Julia O’Gorman has three decades of beauty therapy experience and is a highly respected champion of the Slow Beauty movement. Trials with her own skin attracted Julia to a career in beauty therapy.  She practiced beauty therapy all over the world and has treated some impressive clientele including a US president and a Bahrain King. Twenty years into her career, Julia was back living in New Zealand and feeling frustrated with the machine-driven direction the beauty industry was going.

Just as she was ready to throw in the towel, Julia met Janine Tait at a beauty expo. Julia was heartened to see that a holistic, gentle, slow approach to beauty was re-emerging despite a pervasive culture of harsh technology and quick fixes. Julia lives and breathes wellness and she encourages holistic skincare at her clinic, Julia O’Gorman: Natural Beauty Therapy and Massage, in Auckland.

Can you tell us about some of the celebrities you have treated?

At the age of 21, I got a sought-after job in Bermuda working in one of the world’s top ten spas. I treated many VIP customers and even massaged one of the presidents of the United States! I don’t like to ‘treat and tell’, but I can share a couple stories.

When treating one of the Kings of Bahrain, I mixed up a lovely blend of essential oils. I was later told that the King really enjoyed his massage but would prefer baby oil next time!

Another time, there was a lot of secrecy around a facial client. I didn’t recognise the woman but was clearly expected to know who she was. I took a quick peek at a welcome card on the dresser and discovered it was Cathleen Turner.

At what point did you discover Janesce?

It wasn’t until I had been in the industry for over 20 years that I found Janesce. I was living in New Zealand at this point, but had sold my clinic in Titirangi and was just about to move to Dubai. A friend handed me a Janesce brochure and I thought, ‘this sounds like all my ideas and philosophies roll into one’.

One year later, when I returned from Dubai, I attended the beauty expo in Auckland. I didn’t like the direction I saw the beauty industry going in: microdermabrasion, cosmeceutical skincare, chemical peels and needling. I was horrified. I believe in treating the skin gently and nurturing the spirit as well as the skin. I was ready to leave the beauty industry but luckily I found the Janesce stand at the expo and met Janine Tait.

What happened when you met Janine?

I was re-energised by Janine and the Janesce philosophies. Janine invited me to visit her in Tauranga and I spent a lovely weekend there trying Janesce products and experiencing a treatment at Janine’s spa, Lox. As soon as I started using Janesce, my skin improved.

Janine explained the ‘wellness from within’ philosophy. I changed my eating habits and included vital vitamins and minerals into my routine and my skin went from strength to strength. I discovered that my own sensitive skin became stronger and more resilient the more gently I treated it.

I was on a three-year restraint of trade from having sold my clinic, so I worked as the trainer and sales rep for Janesce for a while. This enabled me to really understand the Janesce products and philosophies and to pick Janine’s brains.

What impact did this have on your approach to working with clients?

Janesce completely changed how I worked. When I was able to open a clinic of my own again, I could confidently recommend Janesce products to my clients. The information and knowledge Janine shared with me made me so confident working with skin disorders.

What skincare product ranges do you use at your clinic?

When it comes to skincare, I only use Janesce. I still investigate other brands but Janesce is truly the most amazing product I have found and the support and education I continue to receive is the best.

I use Bestow Beauty products for internal support to supplement the skincare products. They are fantastic and have made a huge difference to my skin and my clients’.

Have there been any ‘aha’ moments in your journey?

At one point, I broke out in a rash all over my body. Janine and Jan, the founder of Janesce, helped me through that. Jan said “you are too busy looking after everybody else you need some time for you. I wish I could climb down the phone and give you a big hug.” I will never forget that comment and how much she really cares. I took some time out for myself and slowly but surely my skin healed.

After that experience, I started to focus more on how much time my clients are taking for themselves. I started to gently suggest lifestyle changes when I could see a client heading towards adrenal fatigue or a breakdown.

Are we in the middle of a return to slower, deeper, more natural ideals in the industry?

I really hope so and it does look that way. Therapists are starting to realise we need to look after the whole person, even if it is a slow journey.

