Latest / Tone It Down / From ICU Nurse to Head Spa Founder: Katie Wills on Hair Loss, Scalp Health & Starting Over

Transcript

From ICU Nurse to Head Spa Founder: Katie Wills on Hair Loss, Scalp Health & Starting Over · Tone It Down

0:00
My prediction is that hair is having a moment like Botox and facial injections had 15 years ago.
0:06
It is about to get big.
0:08
This is your weekly girlfriend chat, the kind that we all crave, where we can show up exactly as we are, laugh until we cry, get honest about the things we're navigating, and all the private girl talk that we need more of.
0:21
No pressure, no perfection, just real women like us sharing real stories with real connections.
0:28
Over the years of Tonidab, I've learned that the most transformative moments don't always happen in a workout.
0:34
They happen in those conversations before and after.
0:37
Yeah.
0:37
when we realize we're all going through something, when we feel seen.
0:41
And that's what Tone It Down is built on.
0:44
My intention is simple, to help you tune back into yourself, to quiet the noise, and to remind you that you're allowed to evolve.
0:53
This is Tone It Down.
0:59
Welcome back.
1:00
It's Karina.
1:01
So happy you're here to the Tone It Down podcast.
1:05
I'm sitting here right now.
1:06
It's like 6 a.m. on a Monday morning in beautiful Palm Springs, California, where I've been.
1:12
And I just have this thought of...
1:15
A lot of messages I'm getting are about feeling like seasonal depression and all these mood shifts and something's in retrograde again.
1:24
But I was thinking, what if we woke up in the morning and we didn't have the Sunday Monday scares, but we gave ourself permission because I fall, I fall to that as well sometimes.
1:36
And like, what if I gave myself permission to,
1:38
to not be anxious on a Monday morning or Tuesday morning or in the mornings or when the sun doesn't come up till 7 a.m. And there's all this darkness.
1:48
And I just recall this morning as I'm journaling and meditating, it's the dawn of the day.
1:55
And it's after the darkness that the light comes to shine in.
1:59
So it seems so simple, but I literally just had this like shift in my own mindset because I have allowed myself and given myself permission in the past week or so of being overwhelmed.
2:12
And I was like, but what would happen if I slowed down?
2:15
So I did for a little bit.
2:18
And guess what?
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Nothing happened.
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I'm safe.
2:21
I'm here.
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I feel rested and I'm ready to go again.
2:25
I'm raring.
2:26
Those are my little sunrise thoughts today.
2:29
But I know what you're here for.
2:31
It is my interview with Katie Wells.
2:35
She is the founder of Elysian Head Spa in Austin, Texas.
2:40
And I actually went there.
2:41
We didn't go through her story, but I visited there because my friend Jen introduced us.
2:45
And I was like, what's a head spa?
2:46
But we're going to dive into that.
2:49
And I thought this was a great conversation to have on Tone It Down because we love working out.
2:54
We love the hair.
2:56
And we talk about how even hair affects your mental health.
3:00
And it's just something that we really don't talk about why we care about our hair so much.
3:07
And as, you know, former beach babe wave galley here, I know we like these conversations, right?
3:14
So Katie Wells is here in the Toner Down podcast studio.
3:18
She actually spent 15 years as a critical care nurse.
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She cared for open heart and heart transplant patients.
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And she worked in the ICU all the way through COVID.
3:29
And then she ended up in Japan and she ended up in a head spa.
3:33
And she had this idea and it was just a couple of years ago.
3:37
She had a complete career shift two years ago.
3:40
Then she opened Elysian Headspot.
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And now she spends her days helping people figure out why their hair is changing and what to do about it.
3:47
She explains why washing your hair won't make it fall out and what happens to your follicles after a baby and during perimenopause.
3:55
I had a lot of questions about that on the voicemail, which you can always voicemail me at karinadunn.com slash message.
4:03
We talk about how to pick a red light helmet that actually works.
4:06
And we also cover stem cell growth from our own hair follicles and what the research says about GLP-1s and hair loss and the small daily habits that make a real difference, which I love.
4:18
I'm very into small daily habits, the mini habits, the mini moments that really stack to make a huge difference in your life.
4:27
from the way you feel, the way you look, the way your body, your health, everything.
