What Exactly is a Holistic Esthetician?
Written by Lauren Arent (Lo Clark)
Owner of Bewitched Esthetics & Licensed Esthetician since 2013
May 29th, 2023
Hello my darlings,
Many people have an esthetician these days. Someone they see on a regular basis for their skincare expertise, to receive skin treatments and facials and trust for skin care product recommendations. In recent years the world has seen a significant rise in people seeking alternative health methods, learning to see general health and healing holistically, including when it comes to their estheticians. But what does this mean?
Holistic means believing all the parts are connected as a whole. Believing you can’t merely treat one symptom of a problem, but that you have to take in all the symptoms and see how they are connected to treat the whole problem. It’s kinda like it sounds, holistic – whole-istic. Mind, body, soul.
What is an Esthetician?
If we are going to define holistic, we must also define esthetician to set a base. An esthetician is a skin specialist, someone who learns how to improve the health and longevity of your skin and how to pass on this knowledge to their clients in order to promote healthy skin at home. An esthetician is licensed to perform certain beauty services like facials, hydrofacials, microdermabrasion, dermaplaning, waxing, extractions, acne treatments, anti-aging treatments, and others like eyelash extensions, lash lifts, tinting services, microblading, etc. Most often, an esthetician will narrow down their service expertise to only a few in order to specialize in these services.
What Makes an Esthetician Holistic?
First, the ethics behind their practice. When a holistic esthetician sees a client, in order to begin treating their skin concerns, they will ask about diet, exercise, sleep, alcohol intake, allergies, sensitivities, mental health, work load, career choice, habits, at home skin care ritual and more. Taking in the definition of holistic, a holistic esthetician chooses to look at all the symptoms, consider all the life style choices in order to understand problems and to create a treatment plan.
Second, the skin care products will NOT be chemical based or contain any potential toxins. This can include isopropyl alcohol or benzyl peroxide. I choose to use natural and organic skincare, my favorite brand of course being Eminence Organic Skincare Products.
Third, a holistic esthetician will choose to use natural healing methods instead of chemical and invasive methods. For example, to treat acne caused by hormonal imbalance, they will have dietary changes they recommend as well as eliminating toxic chemical products from your life and encouraging the use of herbs instead of recommending a generic acne reducing and potentially hazardous pharmaceutical regimen like AccuTane.
They will also include these methods into their practice.
There are many healing modalities you might see when you go to your esthetician. Let’s go over a few.
Lymphatic Drainage: This natural method for detoxing the body can easily be incorporated both at the spa and at home using dry brushing, facial massage, and gua sha sculpting. The lymphatic system moves toxins out of the body but does not have it’s own propulsion system like the circulatory system and therefore needs to be manually stimulated.
Herbal Hot Towels: Hot towels promote skin care product absorption, which has led to the misconception that steam opens the pores of the skin. Steam allows the products to move deeper into the skin and therefore you will receive exponential benefits. Adding herbs to the water to make the towels intensifies the benefits one can receive, both topically and potentially through inhalation of vapors. This is a creative way to incorporate herbalism into holistic esthetics.
Aromatherapy: this healing modality involves using essential oils, which contain herbal and floral constituents that promote healing and contain other properties such as peace, happiness, clarity, stability, balance, etc. My current favorite essential oil is called Protect from Revive Essential Oils for purifying the air and surfaces to protect from viruses and bacteria. Click the link to get $10 off your Revive essential oils.
Other: There are many others I include as options during my services like reiki healing & chakra clearing, crystal healing, high frequency treatment, saging, etc. Click the links to learn more about these modalities.
Mental health plays an important role in skin health from a holistic stance. Stress and anxiety cause the release of different chemicals and hormones as well as creating inflammation in the body which can all lead to unsightly skin disorders like acne, rashes, premature aging, etc.
Healing Sound Frequencies: Healing sound frequencies are specific sound frequencies you can listen to in order to promote relaxation in the mind and therefore the body. As a holistic esthetician, I incorporate healing sound frequencies in my practice by playing a specific playlist with many songs at frequencies like 432 hertz to promote healing as well as relaxation. Mozart used 432hz in all his music, Tibetan monks tuned all their singing bowls to 432hz, ancient flutes and all the instruments found in the pyramids were all tuned to 432hz. This is found to be a powerful frequency for working with the vagus nerve and therefore calming the nervous system.
Breath work: Pranayama breathing is another technique that aids in soothing the nervous system by toning the vagus nerve. It also works to increase nitric oxide production, which aids in creating a euphoric sensation and elevating your immune system. If requested, I incorporate breath work into my facials at Bewitched Esthetics.
Want to Learn More?
Holistic esthetics is an ever expanding field and one I am excited to be a part of. I love to share what I know so you can improve the health of your skin naturally.
As a holistic esthetician I truly believe in the importance and the power of food & herbs. I work hard to curate recipes for healthy skin, both edible ones and ones you can apply directly to your skin! Check out my blog to find these skin healthy recipes.
If you are local to Boise or just passing through you can always make an appointment, but you don’t have to be a client to be a part of the community. If you want to discover more about holistic esthetics, subscribe to my email list below and/or follow me on Instagram or Pinterest to stay in touch!
Wishing you a life full of beauty and blessings!
3 Comments
Crystal Walker
I am a brand new esthetician and am so eager to learn more about the holistic approach to skin care.
laurenclark020
Happy to have you here!! Feel free to connect more with me on my Instagram @bewitchedskinandsoul xoxo
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