The Skin Games finalist Melissa Poley talks with Alitura's Andy Hnilo

Hey, everybody, I believe we're live right now. And we're live with Serendipity Spa owner Melissa Poli. Melissa, thank you for joining me. And Christine, what's your last name?

Gosh.

Oh, my gosh.

Oh, like, oh, my God. Okay. Not gonna forget that. Right on. Well, thank you both for joining me. And I haven't done one of these lives in a while. These be live tv like interview formats are great for, you know, multiple people that you want to have on, almost like a podcast format, but yet still Facebook Live. So audience, if we get any people that want to engage and ask any questions, by all means, feel free to fire away. To myself and Melissa, Melissa has been. How long have you been. Not only how long have you owned Serendipity Spa, but how long have you been into skincare?

So Serendipity Spa has been open for seven years now. I've been an esthetician for. It'll be 18 years starting in March.

Wow. Well, just curious. I'm always interested in, like, how you make that transfer from esthetician to owner. I mean, did you take clients from. Did people just. I mean, because it's almost like a personal trainer going into his own business kind of.

Right.

Similar.

Prior to going out on my own, I worked for several plastic surgeons, so I was more on the medical side of things. So just building up my clientele and knowledge base and. And then it was just the right timing.

Wow. So there's nothing like written up in contracts or anything like that. Like, you cannot. Nobody can follow you. I've always wondered about that with. I mean, I specifically.

I know a lot of places that do that, but with my particular situation. No, no. I mean, yeah, it wasn't the easiest thing, but yeah. Yeah.

Right on. Well, I'm honored to be one of your sponsors for the skin games. I mentioned that in the little show notes here that we're partnering on that along with a couple other companies to help. Christine, you're one of the clients. How many other customers or clients did you have for the skin games that in the eight week period that you had transformations going?

We had Christine and then we had Tasha. So Christine was in the open non medical category, and then Tasha was in the acne category.

Nice. And Christine, what. What was you said Open medical category?

Open non medical.

Non medical. Okay, so what were some of the issues that. That you faced going or that you were looking to correct going into it, Christine?

Well, I've always struggled with constant on and off acne forever, probably especially in the last five Years, fine lines and wrinkles. And then probably my second biggest insecurity was my uneven skin tone and my hyperpigmentation for sure.

Really? Well, that's. I get. We get asked that a lot as far as if we have anything for hyperpigmentation. Sunspots. And it's, it's tough because, you know, that's usually the cause of hyperpigmentation is usually because of certain sensitivities in certain areas, which, who knows if it's leading to internal organs. You know, a lot of people believe that if it's, you know, if that's one of the cause, if there's some type of inflammation or. I just, I'm wondering if you're able to pinpoint that and what worked best for you for that particular issue.

Honestly, I feel like, I mean, to your point, I did have a lot of inflammation issues as well. And when I do have flare ups with my acne, I was always red and I would come in and Melissa would be like, oh, what's going on? Like, almost kind of feeling bad for me. And you know, we tried some other things in the past and I, I was sensitive to a lot of products that she had tried in the past and treatments and so I think that's one of the reasons why she decided to go all natural, essentially.

Nice. Yeah.

So Christine has very reactive skin. I mean, she just had a lot of problems with different treatments and ingredients that we had used on her prior to even going into the skin game. So that's why she was a natural fit for this particular study and for your product line, because she didn't have any issues at all. And we had some awesome results with her in the 8 weeks.

Awesome. Can't believe it then.

That's a good feeling though. I mean, for you, obviously you mentioned it being one of your biggest insecurities. I mean, I. An incredible feeling. That's what got me. Really. I mean, that's a. There was someone who commented on an ad recently that we posted on Facebook. We're starting to do some of those. And he's like, yeah, this guy had perfect skin to begin with. And that that's so not even the case. I mean, I focus a lot on the story of the accident that I was in to start the line, which is true. But I mean, what got me, I was into skincare way before that. Things like acne. I had acne back acne too, and then just little spots that I guess technically is cystic acne, but it was all product related diet and hormonal. Issues, you know, growing into my body. All of those combined in one. And it'si get it. You know, you get out of bed, the first thing you do, you know, look in the mirror or whatever, and you got. It just bugs you and it's something that irritates you and starting your day off on the wrong foot and I just, it would, it would eat away. So I found a way to just. I became more passionate about ingredients and started to really focus on why. I mean, when it's done out of necessity, I mean, as you know, it's, it can, you know, there's no better feeling when you start to see results. So that's, that's really cool.

Absolutely.

Yeah. So, Mel, what are some of the most common issues that the clients and customers will come in with you or come in, you know, seeking treatment for?

I mean, I would say just hyperpigmentation, aging. So uneven skin tone and pigment aging, fine lines and wrinkles and then bright breakouts. And we have arranged. We see people that don't have like anything that's terrible to people that have major concern, you know, like a major issue going on. But I would say the majority of people we see just want help with the basics.

Right, right. And then, I mean, so when you say basic, I mean, I just, I like to pinpoint exfoliating, you know, at least whether it's every other day or one to three times a week. Take a day off, let your skin recover.