4:31
So enjoy this podcast.
4:34
Make sure you share it with anyone and make sure you subscribe.
4:38
All right, I love you, bye.
4:41
Welcome to Tone It Down, Katie Wills.
4:43
Thank you.
4:43
Thank you.
4:44
Nice to be here.
4:45
So do you ever have a bad hair day?
4:47
Oh, yeah, for sure.
4:48
Absolutely.
4:50
Well, it's pouring rain outside and somehow I'm a wet little doggie and your hair is still perfect.
4:56
So you are the founder of Elysian Head Spa here in Austin, Texas.
5:01
What is a head spa?
5:02
Because before I heard of Elysian and I was like, what's a head spa?
5:06
Yeah.
5:07
Yeah, honestly, when we started Elysian, we had to figure it out for ourselves.
5:10
Yeah.
5:10
So I totally get it.
5:11
When we, I had found Headspot in Japan and they're very popular in Asian countries, but I didn't know what, why there weren't any in the United States.
5:21
And so I brought it in, I knew it was going to be, there was a huge demand for it.
5:25
And so we sat down with books on the ingredients we wanted to use.
5:28
We knew what we want to achieve and we figured it out one client at a time.
5:33
a cosmetologist, estheticians.
5:35
So what it ended up being is a really luxurious, it's relaxing, but also therapeutic service.
5:40
So there's massage, there's relaxation, and also a clinical aspect to it because we really want your scalp and hair to be better off, more nourished, more clean and exfoliated after the service.
5:52
So it's this nice mixture of therapeutic and also therapeutic outcomes.
5:56
So you can have cleaner scalp and healthier hair.
5:59
You were in the medical field.
6:01
Yes.
6:01
Prior to this as ICU nurse.
6:04
Explain that and that transition to owning a head spa.
6:07
Yeah, it was a very big transition.
6:09
I took a 90 degree turn.
6:11
I had spent 15 years in critical care.
6:13
Yeah.
6:14
And what I found is the more I achieved and the more...
6:17
complex the patients that I thought I wanted to take care of the less I had for myself.
6:21
So in the end, 15 years later, after working in the COVID ICU, taking care of open heart patients and heart transplant patients, I really just didn't have much for myself.
6:31
And I didn't have that much for my community or my family.
6:35
So I knew that I needed to change.
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When I happenstance came across the head spa, it was just this moment in time where I knew I needed to change and I had this idea.
6:44
So I just said, F it.
6:47
which is like such a wild thing to do.
6:50
It wasn't as scary truly as staying where I was.
6:54
I knew I could see the forest through the trees.
6:56
I could see my longevity in the space and staying in traditional medicine, how hard that was going to be and how depleted I was even at being 43 years old.
7:05
Yes, it was really hard.
7:06
And so the idea of starting something for myself,
7:10
helping and being a part of the community, especially the wellness community, not just the illness community was really attractive for me.
7:16
So it was just fortitude, a lot of audacity.
7:20
And there's a lot of just, I don't know how to do it, but I know how to work really hard.
7:24
And I know that I can build a community and that's how we have had great success over the last two years.
7:29
When did you start?
7:30
December of 2024.
7:31
So less than two years ago.
7:34
I find this so interesting when you have such a career shift and a lot of people think that they have to stay in their lane their entire life.
7:41
And I love it when someone just goes out and is like, I'm going to do something different.
7:45
What would you say to a woman listening who is like, maybe I do want to do something else?
7:51
Like, how does she have the courage to go for it and try?
7:53
I think that your community and the people you surround yourself with are everything.
7:58
My partner is an entrepreneur.
8:00
I surround myself with a lot of strong-willed, motivated females.
8:04
And so I think it has a lot to do with...
8:08
Like I said, audacity, but the people around you can really help formulate your next steps by being supportive, obviously, but then helping you one step at a time.
8:19
And so you're, if you just know, like you can start a big book and you might be a little intimidated by it, but it's literally one page at a time.
8:25
How did you find your business partner?
8:26
And my business partner, actually, I found her because my partner had worked with her 15 years prior at Yelp.
8:33
when he was just having a nice casual lunch with her.
8:37
And he said, yeah, my girlfriend's talking about opening this head spot.
