Skin Science: Facial Peels, Micro-Needling, and Aging Gracefully with Melanie Paul in Marlow

In this episode of Monte Carlo to Marlow, host Krista Madden speaks to expert aesthetic practitioner Melanie Paul to explore her fascinating career transition from history enthusiast to medical-grade skin health expert. Melanie breaks down why she prioritises targeted active ingredients over high-street luxury brands, the science behind chemical peels and professional micro-needling, and her unique diagnostic approach incorporating blood work and DNA analysis. 

We also take a look at Melanie's life outside the clinic, covering her passion for historical martial arts, her unique Balinese massage techniques, and her favorite local recommendations right here in Marlow. Whether you are considering your first professional facial treatment or looking to optimise your home skincare routine, this conversation offers a comprehensive, trusted guide to holistic, non-invasive aging.

Key Takeaways

• Medical Over Glamour: True skin rejuvenation relies on clinical active ingredients and custom protocols rather than expensive, over-the-counter beauty branding.
• The At-Home Danger: Using DIY micro-needling rollers can cause severe skin tearing, hyperpigmentation, and clinical infections; depth and sterility must be managed professionally.
• Sun Protection is Non-Negotiable: UV rays penetrate windows and clouds, meaning daily SPF application must extend beyond the face to the neck and hands.
• Holistic Aging: Long-term skin health combines targeted clinical treatments with internal biological health, active lifestyles, and consistent routines.

Connect with Melanie https://www.melaniepaulaesthetics.co.uk/

keywords, #facialpeels #microneedling #skinspecialist #melaniepaulmarlow #marlowbeauty #beautytreatments

Follow us on
Instagram: @montecarlotomarlow
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwVSEldi1G2_w_mgaGkFmJA

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hello, welcome to Monte Carlo to Marlo. Great to see you, Krista. Good to see you, Mal. Welcome to the podcast. Where do we find you today? Because I know you're Marlowe based. I am in Marlowe and I'm actually at home. I'm having the day off, so I'm taking things easy. Your salon is it's just in Liston Court for people that do locally know the area. Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

It's just above the healthy food stuff. So it's just on the first floor, and I've been based there I think for about seven, eight months now.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Yes. Yeah, because you were you were near the tattoo lounge before, so you've always stayed quite local. But before you came to Marlowe, let's go way back. Let's go back to your inspiration to working in the skin industry because I know you, so I also know your experiences. I love that you were actually interested in another topic before. Talk to me about what you thought you were gonna do when you were at school.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

I wanted to become a historian. I absolutely love history and I pictured myself as a 12-year-old. I was 12 years of age and I got really into history, and I thought this is what I'm gonna do. And um, it turned out to be my hobby today, but yeah, that was my big dream because I just love Renaissance, Italian, English medieval history. So it's a big, big passion of mine, and um yeah, it's yeah, that's what I want it to be.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

It is a hobby, isn't it? It's still something that you go to and you're interested in now. Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

So I do a lot of historical martial arts. I'm I'm currently out of action at the moment due to an injury, but yes, I volunteered at Hampton Core Palace for a long time because I love the Tudors, I love British history, and yeah, so I'm still involved in that. That's my escapism.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

A little secret. So uh so talk to me about how you got into wanting to get into the beauty industry.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Okay, so basically, what happened is as a very, very young girl, I used to visit a lot of perfumeries with my mother, and I loved, so you remember this, the good old adverts and comparons, all these ladies with beautiful skin and their lipsticks, and always I loved it. So at some point, um, I think I was 16, 17 years of age, I had actually an infection on my skin, which I caught at the hairdressers, and it turned out really, really bad. I was for months on end, I was on antibiotics, I was on steroids, and I just couldn't battle it. So obviously I was devastated, especially at that kind of age.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Totally, totally. And getting also or wanting to go into you know into the world and studying and everything, so that wasn't great. And then um a teacher of mine had a car crash, and basically what happened is that she flew through the window, sadly, and it cut her face quite drastically. So there was a lot of scarring present. And I thought, how can you fix this? There must be a way that you can fix this because I always visited the perfumeries and everything, so I thought, I wonder if creams can do this. What's actually possible to fix this? And one thing led to another with my own skin, and I thought, this is my path, this is what I'm gonna do. And here I am since 1994.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Does does your teacher know that that was something that led you to be into the notion?

