Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins

What If Calmer Skin Starts With Fewer Products And Better Ingredients

• Nick George • Season 1 • Episode 135

Share episode

Your skin routine might be doing too much. We sat down with esthetician and studio owner Demetria Wildenstein of Skin by Demi to unpack why sensitive skin responds best to fewer products, smarter ingredients, and a patient plan that protects the barrier. Demetria brings a rare blend of experience to the table: massage therapy, cosmetology, and aesthetics licenses, years in medical settings, and two decades running a studio on South Gaylord. Her own autoimmune journey with Hashimoto’s shaped a calm-first philosophy that trades hype for results.

We explore the big traps that keep skin irritated: label marketing that overpromises, overlayered actives that overwhelm, and routines that change too fast to learn from. Demetria shares how to audit your products, read ingredient lists with purpose, and build a minimal base of cleanser, moisturizer, sunscreen, plus one targeted active. She explains when medicine helps, when gentle formulas win, and how diet, stress, and hormones play into acne and rashes. If big spas leave you tight and red, her approach to gentle facials and barrier repair offers a different path.

Beyond skincare, Demetria talks about serving a truly diverse clientele—from teens to folks in their 80s—along with accessibility in her ground-floor studio and collaborative work with dermatologists, acupuncturists, and nutrition pros. We also touch on why she favors referrals over heavy social media, how virtual consultations work for product guidance, and the confidence boost that comes from brows, lashes, and makeup done with skin health in mind. If you’ve felt stuck, overwhelmed, or skeptical of glossy claims, this conversation gives you practical steps to find calm and build a routine that lasts.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who struggles with sensitive skin, and leave a quick review to help others find it.

SPEAKER_00:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Nick George.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today I have the great pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Demetria Wildstein. Did I say it right, Demetria? It's close. And Demetria owns Skin by Demi. And I can't wait to hear about it. Tell us all about your business after pronouncing your last name correctly.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, Nick, I'm Demetria Wildenstein. It is my husband's name and it's a mouthful. Took me some time to get it used to it as well. Basically, Skin by Demi has been around and on South Gaylord. It will be 20 years in May of 2026. But I've had a long history in the industry. So I received all three licensures by 1998. So I did massage therapy, cosmetology, and aesthetics in Missouri. And that position took me traveling around the United States and landed me in Denver in 2002. So I've been here for a while, started a family, got married, decided to stay because that's where my husband's roots are. And that's put me in a whole new career path of owning my own business and working with individuals one-on-one. I've worked in doctors' offices prior to having my own studio on South Gaylord Street. But basically, I've taken all that collective information and each service is receiving part of that treatment of what I've learned over the years. So it feels accelerated and more entailed than what people are used to receiving.

SPEAKER_02:

What made you want to get into skin, get under people's skin, so to speak?

SPEAKER_01:

Honestly, that came from my family. The journey of getting ready for church in the morning and being one of the oldest and trying to get everybody out the door. So in high school, I knew I needed to earn more money. And I was working uh in the food industry at the time as a shift manager. And my family's like, You we think you should do cosmetology. So I talked to my dermatologist about it. And he said, You know, if you get that license, you could work in my office. And I'm like, What? What does that mean? And that was before aesthetics was available in Missouri. And then later I did go back and get that license too. Uh, so that was in 1994. And I just started off with that. And uh any job offer that was presented to me, I just didn't say no. I took many of them, some of them um at the same time. Like I taught courses and traveled while I managed and ran a large salon that also did uh body and skincare as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Nice. What are some myths or misconceptions in your specific niche in skincare?

SPEAKER_01:

You know what's hard about that is uh people don't like to hear that their way isn't the great way. But I would say if I were to talk about that, let's go on the general overhead of marketing, how products are marketed to people, and how confusing that is for people. So I spend a better part of my career discussing that on a daily basis. Maybe don't use that because it's this. Don't read the label, read the back, read the ingredients. And that's really a big part of the conversation topic.

SPEAKER_02:

That's a good idea. So that was food and what they put on their face, right? Absolutely, absolutely. So um what uh tell us how you uh what made you decide to just go for skin, like uh originally.

SPEAKER_01:

What my own skin. Um, I was always issued, always the sick kid in the doctor's office, always needing to take allergy meds. And later in life, it was diagnosed as Hashimoto's, but I spent 45 years trying to figure that out. So when you suffer with autoimmune, generally you deal with a lot of skin issues. It turns into acne, it turns into rashes. And from there, I pretty much working side by side with you know my dermatologist, coming up with ideas. Um, he was really helpful in a lot of ways, and some ways weren't helpful. And I tried organic and then I went down that road for a while, realized that isn't 100%. And so it's a big meld of the two areas. Sometimes we need med, sometimes we need just gentle organic or a couple of ingredients to get us there. And with my own journey and keeping my own skin from being inflamed, that is basically what I brought to others. And I ended up having a name in that sensitivity field, and I get a lot of referrals in that format. So that way I can give a nice, gentle facial to a person that has a hard time at a larger day spa. Or um they might turn around and say, when I leave, my skin feels tight and red. And I'm like, yeah, they missed the mark. They just didn't know how sensitive you are and what you need for that facial. So that's really what I share with a lot of my clients, along with, you know, here's how I changed my diet. Here's some of the people locally that I talk to and work with, you know, try this acupuncturist, try this internist. Um, here's someone that can help you get your diet set into place. So things like that, just collaborating with others, and then those others collaborate with me on the skin front. Let's try real basic. Um, maybe we're using too many things on our skin and we just need two. So a lot of times it's about removing things and just putting something new into their hands. And I think from my own struggles, it really helped me learn an area I wouldn't have understood had I not gone through it myself.