8:40
I don't know what she's talking about.
8:42
I don't know.
8:42
I don't even know what it means.
8:44
And Laura, who is my business partner, she had been in the beauty industry.
8:48
And she said, I don't know what you're talking about either.
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And I want to know because if there's something big and upcoming, this is very fascinating to me.
8:54
So she called me.
8:55
She offered me a ton of assistance.
8:56
And I said, I know how to create a list of things I need to get done, but I don't know how to do any of them.
9:00
And she said, I know how to do all of those.
9:02
And so we just were perfect from the start.
9:05
Before we dive into what the experience is like, was there like an ingredient in Japan?
9:10
Like, what was that?
9:11
And is it something you can find here?
9:13
Or do you have to source it back in Japan?
9:16
No, actually, there wasn't an ingredient in Japan.
9:18
And in fact, the head spot that I went to was a little kooky.
9:21
It was like moon and stars and, you know, a little bit Harry Potter-ish.
9:26
It was like kind of ethereal of a theme.
9:29
So it wasn't this experience itself.
9:31
For me, it was the concept, the concept.
9:33
The more I thought about it, the more I thought about Austin and the type of community that is in Austin, the demographic.
9:40
People are searching for wellness.
9:41
They want to take care of themselves and everyone cares about their hair.
9:44
So I've always cared about my hair.
9:46
I've always had people ask me how to take care of my hair.
9:48
You always had healthy hair?
9:49
I've always taken really good care of my hair.
9:52
And I'm not saying other people don't.
9:53
But, you know, I do think it's something that I recognized that was really valuable.
9:57
And also it aligned with this very interesting experience that I just had the sense was going to be really successful and do really well in Austin.
10:04
Okay.
10:05
So what are your hair care secrets that we all should be doing?
10:08
Well, obviously nutrition is number one, as you know, right?
10:11
Protein is so important.
10:12
You have to make sure you're not anemic.
10:14
You're not deficient in your vitamins and minerals.
10:17
I think that everyone's hair and scalp needs something.
10:20
Not everyone, but what your hair and scalp needs is nuance to you.
10:23
So what I do for my hair is not probably the same thing that your hair and scalp needs.
10:28
I think number one, people need to be washing their hair.
10:31
People think that they should wash less so that their hair doesn't fall out.
10:34
Yeah, break that myth.
10:34
What's the truth?
10:35
It's true.
10:35
such a myth.
10:36
Your hair has cycles to it.
10:38
You have a growth phase, you have a stable phase, and you have a shedding phase.
10:41
So at any point in time, you're going to have a certain percentage of hairs on your head that are trying to shed out so that you can get a new hair.
10:49
And so that hair is going to shed regardless of what you do.
10:52
You can stress your hair follicles out to a degree where the cortisol rises and XYZ happens and then create more shedding.
10:59
But the act of
11:04
The thing is, is that your scalp has this microbiome to it.
11:07
And if you're not cleaning it, you're not exfoliating it, you're not doing the proper things to take care of it and nourish it in the way that it needs, it's going to be angry, irritated, itchy, flaky.
11:17
It's going to do a lot of different things, which is kind of the same thing as your face, right?
11:21
Like for myself and my skin, I know what I can do and what I can't do to my face.
11:25
It's the same thing for your scalp and your scalp is an extension of your skin.
11:29
that people have been ignoring for, I think, most of us, most of our lives.
11:33
So it's a new conversation.
11:35
That is true.
11:36
Obviously, we do all of the lasers and this and that for the skin, or at least I do.
11:41
But we don't do much for the hair.
11:43
And is it true that, like, 60% of your clients are women?
11:47
Which shocked me because I always think of men losing hair.
11:51
But there's hair loss in women, especially after menopause or after 50%.
11:56
And can we talk about that?
11:58
Yeah, of course.
11:58
Yeah.
11:59
So in the United States, there's 350 million people, 80 million of them, 50 million of which are men and 30 million, which are women.
12:09
So 80 million people all have the genetic predisposition for hair loss.
12:13
That's only one type of hair loss.
12:14
There's other types of shedding, you know, acute events that can cause hair shedding and loss and, and other scarring alopecias.