SPEAKER_00 3:30

No, no, unfortunately not, because she was back in Germany and um she she never knew, but possibly if I would see her one day, I would probably approach her and tell her, if I'm back in Germany and I would bump into her, I would tell her most definitely, because I had an amazing past.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

It changed her life.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

So, how did you go about training and what was your path to get to where you are now? What kind of products? You said you're looking at Lancombe and Clarence, obviously, all those glamorous makes. Was there a particular skincare range that you were attracted to?

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Not really, it was quite difficult. I mean, I loved it, don't get me wrong, I loved the smells and everything, but when you go back to my story and thinking of my teacher's skin, with all these glamorous products, when we're talking about ingredients, it doesn't cut the mustard. It just it just doesn't. So for me, it was more an interest in the medical active skin ter uh sorry, skincare um ingredients and also talking acids like glycolic acid, salicylic, um, things which are working on a different level on the skin rather than on the surface, in order to actually do repair the skin. So that's that's why I've chosen the path, what actually penetrates the skin from a molecular weight.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

And you are super science-y, aren't you, Mal? Because you also um are you work on in other ways with blood, with DNA. We'll just touch upon it briefly because I think it really enhances the knowledge that you have about skin and the way the body works. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

I um I'm a trained phlebotomist, and um, as you said, without going too much into detail, so I work for toxicology um a couple of times a week for for DNA, and that gets reported to court. So super, super interesting. Love it. But also when it comes to phlebotomy, that's that's why I liked it really, because previously I did uh plasma treatments with the doctors I worked, and so obviously that came quite handy to be a phlebotomist.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

I think that's what makes me trust you even more because obviously a lot of what you know we go to now as we get a little bit older, a lot of things are quite invasive. I know you do microneedling and peels, which a lot of people could be quite nervous of. But I would much rather come to someone like you that has your experience than maybe a salon with a young trainee, no disrespect to young girls. But I do believe that you want somebody that has experienced all kinds of clients to know the outcomes and to know how to deal with any problems or issues that might come along. When did you start doing the peels and the microneedling? Because I know that's what you're mostly known for, really.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

God, I think Chris, we're talking about peels over 20 years ago. I was an international trainer for a big, big chemical peel brand, which I absolutely adored. I've I've learned so much just by working with Michelle at the time. It really showed me the power of chemical peels, of what can be achieved in clinic, working with low pH is because it's all about the pH. So there's people talking about, oh yeah, that's the percentages, but it depends on the pH, on the molecular weight, um, what acid it is, because as you know yourself, you've been so long in the industry, glycolic has a different molecular weight than salicylic or citrate, etc. And I could really tell what these peels can achieve, where they actually can go, and the outcome, the results. And I thought this is absolutely fantastic, especially when it comes to sun damage and things like that, when people don't want to go down the invasive route. So there's there's a lot which can be done with chemical peels. The same with microneedling, releasing growth factors from the skin, your very own growth factors. So hence why I've always been into microneedling, which I've been doing over a decade. It's my personal baby. I love doing it, achieving incredible results. Yeah, it's that's what I like doing. I'm more specialized, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

I know. That's what but that's what's great. I think it's best to be specialized because people then know that they're coming to someone who really knows what they're doing rather than just the broader beauty therapist. So if someone hasn't had appeal before and is really worried about what appeal means, talk through what happens when you're applying a facial peel to someone who's never had one before for the first time.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Okay. Now, I would say it's not so straightforward because Chris, that happened to me many times where I send clients away for two, three, four weeks, yeah, um, after they had their consultation, because a medical consultation and covering their lifestyle is absolutely essential to me. I don't do anything or apply anything to the skin before I covered that. It's just because obviously we need to make sure your barrier function isn't tucked off the skin. What do you do with your skin? Are you using medication? Because there's so many, so much medication which sensitizes your skin, right? So they are all factors to take into consideration. Then I perform a patch test. Unless somebody's saying, well, I use my retinol three nights a week, I'm using glycolic, and they're using active skincare already, then I think, okay, we're just taking it quite easy. But I prefer to do a patch test to my clients and prepare the skin. So maybe they go away with a lactic acid or a glycolic. Depends what they need. It's always down to the individual. So that's quite important for me because your skin, and you know this, Chris. Well, we talked so many times, your skin is a living organ, it's nothing to be played with, it's not a canvas, yeah, and it battles so many things on a daily basis, the environment. So there's many, many factors coming into play when you're applying peels. And I want to make sure that my clients get off the treatment bed, hasn't got a reaction, and we get the best possible outcome.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