Yeah.

Obviously staying hydrated and then cleansing properly with a good cleanser that is just not going to dry you out. I think the worst, worst thing for me is when we were developing our cleanser, we were just going back and forth on whether we're going to get something like a nice foaming cleanser to kind of just feel cleanser. Do something that almost like the oil cleaning oil aspect of how painters would use an oil solution to clean their oil based paint brushes. And then that's what they do. It's amazing. With that whole concept of oil cleaning oil, we would get certain questions like, well, is it oil based? What if I have oily skin? And it's a big misconception, I believe. So the big key there is obviously ingredient jacks, but I didn't like the big foaming cleansers with the sodium lauryl sulfates and the really harsh fragrances and things like, you know, the, you know, harsh preservatives as well, and the fillers that really don't serve the skin. We like. I mean, just with our pearl cleanser, we Found that just eating up that irritation and mitigating it helps mitigate some of that redness. And then the colloidal silver is the antibacterial agent that kind of eats up that infection without drying out the skin. So that's, that's another big thing right there with just keeping it simple but also just, it's tough to find products that really do the job. You know, it's. I, when I was first getting into this, I would add like a couple brands that would work with me as far as a cleanser. But you know, I mean I'm talking going from Noxzema to Clearasal to Oil of Olay to Neutrogena to Dove Soap. I mean year after year just got better ingredient wise. But it was purely just trying to find something that worked for me. And it was the most frustrating thing in the world when you can't find something that just works with your skin, you know?

Right, exactly. I mean your alotura is just like the ingredients. It's impressive. I mean and I had a client just last week tell me it's so great to be able to turn the product over and know every single ingredient that's in there. I mean, yeah, there's no like chemical, there's no parabens, there's no phthalates. I mean you just can read it and like. Oh yeah, yeah, I know what that is. So that's what's even awesome about it.

Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that. It's, you know, even with our chemists we're working with now, I mean with cutting edge science, you're going to find like really new proven echo cert approved active ingredients that are amazing. We have a couple things that, that I'm kind of intrigued about. But I really, I'm on the fence because it's man. I mean it has to be derived from something natural. You know, like our plant derived vitamin A. It's got to be. I love the fact that it's organic alfalfa based. I mean that's, that's it. So it's a nice, you know, retinol, retinol alternative. But it's, it's from a plant rather than something that was made in a lab. Not, you know, synthetic man made. That may have certain results but I just, I don't know. I mean, how long have they been studying it? What where the tests there? What are the side effects of this certain ingredient, you know, down the road that we don't really know. I mean a lot of my ingredients as you mentioned are, you know, from, from the earth or plant based or derived from that. I mean, even down to the active ingredients. So there is a way to do it. It's just a matter. It's, it's. It usually comes down to cost in certain companies and whether or not they want to do that. So. But yeah, no, it's, it's going well and we're excited for that. We're going to be making a scrub here soon with white willow bark extract, that meteorite powder that I was talking about. A little pearl. And it's. Yeah, now's the fun, the fun part. So that's gonna be good. But so I also want to talk about the juve light. So. And then how that. Did that help? Christine, did you use that? I believe I saw you some video after. Was that before or after every treatment they did with the mask or with the joovv? Probably before, during and after maybe.

So I would come in weekly for a treatment from Melissa and then I used all of your products when I was at home along with a Joov Lite at home as well.

And then when we would do her treatments at the spa like on, on the week, we. She would do the joovv while the mask was on.

Okay.

And then I continued like when I would do the mask at home twice a week, then I would also sit in front of the light as well.

It's becoming a huge treatment for a lot of, A lot of different med spas and estheticians that use our products because of just the little videos that I, that I would shoot and send to you guys. And then the, the stuff that we would repost on Instagram. I mean it's, it's just a really good. The, the warmth. Aside from the science that has been proven now for years, I mean we, we have a few different articles that we found on pubmed but also Truth in Aging about just like the, the benefits of photobiomodulation for cell turnover and then just stimulating collagen synthesis and the production of just repair. You're repairing your skin cells and accelerating that cell turnover process through that red light. And then it's. But just with the whole. It just speeds up and gets the healthiest, I think the healthiest skin cell on a thicker collagen layer when it just repairs itself afterwards. And then it's just a matter of maintenance and just staying consistent with that routine. But it's something that you can do from home. I mean it's. I can't go without that. The red light for Sure. I mean I bring it with me on the road. I wish I had the box. It's kind of to carry that thing around. But it is what it is. But which, which, which one do you use at home, Christine? Facial one?

No, I have like the one that you hang over the door. So a single panel actually.

Nice.

It's great.

Yeah. Then I wanted to ask you, Mel, do you have teenage. Because we get parents who are customers wanting to know about their children teenage years. It's so tough because I mean their body's just racing with hormones. Probably not the best diet sometimes. So I'm wondering if you have any advice for some of the parents that may be listening or maybe some teenagers that may be listening too on just the bait. Like what do you do when people ask, hey, do you have any advice for teenagers going to experiencing hormonal action?