12:21
but it's a huge demographic of the population and what females specifically do.
12:26
So for example, if a man comes in, I can see you across the room and I know you have genetic predisposition for alopecia.
12:32
That's, you know, male pattern hair thinning for females.
12:35
Yeah.
12:36
A huge majority of them have that and they have hormonal changes, they have postpartum, they have significant stress, they lost a parent, they had anesthesia, maybe they had, you name it.
12:47
So we stack, females stack in every way that we can.
12:52
And so for when the females come in, it's not a matter of I can see you and I know exactly what you need.
12:58
It's like, let's talk through this.
12:59
Let's talk through all the different factors that could be contributing because there's almost always at least two things.
13:04
Sometimes there's up to five things that I've said.
13:06
I think all of these things are all contributing.
13:08
So that's very complex for females.
13:10
I think there is a growing awareness about what female hair loss looks like.
13:15
But, you know, within the land of extensions, there's also toppers, people wear wigs.
13:20
So thankfully, there are options for people.
13:24
At Elysian, we do options that are more of like, let's treat the hair follicle and try to get back to where it was to try to negate, but also recognizing the complexity of what's happening to make sure that we don't make it worse.
13:34
We only make it better and treat it from all angles.
13:37
You mentioned postpartum hair loss.
13:39
Explain that for a woman.
13:40
She like has a baby for the first time and she's like, what is happening?
13:44
Yeah, it's really, I would say, devastating for some females.
13:48
So what happens is when you're pregnant, you're holding on to all of your estrogen and you're not going through the same hair growth cycles and the shed phases.
13:56
Once you have your baby, so postpartum, your estrogen dumps.
14:00
So then you kind of go back into this shock phase for your hair follicles and you can kind of try to reset.
14:06
But it's that massive shift that happens with your hormones during and postpartum.
14:12
A lot of times the shedding starts three to six months after you have the baby.
14:16
Some of the things that science has found to exacerbate and extend the shed phase and the significance of the shed phase, which obviously you don't have control of some of these things, but a traumatic birth.
14:26
That can increase the shedding afterwards and then extended breastfeeding because of the way that that changes your hormones.
14:32
So sometimes women, I would never tell a woman how long to breastfeed a baby, but if that is something that's going on and it's really causing a significant depletion of her own nutrients and causing a significant stressor, those things are compounding.
14:46
Okay, so that then makes sense then in menopause with the estrogen levels dropping too of why the hair loss.
14:53
Yeah, and so there's protective mechanisms that happen at the level of the hair follicle with the estrogen and progesterone.
14:59
And then there's also this resetting of how much testosterone you have.
15:03
And it can vary if you're taking supplements and those kinds of things.
15:06
And they all can impact the health of the hair follicles.
15:08
Yeah, it's pretty dynamic.
15:10
Yeah.
15:10
A lot of women listening are in peri or menopause.
15:13
What would you tell her right now that she can do if she's experiencing hair loss?
15:19
Where can she start?
15:20
Yeah, I would say that, like you mentioned, the 60% of my clients are female.
15:25
Of those 60%,
15:27
the number who are in perimenopause who sit in my chair has got to be 80%.
15:31
It's almost everybody that I see because you're going up through your life, you're in college and starting a family and those things.
15:38
And it's right around your late 30s that people really start to notice.
15:41
So I would say there's no magic thing and it is dynamic and it is probably going to be more than one thing.
15:50
I love a good red light helmet for anybody.
15:53
I was going to ask that.
15:54
I love Red Light because it's natural.
15:56
It improves circulation and oxygenation.
15:59
It decreases inflammation.
16:01
It helps with the ATP synthesis and keratin synthesis, and it keeps your hair in a growth phase.
16:05
So it is a very natural, non-invasive thing that you can do at home.
16:10
The key is to not buy a light that's red, but a red light.
16:14
Right.
16:14
So it's the diodes and the LEDs and the way that you do it.
16:18
So, you know, it doesn't matter that you're investing in something that's quality to make sure you're going to get out what you're putting into it.
16:25
You don't want to spend six months waiting for your hair to grow on a light that's like maybe not as effective.
16:30
So, right.
16:30
I was going to say there's like there's a good one and not so good.