So there's a little process, yeah. And so I know that because I've had I've had two peels with you now, and I know that the first one you see you left it on for short, and then the second one a little bit longer. So it's it is a process that you that's why you've got so many clients that come to you so regularly, because they know that each time they might be just getting better, better results because you know what happened last time and you can kind of push it further safely.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Yeah, that's right. It's and this is like you said yourself, you experienced that um yourself in in my treatments, because there are certain protocols, of course, but what I absolutely love, and that's in particular with the brand I'm using, is that you have your very own protocol. And I think I work with 16 different protocols. So if let's just say one of your friends would come and say, Oh yeah, Krista had this peel, I want the same, but she hasn't got your beautiful skin, she maybe have a different concern. So we need to make sure with all the questions that we're gonna choose the right peel and the right treatment plan for her because her skin is unique. So that there's a process in place.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

What kind of results would you say somebody would expect if they had one peel? Or, you know, obviously you would have dyed as having a course to get better results, but what are people expecting to happen once they've had their peel? What kind of results do you tell them? I walked away and I had just like shiny, glowing skin, it wasn't red, there was no reaction, and for the next few days it just got better and better, there was no flakiness. Um I loved it. I absolutely loved it. Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Um, you know, as as you rightly said so, a cause is always better. And I always explained that to my clients in order to change their skin, you need to commit to treatments, you need to commit to your home care because it all works together. Yes, by all means, um, I had clients before. Um, we just recently had the pub in the park, they said, Well, I need my skin to look good. So they had a mini peel the week before, their skin's looking great, the skin is glowing, so makeup sits nicely. But in order to really reduce pigmentation, fine lines, wrinkles, correcting sun damage, you really look in into treatment plans. And I I always want to be honest about this because I'm, as you know, not that practitioner who's instant gratification. I don't do fillers and Botox, something I never decided to do. With me, it's it you're in the long game. So I'm I'm the one where my clients come to mile, I don't want Botox, I don't want fillers, I want to look great, but then I have to tell them this is a process, this doesn't happen overnight. And sometimes we even look in at two years. So it's a journey, it's totally a journey. Again, your skin is a living organ and it will respond how it wants to respond.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

When you say it depends on home care, what would you you give as advice for people if they can't even come to see you for appeal? But what's your optimum home care that you think people should be doing to look after their skin the best they can at home if they can't afford any extra treatments?

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Okay, that's that's that's a fair question. So basically, there is I'm I'm an endorser of retinol. Most of my clients personally are on retinol. Um, we we change the dosages because the skincare I'm using is is prescriptive. You can't order it online. So I constant monitoring their skin. Sometimes they just come in for consultation, but having a decent mild cleanser, right? Sunscreen, absolutely non-negotiable, especially when you work with active ingredients, because we resurfacing, we're renewing the skin. So maybe your retinol, and then we bring in in an acid, depending on your skin concern. Um, if somebody's been bothered by pigmentation but loves to be outside all the time, we're probably looking into azaleic, for example. Um, again, depends on their lifestyle. What I'm a big fan of, and I truly do believe in it, is um the power of antioxidants. And I'm talking not just your your vitamin C, really, um, there's products I'm working with. Um, I don't want to promote it as such, but I truly believe in it. That's why I want to mention it. And it's called Restart Serum, where it has high potency of antioxidant activity. So you're basically neutralizing oxidative stress in your skin on a daily basis. And when you use it daily in your skin, obviously we need to make sure the formulation is right when it comes to the molecular weight. Does it penetrate the lipids in the skin? Then obviously neutralizing free radical attack from the skin, which causes, as you know, a huge harm, leading to lines, wrinkles, pigmentation, because free radical uh attack ultimately attacks your own DNA, it attacks your collagen, your elasticity in your skin. So that's that's something I would most definitely recommend.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

What about you mentioned collagen there? What do you think about collagen supplements taking things orally?