I hope more therapists join the Slow Beauty Movement and gain satisfaction from helping their clients with the tools and training that Janesce and Bestow have to offer.

What does ‘Slow Beauty’ mean to you?

It means not making a quick buck on the latest fad but rather forming long-term, trusting relationships with my clients so that I can really understand their needs and help them to have the best skin they can. It means working with diet, exercise, lifestyle and general wellness and genuinely caring for my clients and their outcomes.

How are you different as a therapist today than you were as a new graduate?

I am much more confident. I look at the whole person not just their skin. I look after myself by taking breaks and not overbooking. I make sure that I come first so that I am more able to give my clients my all.

What advice would you give to new beauty therapist graduates?

Go work in clinics. The first five years out of college is your training ground; you learn what you like and don’t like and get to form your own ideas about the industry. Too many graduates set up their own business straight out of college and it can be a very lonely and difficult road.

What tips could you give therapists about how to support, inspire and encourage clients to make changes in their lives?

You have all the tools you need with Janesce: be confident and know that it may take time but you will get results. Find a mentor to help you along the way until you are confident enough in yourself and your abilities to do it on your own.

Melanie Gaynor, of Beauty Elements in Greenlane, entered beauty therapy on a whim. 25 years later, she is still going strong and has become a sought-after holistic skincare therapist with a focus on skin nutrition and helping women to relax and slow down.

Melanie loves using the Bestow Beauty range to support her clients’ skin from within and is a Bestow Beauty mentor for therapists who are just beginning their journey of working holistically with skin.

This is her story.

Melanie, what drew you to a career in beauty therapy career?

As a teenager, I returned from an exchange programme in America, planning to complete a pre-university foundation course. The day after arriving home, I impulsively rang the beauty college. Someone had just dropped out, I went in for an interview and two days later I left home to start a course in a subject I knew absolutely nothing about.

Two years later, I emerged a proud, fresh-faced beauty therapist and now I’ve been a beauty therapist longer than I haven’t!

Tell me about your personal journey to discovering a holistic approach to skincare.

When I graduated, the only salons I had experienced were the one at college and the one at the health farm where I completed my week-long work experience. At the health farm (as they were called back then), my love of aromatherapy was born. I spent the week finding every possible excuse to go into the essential oil room. It was heaven: a cool, dark room with the mingled scents of rows upon rows of gorgeous essential oils.

That was my first little prod towards the love of natural in my professional life, but I think that passion was always there. Even in primary school, I brewed chamomile to rinse my hair, made perfume from rose petals and mixed up natural face masks from yoghurt and honey. My favourite shop was the health food shop with its weird and wonderful selection of dried herbs.

Where does this interest in wellness comes from?

I grew up aware that the food we eat affects us. My Dad used to tell me I’d grow hairs on my chest if I ate all my cabbage! I knew that eating carrots would help me see in the dark. I figured out ginger helped digestion and lemon with honey soothed a cold.

Looking back, I’ve never been ‘mainstream’ in my beauty philosophy, but it’s only now that I truly have the confidence to step out from the crowd and follow my own beliefs. My commitment to holistic beauty therapy is more of a reawakening and rediscovery.

Did you have any moments of disillusionment with the beauty industry prior to this reawakening?

I have to admit to being side-tracked for several years by the promises and impressive claims of the wider beauty industry. I arrived in New Zealand in 1996 and it was full-swing glycolics. Salons offered harsh chemical peels and I would see skin shed like a snake. It didn’t make sense to me at all. People were praising it for eliminating pigmentation, but all I could see was how it was leaving the skin vulnerable.

Having come from a background of European facials, which focused on nourishment and relaxation, all this peel business was a big change. It was like the Emperor’s new clothing: everybody else was saying how wonderful it all was, but it just didn’t make sense to me.

What led you back to holistic beauty?

I kept looking around and thinking, ‘if all these wonder products are doing what they claim to do, why am I still seeing so many skin issues’?

