
A letter to all non-essential workers...
This is the last type of blog I ever thought I’d write but here we are.
It sucks to be labeled as non-essential doesn’t it? As much as I agree with the measures taken to protect our society from COVID-19, I can’t help but feel the anxiousness of what’s to come for all non-essential industries.
Try as I might, I have yet to find one piece of mandated closure information that even lists facialists or spas as part of non-essential businesses that have to close during this type. The beauty industry is left out of the conversation forcing business owners everywhere to make an incredibly difficult choice by themselves. That choice is to label themselves as “non-essential”. I hate even thinking about it because we KNOW in our hearts that we are essential to our clients, and even with all of our training for upholding medical-grade level sanitation, the risk of our exchange is still too high. We know it’s the right thing to do, as painful as it is to not be of service the way we are best during this terrifying time.

TSC list of Facial do's and don'ts
As a commitment to myself in 2020, I have decided to get a facial every month this year. It seems like a frivolous goal but honestly, it’s part study and part self-care. As a facialist for my entire adulthood, I know nothing but this work. I can go into facialist mode and work through a busy week with new and returning clients. I can tackle the hard questions and redundant newbie asks. I notice the little details and think ahead. However, being a recipient of these facials are just as important for me to elevate my craft…

2020 skin goals | inclusive beauty
There are so many intentions I have collected from all of you that I’ve been able to digest over the last month of introspective, post-holiday time. As the decade turned, I asked many of you what you were hoping for in 2020 in relation to your skin health. There were many beautiful commitments shared about breaking up with old fear-based beauty beliefs that perpetuate inflammatory habits such as negative self-talk and picking the skin. There were also enlightening commitments to practice love-based care by simply drinking more water or getting more supportive care. I was elated receiving all of the feedback and took a long time to come up with a way that I could help with these resolutions. Here’s what I came up with…

My truth | What I've been hiding all along...
“Your eyes look brighter”, “You look so much healthier”, “Your energy level is so different” are just a few of the comments I’ve received over the last month from my clients, friends, and family. And I’m so grateful to be finally feeling this way post-surgery after feeling quite dim the last few years. But another important piece of feedback that’s worth addressing is how most people had no idea I was suffering. This is something I have to get off my chest because I grew up doing this work and it’s really exposing to break the 4th wall of my industry’s standards I couldn’t keep up with. I got hired for my first job as an esthetician days before my 19th birthday and have been consistently working in this title ever since so it’s safe to say that I know nothing else but this world. Some of the lessons I have learned have been from outside help breaking the conditioning that I allowed myself to trust. I’ve gone through my first heartbreak, phases of partying, and every type of common sickness while working like food poisoning, the flu, an allergic reaction, or even a chronic cyst in my wrist that prevented me from actually flexing my joints - all while caring for clients the past 13 years.

if healing is what we're striving for, then why is it so triggering?
It’s taken me some time to determine how I can reintroduce myself on the blog after my Hayley hiatus. I’ve started by trying to write a recap blog and filming myself sharing the experience but nothing really felt - for lack of a better word - authentic. Mostly because I would feel myself spiraling when reliving the experience. I start to word vomit some not so nice things about myself or sob in front of my camera about how uncomfortable I am with all of this. You don’t want to see that footage, I promise you…
My love letter to the TSC team...
I don’t often like to write about my “success” because it makes me feel as though I think that I’m holier than thou or that I think I’ve made it. Which is false but there is a fine line I am going to dance on today because I have to acknowledge certain people that have really supported me and helped make TSC what it is today. Which is far more of a success than I ever anticipated it to be. And if you’re reading this thinking; “How is your company successful Hayley?”, I’ll break it down:

Rewriting your skin story
When it comes to our skin, it’s easy to fall into categories that are very limiting to growth or change. If you have dry skin, you’re immediately meant to get wrinkles faster. If you have oily skin, your pores will forever be clogged and you’ll most likely breakout. If you have sensitive skin, then you better watch out for every product or procedure out there because you’ll most likely have a reaction from it. Come on people, it’s 2019. It’s time we rewrite our skin stories.

Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
This very date, January 1st, is when many of us feel inspired to commit to whatever the necessary changes we need to make in order to experience our "best year yet". We often push ourselves to break bad habits and form new routines like jumping into a new exercise routine, eliminating all bad foods, or starting a new 10-step skin regimen. These extreme changes can end up shocking our systems that our bodies end up quitting before we have a choice in the matter.

Giving the gift of self-care
Every year my clients comment on how easy it must be for me to come up with gift ideas for family members because I could just restock all of their skincare. But the truth is that buying skincare for someone may seem like a great gift, but not everyone on the receiving end finds it to be as useful or thoughtful as you may think. Buying someone anything that has to do with their self-care, healthcare, or beauty care can be a little tricky. If you’re not careful, the gift can come off a bit offensive regardless of how well thought out you may feel the intent was. There are a few things I’ve learned over the years that may help you navigate giving the gift of self-care this year.

Why is receiving so difficult?
Each year during the season of giving, I find it to be so difficult for many of us to be on the receiving end of gifts. Like many of you, I find it much easier to be the nurturer and giver because I feel so wonderfully fulfilled by helping others. But the sneaky other side of that statement is that I often equate receiving with worthiness and I feel greedy if I take too much. So much so that I have seemingly no problem pouring from an empty cup? It just goes to show that many of us have some work to do before we go into potentially stressful holiday dynamics with colleagues and family.

Optimizing your facial
It’s pretty clear at the end of a treatment if someone will benefit from our time together or not. A facial is not just an opportunity to relax or a time to get your skin cleared up, it’s an opportunity for an updated education on your skin’s health by tuning into what your skin is telling us. If we miss out on our chance to listen in, there can be some confusion as to why our skin responds in the way that it does post-treatment. There are a few simple steps that I like to tune into in order to make sure my clients feel supported but the key is if they are ready to participate in what can optimize the facial’s potential. Here are a few key steps towards achieving that very important skin care goal.

The benefits of Yin listening
These last few weeks have been so wonderfully busy that I found myself feeling intensely inspired to write again. As I sit down to word vomit out all of my thoughts, I discovered that today is the social media holiday that I will indulge in gladly; National Esthetician Day! I think we all know by now that this is the only career that I’ve had and that regardless of the years that have gone by, I’m still equally as obsessed with my work as ever. To celebrate this with a quick post on social media would not do justice to the people I want to continuously honor during my time as an esthetician. The clients, my fellow estis, my apprentices, and not to sound like a social media influencers, but my followers have all given me the platform to honor what I love to do every day and without this mix of beautiful people I somehow manifested into my life, who knows where I would be.
The Rebirth of Therapeutic Skin Coach
Just like anyone else who owns a business, it’s very common to have to exercise your elevator pitch of what your business is. I was used to having to try and put my business into a category and would become increasingly frustrated when people wouldn’t fully understand the all-encompassing work that comes out of me in order to make this dream of mine come true. Therapeutic Skin Coach has become something greater than I expected and when it started to become its own entity, I got really scared because it felt like I was exposing myself to the world. At the end of the day, Therapeutic Skin Coach isn’t just my blog, my facial practice, my social media presence...Therapeutic Skin Coach is me. It’s my philosophies, my teachings, my blood, sweat, and tears, and my nurturing. After all, I came up with the name when asked how I would describe myself. Coming back to that reality is something that felt like I couldn’t hide from and in order to truly honor everything I had built, I needed to get to the root of what it is that I want to represent and share.

How To Cleanse your Skin!
Imagine a morning without coffee, a night without netflix or starting your car without keys. All of these scenarios have missing parts that just don’t make sense. That’s exactly how I feel about a skincare routine with no cleansing. It simply doesn’t work. Cleansing your skin is something that more often than not is done incorrectly. As the first step to your skincare routine it is often skipped over or done way too quickly. In order to have your skincare routine work effectively you must prepare your skin for success. This post is bringing it back to basics to bring you the proper education on how to cleanse your skin.