SPEAKER_00 14:41

I personally, and you're absolutely right. So this is um opinion split very much on the market. And I recently tried a product for three, four months, which has been recommended to me, and my skin was a little bit more supple, I must admit. Um, and my hair started to become thicker and my nails got stronger. But that's my very own. Yeah, and that's that's what I've noticed. And accordingly to that, that in particular product, I've been actually recommending it to my clients who have aesthetic treatment done to support the process of what I'm doing in clinic. So for me, I can only talk about myself in this. I had so far so good experience with it.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Yeah, it's personal. So it's always that thing of you don't know actually, because I do take other supplements as well, is that actually what is doing the most work. So do you take any other supplements for the skin?

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Not well, not for the skin in particular. I mean, I take my zinc, I take vitamin C, min D, that's what I do. I'm not um I'm not really into supplements as such. I I try to have a healthy diet, except my sugar comes down to, yes, you know. But um other than that, I know. When you walk into Lawrence, right? Uh or Lawrence, sorry, I should say, hi Mel chocolate nothing today, you think, oh god, I've got a reputation, right? Uh but yes, so um supplements, I don't do that much. It's just really zinc, vitamin C and some vitamin Bs but and iron, but other than that, not really.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Yeah. And and so obviously we said like SPF is key. And so many people don't understand or just think that you're being extremely ridiculous that you need to wear SPF on days that aren't sunny. So, as somebody who is a professional, what would you say to people about SPF?

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Right. I basically sometimes I just put in some scientific facts where 70% of radiation still comes through the clouds, even as a if it's a dark day gray. Krista, it's not only that, isn't it? You will be sitting in your house. For those who're sitting at home working on the computer, they're sitting near a window. UVA, right? UVA penetrates glass. The sun doesn't do that, UV Bay doesn't, UVB doesn't do that, but UVA does. And it targets your skin. It doesn't matter if the day is is gray, sunny, raining, or you know, it it doesn't really depend on the weather condition as such. It penetrates the deeper layers of your skin, which causes aging, of course.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

But also if you're sat in a car, when you think you've got so much blood around.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

And actually, good example. I can't believe I'm showing you this, but it's sort of food. As you know, I live 26 years in England now. I'm driving, of course, on the left side, not like in Germany anymore, like on the right. This hand, I've got pigmentation, and in this one I haven't. And that's just a classical example from driving what can actually happen. And if you really want to protect your skin, because obviously you wear your sunscreen, that only protects you for so long. If you really want to be diligent when it comes to anti-aging, protecting your skin, it's not just about aging, it's about skin cancer of a BCC, you know, when you have um skin cancers, etc. Because you want to protect your skin from the environment, because you, as you just rightly said, so we're always looking into our supplements, we're looking into juicing, and to our diets. People go into a health farm, and then when they come being 40, 50 years of age, and I see there's a lot on my treatment bed, but they don't look after their skin. Your largest organ, an organ which is incredibly busy of protecting yourself, but it's not well looked after.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

And they also just stop here. They're not really, you know, the the neck is so thin and here as well. And the hands, our hands age quicker than our face, don't they? But I know that I don't put my SPF or I put my SPF on my hands, but then you wash your hands so often that it can't wash it.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

You apply it every two hours. You know, if you want full protection, as we generally say across the board, every two hours you should reapply it. With some creams, it's not possible. But again, there's brushes these days with SPF, so just do the best you can to protect your skin.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Yeah, absolutely. So you you talked through some more details about the peels, but let's get on to one of your favorite subjects, microneedling. Yes. Now it always sounds more scary, and so many people are doing microneedling at home. So talk about, if that's safe, what your opinion is about people doing this at home, but also again, what the process is of microneedling. Is it painful? Does it hurt? Is there a downtime? What's your consultation process with someone who wants to come and have that treatment with you?

