Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Delaware County, PA (Delco"") and the surrounding Philadelphia Metro Region.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Esthetics by Irene Whitacre: Caring for Skin Care Clients in Her Community
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Esthetics by Irene Whitacre: Caring for Skin Care Clients in Her Community
Can a high school passion evolve into a thriving skincare business? Join us for an enriching conversation with Irene Whitacre, founder of Aesthetics by Irene, as Irene shares her inspiring journey from cosmetology student to licensed esthetician. In this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast Irene walks us through her profession, offering insights into the range of services she provides, beginning with facials and skincare treatments, while emphasizing the critical nature of licensing and state regulations in maintaining professional standards. Listen as our Host, Bob Blaisse, asks Irene to explain how she fulfills her commitment to serving a diverse clientele, including men, women and teens, all while nurturing her passion for skincare that brings out the better image of her clients.
Beyond Irene's personal story, as an esthetician with professional skills to improve the look and health of skin, Irene shares how she can also help enhance the eyes through eyelash and eyebrow treatments and hair removal. You'll hear how local businesses shape the communities they serve, and this episode celebrates the impact of one such business: Aesthetics by Irene, in Broomall, PA, that serves the Delaware County, PA community and beyond through good business practices as a Good Neighbor Business.
Whether you're a skincare enthusiast or someone who enjoys supporting local businesses, this conversation promises engaging conversation, and may inspire you to nominate your favorite local business owner to be a guest on an upcoming episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast for making a tangible difference every day.
Aesthetics by Irene
https://estheticsbyirene1.glossgenius.com
Call - 610-457-2292
--- About The Show--- Good Neighbor Podcast is a spotlight on local businesses in and around Delaware County, PA (“Delco” ) and Beyond... The executive producer and host, Bob Blaisse, is a community sponsorship advocate, business branding specialist, and publisher of several hometown magazines, including: Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, Marple Friends & Neighbors and Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, mailed monthly to more than 12,000 homes in Western Delaware County, PA, and also available for reading online.
Aesthetics by Irene
Speaker 1Hello, Delco. This is Michael Barkan, welcoming you to the Good Neighbor Podcast, where fans of local businesses and their neighbors come together. It's my pleasure once again to introduce my friend and neighbor, our host Bob Lacey.
Speaker 2Thank you very much, michael Barkan, for that introduction, and welcome again to the Good Neighbor Podcast. This is a podcast program where we aim to bring good neighbor businesses to the listeners. And who are the listeners? Well, all over could be the world, but we call the Good Neighbor Podcast Delco after our county here in Delaware County, pennsylvania, in the Southeast corner of Pennsylvania, just north of the state of Delaware and just south of the city of Philadelphia, delaware County, one of the older regions of really the United States. Frankly, william Penn sailed up the Delaware River and landed really in Delaware County to begin his way on to Philadelphia, which he founded, and certainly the founder of Pennsylvania as well.
Speaker 2The Delaware County that we're talking about here is the Delaware County that is also home of many good businesses, really good neighbor businesses that really function in a great way because they're part of the community and they want to help the community, and our job here is to bring them to your attention. So let me do that right away by bringing to the stage a guest that we have tonight, irene Whitaker, who is really the owner and founder of Aesthetics by Irene. Welcome to the program, irene.
Speaker 3Hi Bob, Thank you for having me. Well, it's great to be here.
Speaker 2Well, thank you, and you can thank the person who nominated your business. The business is called Aesthetics by Irene, and I have to think that you are the Irene that does the aesthetics. But, irene, some of us out here, some listeners, may not really be sure what that means. Does it have something to do with art, or does it have something to do with architecture? Or does it have something to do with, I mean, is it aesthetics with an E or aesthetics with an A? Let me ask what is the aesthetics that you're involved with and what's your title? Are you an esthetician, then?
Speaker 3So I'm a licensed esthetician and it can go either way. It can be spelled with the A or without the A.
Speaker 2As an esthetician, does that have to do with makeup facial? Is that what I think I'm hearing here?
Speaker 3Facials, makeup, skincare, waxing, so anything to do with the body or the skin on the face.
Speaker 2So if you were to call yourself an esthetician and I would think that you know, I've seen a lot of say let's say, women that really know how to use makeup a lot, they look great in public. They might think that they're all estheticians of their own doing, but in this case you're you're really an esthetician to others and I would think that that would mean being in business means being licensed. Do you need to take any kind of licensure to be able to perform these services for others?
Speaker 3Yeah, absolutely so. I took a state board test after school. I went to school in New Jersey. It was about 600 hours Then. I became licensed with a permit and then I took a test through the state board. Then I became an esthetician.