16:34
How can you how can you choose the right one?
16:36
The brand that we carry in the spa, I chose it because it had the most amount of robust research to it.
16:43
And the nuance of it is, is that it's not a medical product.
16:46
So you're not going to find double blind, controlled, randomized clinical trials on a lot of these things.
16:50
But you can still go through and you can see how much effort and energy and resources there.
16:54
that that company has put into doing research.
16:57
And then you can look at their before and afters.
16:59
And so if there's nothing to say exactly what they're, that's exactly the strength and the types of lights that they have, then that's a huge red flag, right?
17:07
They don't want to tell you for a reason, but if it's very clearly outlined and then that's usually a better brand.
17:13
Okay, let's talk about stress and hair.
17:16
I've had a friend who, when she's super stressed out, she gets like little circles.
17:20
Oh, yeah.
17:21
What is that?
17:21
That's alopecia areata.
17:23
Okay, yeah.
17:24
Yeah, that's an autoimmune condition.
17:26
So stress and hair.
17:27
Just tell me, what do we do?
17:29
Yeah.
17:29
So stress impacts our entire body, right?
17:32
It's this huge inflammatory response that happens and it's also the changing of cortisol that's happening.
17:37
So, so your hair is only as good as your hair follicle.
17:40
So that's what a lot of people don't know is like, you can do a lot of things to the external hair.
17:44
And of course, you know, you want to make sure you're not having breakage and things like that, but you're,
17:47
The hair that grows is determined by the health of your hair follicles.
17:51
So you have to think about the inside out a lot of the times.
17:55
And so stress happens on the inside.
17:57
So it sounds so silly, even like waste your breath to say, like, decrease your stress, right?
18:02
There's not a magic answer to it.
18:04
For your friends specifically, that is a medical condition.
18:07
And so there are medications that you can take for that.
18:09
Don't go to the head spa, go to the doctor.
18:11
So some of the treatments that we have could actually help.
18:14
It's just that it kind of depends on what she really wants to do and the severity of it.
18:19
There is a threshold that we have because myself and my other nurse practitioner, we will treat everything that we think that we can do safely and effectively.
18:27
We aren't providing some of the more intensive medication.
18:30
So there's a threshold at which we will refer to dermatology.
18:33
So I've had clients come in and I can treat specifically that with the lasers and the different treatments we have.
18:39
I know that doesn't answer the question of the stress, other than if there are other things that you're doing because you're so stressed, you're not sleeping, you're not eating, like it's just going to infect everything.
18:48
And your hair, your body is going to always resource guard, right?
18:53
Like it's going to prioritize your vital organs first.
18:56
And if you're so stressed out that you and you're not eating and that kind of thing, you know, your hair and your nails are going to be irrelevant at that point.
19:02
And so you're going to see some changes.
19:05
Okay, walk me through.
19:05
I walk into the head spa.
19:08
What do we do?
19:09
So you're going to be greeted by our client care specialist, hopefully with a big smile.
19:13
What we do at the beginning of the treatment is we'll look at your scalp with a trichoscope.
19:17
So it's a handheld microscope that helps the treatment specialist see the scalp for what they can find.
19:24
Is it dry, irritated?
19:25
What are they seeing on the scalp and what are the signs that tell them how to do it?
19:30
change the protocol that they're going to do for the treatment to optimize it for that specific client.
19:35
We also go through a short consultation.
19:36
We want to ask questions.
19:37
What are you experiencing?
19:38
What are your concerns?
19:39
How do we match these things?
19:40
What are you concerned about?
19:41
And what are we concerned about?
19:42
And then they will guide that that will guide the treatment that they do.
19:46
So after our consultation, we'll lay the client down and do this specialized bowl.
19:50
It's really relaxing, so there's a couple of moments of rest and reset.
19:54
We're actually adding in tuning forks to some of our treatments because we really want people to just be able to just drop right in.
20:01
Sometimes it takes a minute coming from your busy life to relaxing.
20:05
But this is sequence within the head spa of relaxation, treating the scalp.
20:10
They'll use exfoliants, like I mentioned before.
20:12
We use a Yume method.
20:14
So we're doing certain trigger points and pressure points on your scalp to help really decrease the stress in your scalp.