SPEAKER_00 19:35

No, no, no home treatments, no home treatments. There's so many people know that you can get these home. Yes, working on the same thing. Yes. And yeah, no, totally. Um, there's a lot of people who are are doing it at home. And you know, you can buy the devices anywhere, if it's Amazon and God knows what. So obviously, it depends also on the little devices you are buying. And mind you, back in the day, if we talk uh Dr. Fernandez, for example, from Environ, he was a big endorser of microneedling and he sold them or gave them to his clients too. However, I think you have to be very, very sensible with it when you do it at home, in order when it comes to cross-contamination, if it comes to accumulation of bacteria, what is your environment like? Is it clean? You are causing ultimately a micro trauma to the skin. So if you're not hygienic, things are gonna happen. Also, if you don't needle correctly, you may tear your skin, you're causing more harm than anything. That's why personally, um, and I'm not saying every person out there is the same. I'm sure there's ladies who are doing a wonderful job, and I'm sure they looked into this, how they may be gonna do it, I've got some advice. But to me, as a professional, if you want proper micro needling done um in a safe, clean, sterile environment, you have to come and see us in clinic. When it comes to the actual process, downtime is very much reduced these days, I would say, because of the size of the needle. So I'm I'm using gauge 33, which is a super, super tiny needle. There's a little needle chamber, it contains 16 little needles, and the device I'm using pierces up to 2200 microchannels into the skin. It's super fast, it has oscillation speed four. Um, I call it my little bumblebee, and um some of my clients say, oh, it's a Formula One race now, but because it's just so fast, and I try to be fast with it because it can be uncomfortable, and it depends on the needle depth, Krista, because when it comes to the penetration, because obviously there's measures where people say, I do a lot of scar repair treatment, a lot of it. And so I have to go deeper in order to release growth factors from the skin. And that is you feel it. I don't want to say it's painful, painful, but it's very, very uncomfortable. If you need a little bit more surface, it's not that painful, but there's also sensitive areas around the eyes, around the lip area. And it depends on the individual. I have some clients, they just don't care, they don't move. And some ooh- ooh-ooh, it this is a little bit more. Yeah, we've all got our different pain thresholds, haven't they?

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Yeah, absolutely. For instance, people that do waxing. I prefer the needling, to be honest. A bikini wax and childbirth is like where does it come on that scale? Yeah, I had both.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

My children are twenty twenty-seven and twenty-nine, so it's a long time ago. But um, yes. When I when I think of bikini waxes, I mean I had I know fantastic therapists who are amazing at waxing and they do it so well. And um, so it's not that painful. It's again you just want things over fast.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yeah. And that's the same with- How long is a typical microneedling session for the face?

SPEAKER_00 23:00

I I allow myself an hour with my clients, a for them to totally relax, of course. And then I like to keep on the mask after for about 10 to 15 minutes to really relax the skin after. I like to take my time because you can't rush these kind of treatments. It's it's not because even when it comes to microneedling, there's sometimes risks involved, and you want to make sure that you're absolutely focused. So I'm there's no there's no fast treatments with me.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

So the appointment time is an hour, but how long is it rushed?

SPEAKER_00 23:29

10 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

That's not very long. Yeah, you can stand it out.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely. And people keep on coming back, so it's um it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Um I a long time ago I had it, um, and actually I was really surprised how comfortable it was. I didn't find it painful at all. So I'm not I'm not dreading coming to see you. I always think of treatments like this to have them not in the summer. Obviously, everybody's different. I tend to sort of want to try and have these things when I can hide away and when my skin's not exposed to sun rays, even though I am really careful with my SPF. Do you find that it's seasonal at all with the kind of treatments that you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 24:09

No, that's that's something I very often disagree with with some practitioners, because I think you need to really look at your client, like yourself. You enjoy going to foreign countries, and we know you love to be in the sun, even though you protect yourself. And if you have a client, for example, who does their antioxidant activity, or as we talked about, uh certain products they use all the time daily, and they protect their sk their skin no matter what, because they're just really into that into that routine to protect their skin, then I'm doing it. Um and I also have my clients who indulged in the sun, um, who are months away on end because they are in the sun, and then obviously I'm saying, no, we're not gonna do this right now because you have you have to judge that by by the person who's in front of you. But generally speaking, if it's the right candidate and who is committed, yes, do it. Yes, if there's the slightest doubt, then don't. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

And another one of your treatments that I love, I was lucky enough you invited me to try it a while ago, your Balinese massage. It's such an extreme difference in terms of you know getting those needles on faces, and then you create this beautiful, blissful massage. Is that something that you thought that it's something you loved having yourself, so you wanted to learn? What how did this different kind of treatment come in? Because it's quite different to what you normally do.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Yeah, um, I obviously, as you know, I'm I'm a trained therapist, so that was part of training massages. And then at some point, um I worked in a five-star Balinese tradition spa, and I had I had, I was very, very fortunate, I had um a lady who was from Bali who was my teacher, and taught me absolute precision when it comes to massages, and she was on to you all the time. She was so precise, and um, I learned the most fantastic techniques, and it was so very special. And I have clients who I massaged 10, 15 years ago because I worked for her, and I still have that very same client now, today, for these massages. So, of course, um I still offer it to my clients who are known for so long. It's also very spiritual because there's particular pressure points in place. You touch, you work a lot on the meridian line, and then eventually you use a little bit off your own. But um, Balinese, the technique, the actual Balinese tradition uh massage is just it's just incredible. So, of course I'm gonna offer it because I want my clients to feel well and not just being mean all the time, right, with microneedling. So, and why would I send them anywhere else?