When I met Janine Tait at a Beauty Tech Conference I was relieved to discover I wasn’t the only one who thought microdermabrasion wasn’t the answer to everything. Since that day I’ve come full circle back to my beauty roots. I am convinced that nature has the answers and topical care is only part of the puzzle: mind, body and soul need attention too.

What is the role of diet in holistic skincare?

The food we eat affects every single cell in the body, so it follows that eating nutritious food will optimise all aspects of our health, including skin health. Diet is always discussed during my initial consultations; most people have a pretty good idea of what they ‘should’ be eating and drinking, but there’s always room for improvement.

Clients respond best by making small, achievable changes that gradually become habit. Adding Bestow Beauty Oil to a morning smoothie for example, is a small but beneficial change that’s easy to make. I love that Bestow provides support in the form of real food supplements. You can recognise the ingredients and it’s all about supporting normal, functional health, balance and wellbeing.

How does Bestow Beauty support you professionally?

Bestow University is a great revision tool and a reference resource to have for my clients and myself. I regularly introduce clients to the Bestow Beauty Oils and encourage them to add the oil to their daily routine. I have seen brilliant improvements for clients with rosacea, eczema and peri-oral dermatitis. The new Bestow Nourishing Facial Oil is also a great product.

How have Bestow Beauty products helped you personally?

I am very much a Bestow Woman: Bestow has been brilliant for supporting my skin through hormonal changes and I use the Bestow Beauty Oil daily and alternate between different Bestow powders.

How does modern day life contribute to a culture of quick fixes in the beauty industry?

Life is often busy and stressful these days and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be ever-achieving. Women in particular have so many roles to fulfil and they will often put themselves at the bottom of the list. Stress isn’t all bad but when its unrelenting it has a negative influence on physical and mental health. Rest and wellbeing aren’t priorities and there’s a lot to distract us from being in touch with our bodies: coffee, energy drinks, surfing the web and so on.

Why is it important to you to create a peaceful atmosphere at your salon?

A calm, peaceful place gives people a mini retreat, space to breathe, valuable time when nothing is being asked of them so they can just relax. I see so many tired, frazzled people that are wired and bombarded, over-scheduled and exhausted, and not taking care of themselves. I want clients to take time for self-care, to balance stress with relaxation and recharge. We need to embrace a balance between doing and being.

How has your practice evolved to suit today’s busy client?

When people come to me for facials I get to encourage this little moment of stillness when they take a deep breath and just surrender to relaxation.In the past year I’ve focused more on the massage aspect of facials. Learning new techniques that are from Ayurvedic and Tradition Chinese philosophies has given me a whole new dimension in my treatments.  I really think about what I’m feeling in the skin and muscles of the face as I massage. The more I learn, the more I see how connected everything is, which is why the holistic approach is so vital.

What part has Janine Tait, the founder of Bestow Beauty, played in your journey?

Janine really shone a little light in a dusty corner of my mind. I’ve become more rounded and have grown more as a therapist through my experience with Bestow. Janine has the hands-on experience and is so talented at sharing her knowledge.

What do you value about your connection with the Bestow community?

I feel blessed to have stumbled upon a group of kind-hearted kindred spirits who are so open to sharing their knowledge and forging the way forward for those of us in beauty therapy who are committed to a holistic practice.

Do you have any advice for other beauty therapists wanting to embrace holistic beauty?

Practice what you preach: use the products yourself so you can understand how powerful they are. Also, use resources like Bestow University to educate your clients.

Don’t be discouraged if people don’t always follow your advice. This is a new approach for many people and they can be sceptical and take a while to make a change. Just keep learning as much as you can and gently pass this information on. Be patient, kind and consistent.

Oh, and take photos – everyone forgets what their starting point really looked like!

What does Slow Beauty mean to you?

Slow Beauty is looking at the whole picture, taking the time to rebalance the health of the skin and any underlying issues rather than just throwing a quick band-aid fix at an issue. Slow Beauty always brings to mind the Slow Food Movement – both involve a philosophy of taking your time and enjoying the process.