SPEAKER_02:

So um how are you marketing yourself currently in the digital atmosphere? And uh who is your target market?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm not. I lose time. I lose time uh having those opportunities. I do try to get something out to Instagram. It would be great if I could do once a month. Facebook, sometimes I can do that a little faster, a little easier, uh, just because the styles are different and I know those are different resources. I am not real excited about taking time to do videos. This is really easy for me because me talking to someone else feels like I'm sitting in my own studio doing what I do all day long. So uh this is easy. But if I were to just flip a screen around on my face, eek, I'm not really into that. Um I just like to focus on the work and the people that are coming in. So right now, I wouldn't say I have a big digital marketing. People learn about me through referrals of another person. They look at my reviews, uh, scary if they probably see my medias, and then they might turn around and go, I'm calling her because this is really working for this person. So that's generally how it's happening. I could pick up. Who's your target market? I honestly, everybody, I work on people that are 13 to 80 in their 80s. Uh, if they're mobile and they can walk into the studio and park on crazy South Gaylord Street, they are welcome to come in. Um, we are one floor, so I do see people that um need extra help or, you know, easier parking facilities. There's only a few spots on the block, but uh we always try to make it work and I make sure that I can get them in. Um, you know, I deal with people that are hearing impaired, blind, um, or they just joint and they need assistance with a walker or cane. Um, I see people that are, you know, very capable and ride a bike over and ride a bike back home that are in the neighborhood. I see people that are coming down from the mountains uh to see me when they're in town. But as far as my market goes, anybody who is interested in having help with their skin or just freshening up. And I do do lashes and eyebrows and makeup. So sometimes I'm like right now, the day after Thanksgiving, I'm teaching someone um how to have their look for their website. So I'm working with a photographer and um a business consultant designer, and the three of us are pulling together for this person on her business and her new look. And so that is outside of my studio. I go to them for that to get that look going for her.

SPEAKER_02:

Have you ever thought about doing your own podcast?

SPEAKER_01:

No, it sounds like more work.

SPEAKER_02:

What do you do here it is? What do you do for fun?

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, if it were scheduled in, I feel like I'm pretty good with a schedule. So if somebody gives me enough time, I put anything down and block everybody else out. I mean, that's how I get to sit with you today. But basically, uh, that sounds like fun. I know nothing about it.

SPEAKER_02:

What do you do for fun when you're not doing this?

SPEAKER_01:

I love to dance with my husband. Uh, he taught me how to swing dance 20 years ago. And that is just something I really enjoy. Um, my son's a musician. We just got back from listening him to play in a nice speak easy in Bozeman, Montana, doing all of his own music. And I absolutely, you know, that's a heart throb because I get to do two things. I get to dance and see my son perform on stage, and I love that. Um, and then just spending time with friends and family. I don't say no to anything. I've let people teach me how to rock climb. I've had people showing me how to uh snowshoe and cross country. I downhilled before I came here, so I knew that prior to moving, but uh to Colorado. Honestly, I just I like adventures. And um most of the time I'm a yes person than a no person when it comes to an offer of let's have a good time.

SPEAKER_02:

Jenny, um, what are the what's the big takeaway that you want people to take away from this interview today?

SPEAKER_01:

I I want people to not be too stressed out about their skin. Uh their skin can heal, their lashes can heal, their brows can heal. Uh, there's a lot of amazing things out there that we can use. And if they need help with that, I do offer video calls to talk to people about what works for them. Sometimes they're just buying it around where they can find it. It's not always necessarily from me because the world has changed the way that they shop. And I am no dummy not to move with that. So I allow those opportunities to them where they can find deals. I give them suggestions. I want them to know that they are not stuck in the situation they're in right now. They can have help, and I would love to be there for them if they're ready for that.

SPEAKER_02:

What are all of the ways that people can find you in the digital world and by phone? Skin by demi?

SPEAKER_01:

Definitely, phone is fastest. Text messaging calls I can usually return within three to seven hours. Um, emails can take me 24 to 72 hours, just depending on what's happening in that three days. It isn't uncommon that I can work three 12-hour shifts in a row. So I focus on who's in front of me and already on the book. And then I definitely um tinker down the list as time opens up for me and I respond from there. What is your phone number? 303-842-4733. And your website? Demi D-E-M-I faces F-A-C-E-S dot com.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, Demi, it was a pleasure um interviewing you today, and we definitely wish you and Skin by Dimmy the very best moving forward.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, thanks, Nick. I really appreciate that you do this. This is amazing what you're doing. And I I'm glad I got to be a part of it. Thanks for reaching out.

unknown:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gmpfortcollins.com. That's gmpfortcollins.com or call nine seven zero four three eight zero eight two five.