We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christalyne Causey. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christalyne below.

Christalyne, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.

During covid I had no choice but to pivot and find new ways to serve my clientele. What I didn’t realize is how that would come to serve me later down the road and ultimately allow me to help more people. Traditionally the aesthetics field is very hands on.

Coming from a healthcare background, I am very used to seeing people in person and working with them one on one. Even as the coaching industry moved to more of the online space, I maintained the nutrition part of my business primarily in person and only offered online consultations and zoom calls as needed. With the aesthetic side, in person treatments were what drove my business, especially since I primarily focused on acne.

Being forced to close my doors meant thinking outside the box, especially when it came to skincare. As all of my nutrition clients were transferred to online, I began to see how easy it would be to check in with skincare clients as well. Applying the same principles I would to recommending dietary changes, I began to recommend at home skincare protocols and regimens that I knew would create progress, even walking some through at home treatments. I began including more dietary recommendations to benefit the skin as well, especially for acne and other skin conditions that I was seeing crop up during this high stress time. Within a few months I had clients I had never touched before seeing the same results as those that were able to visit in clinic.

Not only did this encourage me to continue offering online consultations and protocols to future clients, it made me realize that I was not limited on how many clients I could help or their location. In addition, with the combination of my skincare, health and nutrition knowledge, I had a unique way of addressing skincare concerns from the root of the problem. There is nothing more rewarding than helping someone to find the confidence to rock the skin they are in.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I like to say I’m an over-educated science nerd with a penchant for skincare. While I have fallen in love with the beauty industry, it was not my first vocation choice and I definitely took the long road to develop a career here. As a smart kid, I followed my grandmother’s advice and pursued healthcare with every intention of becoming a medical doctor. I quickly discovered after working at a hospital for less than a year, that that particular route was not for me, though I continued on and even received my Master’s Degree because I just didn’t know what else to do.

While I was not in love with my career, it did teach me compassion, understanding and problem solving under pressure. I didn’t know it then, but I was developing skills in patient management that would serve me later in business. During this time I continued my education in nutrition and dabbled in skincare, something I thought was fun, but had no idea I could make a living at.

It wasn’t until my grandmother was diagnosed with deadly melanoma and I took a leave of absence to care for her that I began looking at alternative career paths. I was burnt out and the thought of going back into healthcare after she passed was just too much for me. While she was sick, to help her feel better and still pretty, I’d give her little mini facials, head and hand massages and just pamper her however I could. When she jokingly told me that this is what I should do for a living, I began to think I could. In a way, the same woman that told me I needed to be practical become a nurse, was the one that also steered me towards this completely impractical career as an aesthetician. Even though I received my acceptance into a PhD program shortly after she passed, I had caught the bug and also enrolled in esthetics school.

Honestly, Aesthetics was an easy transfer to me. It came very naturally. I loved helping people to feel good about themselves and solving their skin woes. The best part is people WANT to come see an aesthetician, unlike most healthcare providers, so they are usually very happy to see you. Though starting a new career while being a full time grad student wasn’t the easiest, I also was able to apply a lot of what I was learning to help my clientele as I began focusing on how to manipulate hormones and gut health with diet and solving a lot of hormonal acne issues both internally and externally.

When my step-sister was diagnosed with a type of brain tumor linked to environmental toxins, I began researching beauty products and absorption of chemicals into our blood stream. Her struggles with her skin during chemo influenced my decision to become oncology certified and really search out skincare products that were non-systemic and gentle enough for her to use. Ultimately, this led me to open my own business, Bare Aesthetics Skincare & Nutrition, where we only offer brands that are oncology safe and services that focus on addressing beauty from the inside out.

While technically, like every other esthetician, I have the standard facials, peels, microneedling etc menu. But what you get at Bare is so much more. Every consultation includes dietary recommendations, treatment plans and product recommendation. More importantly, we focus on long term goals and how certain lifestyle factors can effect our aging process and the overall health of our skin and body.

Education is the key and everyone of my clients is a full participant in their journey. I love working with families; teaching teens that what you put on your body matters as much as what you put in it, and setting everyone up for a lifetime of success; helping pregnant women navigate the their changing hormones and its effect on their skin both pre and post-partum; showing men that they deserve to have healthy skin too and how setting a good example with self-care can influence the same in their children. It’s all so rewarding.

While I took what seems to be the longest route possible to get to this point, I am so grateful for my time in healthcare and my extensive education, because of how I am able to apply that knowledge into helping my clientele today.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

When I was first starting out I was relatively new to the area and had yet to build a network of friends or business relationships since most of my time was spent studying (I was in my PhD program) or working at a corporate spa and as a nutrition coach. When my school schedule no longer allowed me to continue in the corporate field, I knew I had to get bold, break out on my own and start getting clients in the door ASAP.

It just so happened that the gym I attended, one of the only places I spent my limited free time, was bursting full of body builders with skin issues. I made it my goal to approach 2-3 a day, hand them my card and tell them I could help them with their acne. There were plenty who told me off, but I kept it up and eventually a few that took me up on my offer. Thanks to them I was able to build my portfolio and the word of mouth referrals helped me build my books. I will always be grateful to those that took a chance on me and helped me to become the local body builder’s dirty little secret to clear skin. Especially since these giant dudes were probably wondering why a scared, tiny little blonde chick was approaching them in the first place.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I had no business skills when I got started. I’ve probably done absolutely everything you can think of wrong or have learned the hard way. It wasn’t until I stumbled across Mike Michalowicz and his book Profit First that I finally started to understand how to run the financial side of business so much better. Since then I have implemented strategies from some of his other books and helped my business to run much more smoothly. I am also better at making decisions for the future of my business, whereas before, I’ll admit I winged it.

Now I actually like help other estheticians and beauty professionals understand the financial side of their business so that they can set things up successfully from the beginning. This is a piece of education that is completely lacking in our industry and would save so many, were it focused on more.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thebareeffect.com
• Instagram: @bare.aesthetics. @thecauseyeffect
• Facebook: @thebareeffect
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christalyne-causey-1164b5240/
• Twitter: @thecauseyeffect

Image Credits
these are all mine