So I can say from a personal standpoint, because I have a 13 year old son who struggles with breakouts and I just did a facial on him yesterday actually. But he's totally used to me like doing extractions on him which we call work masks. I mean I'm like, dude, you're gonna thank me for this someday. Yeah, but he uses all of our products. I mean he uses your moisturizer, he uses the cleanser. I've done the clay mask on him. On him. I mix it with the apple cider vinegar just because it's more astringent to help urine with like the oil and the cleaning of the pores. But yeah, I mean a good multi, like food based multivitamin. But I mean the biggest thing with kids because they're not going to do a lot is just cleansing with a good cleanser and then moisturizing and then if you can get them to mask like that's great. But I mean in morning and night and he, he'll do it at night, but I have to remind him to do it. But I mean he's 13. The kid is what it is.

Yeah. No, that's awesome that he's doing that. You're setting him up right now for.

Yeah, he doesn't always love it, but like I'm like, you're gonna thank me for this someday.

Absolutely.

Even for, I guess, girls, because I only have girls. But I feel like up to this point in my life and maybe it shows my age, but I don't think that women a lot of times over the age of 40 maybe that we weren't ever in a generation where self care was a huge priority, at least not for Me. And so I feel like finally taking care of myself and getting into a regimen and then teaching that to my girls. It's so important. And I think that it is for boys and girls alike 100%.

You're right. My, my sisters are around that they're, they're in their 40s and it's. Yeah, I don't remember them, you know, growing up. I don't remember. I mean, maybe they, maybe they'll, they'll correct me on this, but I don't think they were too, too into it. Now where you're seeing every. I mean a lot of people are using the masks and sheet masks. I mean you're seeing. It's becoming a cool thing to do. Self, you know, self care maintenance and just, you know, it definitely helps.

I mean, well, it's just education, you know, even about the products that are clean now. You know, I mean, we never had any of that before.

That's true. Yeah. You know, I mean you probably only had 5 to 10 brands to choose from. Me maybe. I mean outside of the smaller people that were just doing it themselves, kind of like Etsy now where you'll see a lot of just smaller, pretty much people just starting out of their homes, which actually some of the times I got ideas when I was first doing this for my cleanser and that's how I got the tremella mushroom idea from. I forget where this woman's located, but you'll see some of the best ingredients from just the smaller base. People making things cream. I got an astaxanthin idea from some woman out of I think Santa Clarita. She had this astaxanthin based sunscreen that she made. And I was like, man, that's a really good idea. But the thing is it's such a bright red out or like consistent herbal color. And then so you're rubbing that around. So now you're to get the actual SPF factor from like titanium dioxide or non nano zinc to get the actual SPF that you can quantify at 20 or 15, 20, 30, whatever it may be. It's just gonna be tough to get that combination of like the, the white mineral because the, the titanium and zinc are so, I mean you'll see it, it'll stick around for a little bit. But then combining that with astaxanthin, you're getting kind of like this pinkish color. So rubbing it around, I mean just, it just comes down to. Yeah. Just formulating something that you can put on without being that noticeable. If you but that's. That's huge. And so that'll probably lead in to a next product of ours. I have to ask you, do you guys use sunscreen? I know you're in Iowa. I mean, is it. I don't know how sunny it is? Well, obviously probably not right now, but summertime it is for sure. But do you. Do you wear one daily?

Yes.

You do?

Yeah. Yeah. And it's in my makeup that I wear daily. But then if I'm not wearing makeup, then, yes, I wear sunscreen every day.

Yeah. What about you, Christine?

I now do because of Melissa. I mean, at this point, I help with pigment.

Yeah, right.

And I think that's why I've had so many problems, because I was a sun lover my whole life without protection.

Yeah. I mean, if you're gonna. If you're gonna, you know, spend all this time and money to work on pigment, you want to not, like, go out into the sun and, like, create more?

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well, and so now that. Want to talk more about the skin game. So now, is it complete? Your 8 weeks are completely wrapped up right now. Right. And so we're the. Is it right now just sending the protocols and the results to the team, and then they're going to announce the finalists, which come out in Vegas, I think, in May, you said, or.

So each week, I already uploaded to the Skin Games. Like, each week, I would do the video and my case study written format uploaded to them. So all people that are entering. So it's an international contest for estheticians, and so anyone can enter in, and there's several different categories, but all videos have to be be entered in by March 31st. So then based on last year, it's probably going to be a month for the judges to review all the videos and then create finalists. Choose finalists, I guess. And then. So. But the show in Vegas is in June.

Okay.

Yeah.

Nice. Well, you. I really want to go. I mean.

Yeah, you better put that on your calendar.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Wait, so were you.

You.

Were you a finalist last year?

Yes. In pigmentation.

That's awesome.

It's. Honestly, the skin games, aside from opening my business was the best. One of the best experiences of my career, I bet from a point of.

What?

Are you there?

Oh, yeah, I'm here. Can you hear me? I can definitely.

I don't know.

Yeah, I'm here. You guys can't. Let me see here.

I don't know.

Oh, no. All right, well, I guess.