Speaker 2So then, similar to someone maybe wanting to cut hair they could probably be. Somebody can cut hair, and if you want to cut your family member's hair or you want to cut your neighbor's hair, bring them on over. But the minute that you're setting yourself up to be in business to provide these services, that's where the state comes in and says well, we're going to make sure that, first of all, you're following state laws about what services you can and cannot do and charge for, and that you're following all the rules of good business, which would be, you know, having safety procedures and insurance and being able to kind of exactly know and be trained to do what you do and do it so well. So let's start with how you first stumbled into this. Are you, are you from a family that did this? Did you want to always aspire to this when you were in high school, or did you get into it later in life?
Speaker 3So I went into high school into cosmetology class but I always hated doing hair. It just wasn't my thing. And back then we're talking over 20 years ago aesthetics was not what it is now. It wasn't popular. People weren't talking about facials, they only had smaller day spas. So I was kind of influenced to go the hair route for a little bit and then I ended up going back to skin school about 10 years later.
Speaker 2And so we've focused in now on skin. So you would say that would be more of the operative, foundational part of the work that you do, working with the skin and should we just get this out of the way skin of both ladies and men as well.
Speaker 3Absolutely.
Speaker 2Not usually children.
Speaker 3No children can come too. I do a lot of teen facials.
Speaker 2To try to help, say, youth with facial acne and such.
Speaker 2Well then, if we know now that it's both genders men and women, children across the board there and we're talking about the skin, I guess we have to drill down to say, well, what does that all include? So help us understand. Obviously it means facials, but maybe you want to kind of elaborate on that and then go from there. When it comes to the services that I guess we could see right. They're probably all listed on your website and, for those who are listening to us on this episode, we have Irene Whitaker, who is the owner and the founder of Aesthetics by Irene, and you can look at her website at aestheticsbyirene1.glossygeniuscom. I love that URL, aestheticsbyirene1.glossygeniuscom, and I've seen it. But for our benefit of our listeners, irene, share with us what you know not just a day, but maybe a week or a month might mean in the varied services that you would perform for your client.
Speaker 3So a facial is when you come in and you have a skin care concern, and that can range from blackheads Sometimes you get them on your nose, sometimes you know various places you could have dry skin, aging skin, sagging skin or acne and you come in and we sit with you and we discuss your goals and figure out exactly what it is that you need and how I can help you.
Speaker 2In that kind of talking about skin in those particular areas. Are you then solving the problem with treatments that include products of solutions you know, oils or some kind of cleansing products, or is it more type of machinery or technology that's going to work on solving these problems?
Speaker 3So both. Yeah, it really just depends upon the client's skin and what they need at that moment. I always do a consultation when they come in, because the skin changes with the seasons diet, stress, hormones, a double cleanse and then I'm doing an exfoliation process. That can be with chemicals such as a peel or a microdermabrasion machine, or it can be with, say, a pumpkin product, which is really popular right now for fall, and then we usually go into extractions getting out the blackheads. Getting out the blackheads, unclogging the pores and then massage of the skin. It's very stress relieving. It's also really good for muscle tension in your face which can give you a glow. It can help you look younger.
Speaker 2Well, tell me when someone has these services and really what we're talking about. Let me represent anybody that's listening right now who's never had a facial, and I'm one of them. Let me ask when someone goes through that facial process and after this interview and what you recommend and they say let's do it and whether it includes cleansers or massaging or chemicals or some kind of technology, lasers or you know lighting, do they leave really looking different right away, or is it something that their face has to kind of grow into for several days before it kind of the glow comes back?
Speaker 3So the glow is usually instantaneous. I do a signature glow facial where I use serums, toners and oils at the end so that you leave with that refreshed look. Your skin looks better, you look more hydrated, you look more youthful.
Speaker 2And you probably look happier because you're looking so much better. I mean, let's face it everyone, that the look that we take in public sometimes we see first in the mirror and if we're not happy with it we're thinking others aren't happy with it and then we just kind of take that less than glow out into our public meetings. But when it seems that a facial would be called for and someone like Irene from Aesthetics by Irene is able to perform a facial, I think what you're trying to tell us, irene, is that you're performing a service for your clients that brings out the better version of themselves.
Speaker 3Absolutely yeah, that's my favorite part.
Speaker 2So I can't help but think that this is a great gift for people too. I mean, you probably, around the holidays, are selling gift cards to your clients, who want to give this same gift of a better version of yourself to their friends and family too. It's probably how you pick up even more clients, yeah.
Speaker 3Right, so I'm doing a Black Friday gift card special. Spend $100 on a gift card and get a $25 one for free. So you can either use it or give it away.
Speaker 2Hey, irene, you're an anesthetician, you're my esthetician. What would be the next thing they might say? You know, geez, you helped me with this, could you also help me with that?
Speaker 3What would be some of the other services that are offered by your business. So I also, like I mentioned before, I do the chemical peels. That would be a service that would be after your first facial, usually for sunspots, aging, skin, acne, scarring. And then I also do nano-needling. Here I do dermaplaning.