20:22
And then they'll do a couple of different hair masks.
20:24
Sometimes they'll add on a facial.
20:26
So there's a number of things that we do.
20:27
We recently started doing buckle massage.
20:30
I've never done that.
20:31
That's like go inside your mouth and explain that.
20:34
It is wild.
20:36
I don't do it.
20:36
So I'm not the perfect person to explain it, but we have a specialist who does it and she is so incredible.
20:43
She works too.
20:44
It's kind of like a deep tissue massage is what I explain it because it doesn't feel great.
20:48
It hurts.
20:49
I know.
20:50
I'm scared to try it.
20:51
It's just like a deep tissue.
20:52
You go in there because you know the therapeutic benefit is going to be there for you, right?
20:57
You get this external massage to really kind of loosen things up.
21:00
And then she'll go in and she'll like milk.
21:03
I know this is kind of a weird word, but like kind of the muscle.
21:06
And by the time you get done, it's so relaxed.
21:09
So I've done it a couple of times and it has retrained my brain not to clench my jaw.
21:14
Is the result...
21:16
aesthetic or is it just like your jaws relaxed and mentally you're...
21:20
I would say both.
21:21
Really?
21:21
I would say because anytime you're moving all of those big muscles and your cheeks around and moving the fluid around, you're going to get a lymphatic drainage from that.
21:28
But I could feel my jaw bones in a way that I hadn't before for a long time.
21:33
I feel like I always clench.
21:34
And I'm TMJ sometimes.
21:35
Yes.
21:35
Does it help with that?
21:36
Yes.
21:37
Really?
21:37
Yes.
21:37
You have to come in for one.
21:38
It's really impactful.
21:40
And because a lot of people are carrying that stress...
21:43
Yeah.
21:43
It's not something that's like, oh, I didn't notice it.
21:46
You know, it's a really noticeable change, I would say.
21:49
So what is ACORN?
21:52
ACORN is a company.
21:53
They are a, for lack of a better phrase, a stem cell company.
21:57
So ACORN BioLabs, they were created by a major league baseball player who hurt his shoulder and couldn't find any traditional treatments in the United States.
22:07
So he ended up having to go out of the United States to get a stem cell injection and
22:11
When he did that and he found there was a significant relief, he thought to himself, how do I bring this to the United States in a way that like is really available for people?
22:19
So he went and he got two doctorates in bioengineering.
22:23
Excuse me, two doctorates.
22:25
I can't think what they're called right now, but Dr. Drew Taylor.
22:28
So he created this system where we pluck hair follicles from the back of your head and your follicles have an incredible source of stem cells.
22:36
Right.
22:36
So we take your follicles, we send it to the lab.
22:38
At the lab, they put your stem cells that they've checked to make sure they're active first.
22:43
And they put them in this medium that replicates your hair and skin tissue.
22:47
In this perfect host medium, your stem cells are so happy that they start to secrete growth factors, proteins, exosomes, you name it.
22:55
It becomes this really strong, potent, consistent product that...
22:59
that they then send back to us.
23:01
And the process takes about six weeks.
23:03
So the product that we get back is in a powder that we can reconstitute with hyaluronic acid.
23:08
And we use it in a couple of different ways.
23:10
We don't do invasive injections or anything like that, but we have a couple of different tools, including our laser that we can use in order to get really good penetration and absorption of that.
23:19
So if you think about the traditionally, there's PRP that people get at the dermatologist.
23:24
And that's really common and very...
23:26
widely used and it has a ton of research behind it.
23:29
It's a great treatment.
23:30
It's just inconsistent and the method of injecting it is incredibly painful.
23:34
So a lot of my clients will say, I tried it, it didn't work and it was so painful and expensive.
23:38
So this process allowing time for the stem cells to really come up with and develop this potent product.
23:46
for us is going to give a much stronger product versus the rapid draw in the blood, spinning, agitating the platelets to get the growth factors and injecting them back in.
23:57
So it's a, for us, it feels like a much more consistent product that we can use.
24:03
So we can use it on skin or hair.
24:06
So, and we use it on people for hair growth.
24:08
So maybe someone's coming in, they're having a lot of shedding.
24:11
Doesn't produce as much shedding as some of the other invasive advanced treatments.