SPEAKER_01 27:00

The massage I have with you, I told everyone it's the best massage I've had. Oh my god, it was amazing. Yeah, fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

And and you're right, Krista, because I have many clients who I treat who also have very super stressful lives, you know, and they get tense and they have children, family, they they have a full-on job. And why should I not make my own client relax by offering them a Balinese tradition massage? So, yeah, it stays in-house.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Keep your clients, yeah, give them what they want. And I know that, you know, just to wrap up, we were talking about your hobbies that you love history. You do you love your martial arts as well, don't you? Are you looking at teaching locally? What are you doing with martial arts at the moment?

SPEAKER_00 27:42

So I'm I'm a historical martial arts instructor. I'm specialized in 14th century, which I've been doing for 10 years. And obviously, I've been taking it a little bit easy because with this kind of activity comes certain injuries. Because it's um it's full on, isn't it? You get thrown to the floor, and I work with swords and duggers, I work with weapons, pretty much old battlefield style, and it's based on Italian um Renaissance 14th century. It's wild, you get thrown about. But I've been actually approached in Marlowe a few times where they said, Melanie, can you can you do this with us? And recently I just did run a class with the Chigong guys in the park because you know, Wednesdays and Saturdays there's Chigong. Some of them said, Oh, Mel, I would love to have a class with you. So I had a really big class, I think, of 12 people, and they loved it. And then they said, Oh, can we do this again? I'm trying to come out of teaching rather than to go back into it. Because Krista, I'm 52 this year, you know. And uh yes, but it's it's a wonderful hobby, so I'm sticking more to the theory side of things.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Uh yeah, I'd say keep it as a hobby. So just um for people that live in Marlowe or people that want to visit Marlowe, because obviously you live very centrally and you know you get to enjoy lots of things in the high street. What are some of your favorite places in Marlowe that you're happy to share that you don't want to keep to yourself?

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Do you know? I think it's very hard to pinpoint that because we have we are so lucky with all these amazing restaurants and bars and coffee shops. And I think if you go to Satanol, for example, or Oil Orange or Strawberry Grove, as an example, they are so lovely and friendly. And I just like cake and I'm a different cake, hence why I'm trying different places. But I love the woods around Marlowe. I love I love enjoying walking in the park and you know chatting to some people, but I think generally it's very hard to pinpoint because we live in a such beautiful area and surroundings, so I'm everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Yeah, this is true. Yeah, we find you in a baseball cap, giving you a wave in the high school.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

Yeah, that's me, hiding. Oh well, thanks so much, Mal, for today. For me, it's important, if if I may, um, and that really reflects my business in terms of what I do. It's and I'm the go-to practitioner for those who maybe don't want to have, let's just say, Botox done or Phyllis, and they say, Oh Mel, I want to prolong my aging. How can I do this? I'm your person for that. That's that's what I would like to add.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Yeah, that that is you. I know that you have clients that have been coming to you for years. Um, and I think it's really important to showcase that there are different ways that you can age gracefully, if you want to say it that way, look after your skin. And I I'm not a a fan of injectables either. I really enjoy that I've got somebody here locally that can look at my skin and say, look, we can still make improvements, we can do some things that will make it look better.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

And and you can, and you really can. It's just talking about this antioxidant activity, um, just briefly. If you really committed to certain skincare, active skincare, which actually penetrates the skin, right? It depends on the formulations. And if you stick to these things and go in with the body presents, you can really achieve some amazing results. It's just not instant um instant gratification. You just need to be patient. And that's that's being honest. That's that's the truth. It doesn't happen overnight. I'm not going to the gym for a week or two, or maybe three months, and think, oh, okay, it takes longer, right? It it takes effort. Of course it does. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

You gotta put the effort in for sure. Well, brilliant. Thanks so much, Mel. It's been great chatting to you today. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

Thank you for inviting me.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Thank you, Krista.