Speaker 2So those things all are special treatments that are used for various reasons and still staying we're still on the skin there, but we're now we're bringing it out in more of a brighter way or maybe a more permanent way, and kind of working on a better foundation to go deeper and bring out maybe more longer term success.
Speaker 3Absolutely so. We're getting all that damage off the top layer of skin, bringing out the front sure younger skin underneath.
Speaker 2So, as someone is, you know, getting this accomplished and feeling good about it and their look is improved. From their point of view and likely the people that they meet then, from the perspective of a male here who's not used to coming into places like that where you know this kind of facial work's done, what else is going on in the back room? What are these other services that ladies or men would require and maybe there are services you could do at home yourself. You can probably get peels and put them on, but it's better when a professional like Irene from Aesthetics by Irene is performing it. What else are they asking you to perform for them as a professional esthetician?
Speaker 3So I do a lot of bikini waxes, leg waxes, eyebrows, lash lifts, lash tints brow lamination.
Speaker 2You've got to explain some of that, because I have no idea what the difference between a brow lift and a lash lift or whatever else you mentioned there. Give us an idea how the eyes are worked on.
Speaker 3So a lash lift is like a perm for your eyelashes. It gives them a nice curl and holds them up in place. So you need less makeup.
Speaker 2And darker color.
Speaker 3And darker color.
Speaker 2Right, so kind of a permanent for your eyelashes.
Speaker 3Semi-permanent? Yeah, it lasts about four to six weeks.
Speaker 2And then what would be this eyebrow lift?
Speaker 3So the brow lamination is also a perm for your brows, where it straightens them so that you can brush them into place. So it's good for unruly brows.
Speaker 2And is that what I see sometimes, that to me look like something's been added to the brow, like almost like a thickening of the brow somehow? What is that called?
Speaker 3Oh, that would be micro bleeding, which I don't do here.
Speaker 2But I do know a good person that does that it's almost like tattooing brows or something like that.
Speaker 3Yes, yes, that's definitely permanent.
Speaker 2So when it comes to the eyes, we're now a little bit away from the skin. But now eyes. We've talked about the eyelashes and the eyebrows. Anything else in the eye area?
Speaker 3Eyebrow waxing.
Speaker 2Okay, so that's kind of getting the eyebrows in some kind of shape, that, and get them to stay there for a while, because the hairs that would normally be plucked out are plucked out at the root.
Speaker 3Right, exactly Hair removal.
Speaker 2Good, so I'm learning a lot. I mean, you know, I'm wondering how all these beautiful women that I see, you know, during the day, get beautiful. And now I know what some of these secrets are. And for you ladies that are out there, if you are in Delaware County, or in Delaware County and beyond, you really should take a chance to meet Irene aesthetics by Irene, which is located in the Lawrence Park Shopping Center in Broomall, pennsylvania, right on Sproul Road 21,. It's 2199, is it, or what was that address on Sproul Road?
Speaker 31991.
Speaker 2Oh, I'm sorry, 1991 Sproul Road. And what's interesting is, irene has her business in the my Salon Suites, which is kind of like a mall of kind of salon shops where they're smaller but they're grouped together, and in the shopping center at Lawrence Park is my Salon Suites and Irene is suite 203B for Aesthetics by Irene. And if you'd like to reach out and speak to Irene, let me give the phone number too, if you don't mind, irene. The number for Irene Whitaker, the Irene of Aesthetics by Irene, is 610-457-2297. You can get a chance to speak with Irene Whitaker or if you'd like to go to her website again, as I mentioned earlier, the website there is the Aesthetics by Irene and then the number one, dot glossy genius dot com. That's genius, great website, irene.
Speaker 2We're coming to a close here on the episode of the Good Neighbor podcast and I just want to ask one other thing. You mentioned Christmas giving. You mentioned how this you know, the services really bring out the better version of ourselves and our looks and really it makes people feel good about themselves. Their hair removal. Well, that I think it goes without question. You know, most people ladies, I think, don't like to be shaving their legs but like to have it all over with at one time and these kind of services are just known to women and understood. But it's a place where you can go and you take care of the things that can be taken care of quicker and faster and better. I guess is a good way of saying it right Absolutely and making people beautiful.
Local Business Feature Nomination Invitation
Speaker 2Irene, you're performing a service in the community, a good neighbor business, no doubt bringing out the better version of people's selves when they want to feel better about themselves and looks aren't everything, but they can really get you further down the path and bringing out the the healthier look and the better feelings that people have inside. Thank you for being a guest on the good neighbor podcast today. You've did a great job and I'm really glad you brought this subject to our listeners.
Speaker 3Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2It was great.
Speaker 1Thanks. Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast hosted by Bob Lacey. This is Michael Barkan inviting everyone to get on the Good Neighbor team. Nominate your favorite local business to be featured on an upcoming episode by going to gnddelcocom or by calling Bob at 610-557-3745.