FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

We can certainly try, however please be aware that if you are allergic to vitamin C or fruit extracts, we may not be able to perform most of our treatments for you as almost all of our topical products contain those ingredients. Please email us prior to booking and we'll try to come up with a solution for you! 

Absolutely! I love my melanin rich clients! That being said, we'll make sure to start low and slow to ensure safety. I also recommend starting a melanocyte inhibitor routine for a few weeks prior to receiving any services to make sure the risk of hyperpigmentation is minimized. I also REQUIRE my clients to wear sunscreen while receiving treatments with me, since sunscreen is our most effective weapon against damage & cancer in ALL skin tones & ethnicities.

Absolutely! All people are welcome in my spa! It may take me a few tries to get pronouns right, but Sarah Russell Skincare LLC is an ally 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

We always appreciate a clean, bare face when possible. Coming to your appointment with a full face of cake can eat into the treatment part of your service as makeup can be difficult to remove. If you only wear tinted sunscreen, don't even worry about it, we'll get it right off!

Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs but I respectfully decline to honor this specific one and for good reason - sun damage is the leading cause of skin cancer in ALL skin tones. Sunscreen is also the most effective treatment to prevent signs of aging and photodamage. Plus, all your other skincare products are worthless if you're not wearing sunscreen because UV rays actively work against the ingredients in your skincare. Here's a great video about the scientific studies behind sunscreen's efficacy.

If you so strongly disagree with sunscreen that you're not willing to use it at all, I am not the right skincare provider for you❤️

Of course you should always speak to a doctor prior to starting any new routine, whether fitness, nutritional or skincare.

That being said, I personally feel that your esthetician should be your first stop for skincare and your dermatologist should be sought out for skin diseases, disorders & surgery.

Think of your esthetician as your holistic skincare provider. We are educated in skin anatomy & physiology, ingredient knowledge and we are typically well versed in advanced treatments and home-care routines that can provide you with healthy, glowing skin! If you have a skin condition that falls outside of our scope of practice, we will refer you to see a dermatologist.

Think of your dermatologist more like your specialist or surgeon - they're there to diagnose, treat, cure or cut out diseases and disorders that your esthetician can't handle. They're often overloaded with patients and can't take the time to deep dive with you like your esthetician can, which leads to over prescribing of blunt interventions like Accutane, tretinoin and others that, while they can be effective, they can also be incredibly damaging when used improperly or when not truly needed.

Lets set some realistic expectations for what an aesthetician can do: We care for the health and integrity of your skin which can help you look and feel youthful for your current age. While I do offer services that are "anti-aging", I can't guarantee a drastic change. That being said, healthy skin can begin to reverse the aging process but if you're 40, you'll likely still look somewhere around 40... just more youthful & radiant! 

If you're looking to take decades off of your visage, you'd be better served booking a consultation with a surgeon. 

Now that's out of the way... Book a Fibroblast treatment or two if you want to potentially take years off, then book MicroNeedling & MicroCurrent sessions to maintain until mother nature catches back up again.

That depends on the service, how advanced your skin condition is, your home-care routine & your lifestyle. Some services can produce results within one treatment but most people will need multiple treatments. I'm happy to set up a treatment plan for you to address your skin concerns!

Also 80% of your results will come from the consistent maintenance of your clinical treatments at home. IE; using the skincare I recommend to you that is specifically tailored to your skin type & condition, instead of the haphazard concoctions you can get at big box stores or beauty stores. Because I'm a trained professional, I have access to highly concentrated, clinically validated products that work.

There's no way for us to know how many treatments you may need, which is why we say that esthetics services provided by your esthetician should be a part of an ongoing skincare plan. Everybody's skin responds differently and while some may notice immediate improvements, some may take a while to show.

The frequency of visits depends on a few factors: are you on a maintenance track or a corrective track and how committed are you to working toward your goals?

A corrective track will require weekly or bi-weekly visits for a relatively short period of time. This is because we want a continuous stimulation of your skin in order to affect the desired change. 

A maintenance track is typically entered into once you see your desired outcome or if you do not have any current skincare goals. Those on a maintenance track can simply schedule once per month for their favorite service. Although, we recommend rotating services so your skin doesn't plateau. Also, even for those on a maintenance track, it's a good idea to do a corrective series once or twice a year, just to stay ahead of mother nature!

Mother Nature is coming for us all, every moment of every day. Your esthetician is a skin wizard that is working to slow that process down with each treatment and product recommendation. But it's an ongoing battle! 

The longevity of your results will depend on a variety of factors, not limited to your lifestyle habits, your health & your at-home skincare routine. To prolong your results, we recommend you enter into a maintenance treatment plan after completing a corrective service series.

If that were true, I'd have a line of men around the block wanting me to dermaplane their bald heads and patchy beards!

We are born with 2 types of hair: Terminal and Vellus. Terminal hairs are those that are thicker & heavily pigmented (such as the hair on your head and your eyebrows) and those that become thick & pigmented through puberty or with the use of supplemented hormones. 

It's impossible for vellus hair to turn into terminal hair without chemical (think hormonal) intervention. Since dermaplaning is a physical intervention, your vellus hair will stay vellus. You'll often hear women claim that they should never have started shaving their legs because once they did, the hair started growing back thicker. Keep in mind that around the time they start worrying about shaving their legs is also when puberty hits and activates their terminal hair follicles. All of their vellus hair is still there but they now have pubic terminal hair growing there as well.

That being said, since we're blunting the ends of the vellus hair by shaving them off, when they grow back in, they can feel a little thicker due to the blunt end of the hair, however once the hair grows for a bit, it'll be back to feeling soft & fine in no time.

While I would absolutely prefer to set you up with a professional grade skincare line that is proven to work and that I am fully familiar with especially if you are receiving treatments from me, you're welcome to book in for a Skincare Audit where we can talk about your skin, your goals and the products that you are using.

Keep in mind that the cosmetics industry in the United States is essentially un-regulated with the exception of sunscreens, which means these brands can, and do, lie to consumers about what's in them and the quality & concentrations of their active ingredients (ie; they can tell you it works when it really doesn't). Not to mention that their "clinical studies" are dubious at best.

I have a general rule that drugstore cleansers and moisturizers are fine to use (within reason), but you should seek out professional strength products for your serums & treatment products if you're truly trying to nourish and make a change in your skin.