditional marketing campaigns mislead consumers by using models with perfect skin to invoke the illusion that we too will look like that if we use the products they are selling (keyword). Therefore, I encourage clients to use the same “feeling technique” when choosing a product line by setting an intention on how they want to feel when using a product.

For example, say you feel your best when you’re by the sea. You might consider using a brand like Osea, a seaweed-based product line inspired by the creator’s grandmother who healed herself when she had a vision to start a daily swimming practice in the ocean.

Perhaps you’re feeling like you need to detox and become more grounded and connected to nature. I would recommend Evan Healy, my daily go-to, whose entire philosophy of beauty is that the skin breathes and is promoted by their line’s essential elements: water, oil and clay.

When a client is feeling the dull, dry impact of winter and the idea of getting away to a tropical island re energizes them, I recommend the Hawaiian-based brand O’o. Using their products filled with superfood level antioxidants is like taking a trip to Hawaii for the skin and the senses.

These brands are clean and effective proven by their appearance in some of the most luxurious spas around the world and are even adored and used by celebrities.

More than just physically benefitting from the products themselves, using brands like these will also benefit us emotionally and/or spiritually knowing we are supporting family farms and small businesses, women-owned business, co-ops and fair trade overseas, sustainable sourcing and packaging and the list goes on. The vast wealth of information dispensed by these brands are missioned towards education and enlightenment.

You can feel the love and positive energy radiating from the founders of these brands and the clear intention behind the creation of each product. This energy is transferable, meaning the very same energy that exists and is created in every step of a product’s lifespan from earth to shelf is ultimately going on our skin and absorbed into our being so be confident that energy is aligned with your intentions.

A Wider Beauty Perspective

If we prescribe to the above outlined clean routine, but do not factor in the effects of our external toxicity, we are still missing the boat when it comes to clean beauty. Pollution, EMF’s, blue and fluorescent lighting and stress from the world around us all have detrimental effects to our health and our skin and need to be considered.

Clean Beauty is part of a bigger paradigm shift in our culture; people are prioritizing their health and are looking for professionals they can trust to guide them through the maze of information out there. By widening our scope of work as beauty professionals to include the health and environmental factors described herein, we are seizing an opportunity to become more valuable to our clients and thus more successful in our careers.

As I continue to learn the health risks and benefits of products, treatments and services throughout our incredible industry and beyond, I feel inspired to share this knowledge and promote the evolution of a new beauty consciousness unleashing radiance through freedom, health, empowerment and environmental and societal impact.