24:15
And so we can use it for someone specifically who's having a lot of shedding, but we're just trying to reset and support the follicles to get healthier.
24:23
Do you have like a favorite client story that you can share?
24:26
Like big transformation that you're like, yes, we did that.
24:29
Of course.
24:30
I mean, honestly, I love my clients.
24:32
They're the most interesting, I would say people in Austin and I get to spend.
24:37
They are really well educated.
24:40
They all have incredible businesses and stories.
24:44
You know, I had one client come in one time.
24:46
She's like, yeah, my husband just bought a gold mine.
24:48
I'm like, what?
24:49
You know, or they've got...
24:50
Safari farms with those animals.
24:52
They're just really interesting.
24:54
And it's the demographic.
24:55
It's where we're located in Central Austin.
24:57
It's the price point.
24:58
It's all of the things.
24:59
So one of my favorite client transformation stories is a woman who came to me more than a year ago.
25:04
And she said that she every year has to go to a conference for work.
25:08
And when she went that year, she, you know, she'd walked to the conference because she was out of town and she said she showed up and she was all windblown.
25:16
And when she got in the door, she said, my group of friends said, hey, let's go get a picture together.
25:20
And they took a group picture.
25:23
When she saw herself on the group picture, she said, oh my gosh, my hair is so much thinner than I actually realized.
25:28
And that happens a lot in a photograph is when a lot of people notice their thinning hair.
25:33
And so she came in and we did six or seven of our laser treatments on her.
25:37
The following year, she went to the same conference.
25:39
She questioned her ability to walk to the conference knowing her hair was going to get windblown.
25:44
So it's these little things that really matter in your day-to-day changes and choices you make.
25:49
to ensure that you don't feel insecure about your appearance, right?
25:53
She walked in this after her treatments and she said, the same thing happened.
25:57
We took a big group picture.
25:58
And when I saw myself in the picture, I noticed how much more hair I had.
26:01
And I felt so much more confident.
26:03
So her transformation and the actual impact that that made on her self-confidence in one of those experiences was really meaningful.
26:11
It is true that hair is, it gives you confidence, good hair, great confidence.
26:16
And we don't realize it as much as it affects us.
26:20
And why do you think that is?
26:22
I think it's not as common or hadn't been as common to talk about how much we care about our hair until recently.
26:28
I think my prediction is that hair is having a moment like Botox and facial injections had 15 years ago.
26:36
It is about to get big, I think, because people are starting to notice the importance of scalp health and follicle health on the quality and quantity of your hair in earlier intervention.
26:46
So the sooner you address it, the sooner you start treating the cause and figuring it out, you can make a plan for yourself that that gives you longevity of your hair.
26:55
And so we even have a lot of clients who come in and we just want to protect what they have.
26:59
They'll say, I saw one sign that I don't like where this is going.
27:02
Let's protect this.
27:04
And so I think that it's a huge part of our identity.
27:08
And I think that.
27:09
The older way of thinking about it is it shows our age.
27:14
And if you think about in the last 15 years, we've done a lot of advancements to make sure that we don't show our age.
27:19
Right.
27:19
Right.
27:19
And the hair, it's kind of like the hands will show.
27:22
Yes, exactly.
27:24
Exactly.
27:25
I mean, our clients, they come in 18, 20, 22.
27:27
Right.
27:28
Right.
27:29
They're starting to have these things come up when they're much younger than a lot of people expect.
27:34
And so if you can head this off earlier, you really can make a big difference, I think, in the long term and the longevity and the overall health of your hair so that you can keep it longer.
27:43
And I think that that's a big difference.
27:44
opportunity, you know, that we have to make sure that people can holistically head to toe, keep it looking younger.
27:50
I know.
27:51
And I really hadn't thought about it much, but I did notice like sometimes like around here, it gets thinner.
27:55
Is that normal?
27:56
Like in your hairline?
27:58
Yeah.
27:58
Especially so the temples for females are a big point of which they get thin.
28:05
And then a lot of times it's the widening part.
28:08
So sometimes people say, oh, my part is getting wider.
28:11
Or when I looked from the front, I could see through my hair in a way I didn't used to.
28:16
And that is usually consistent with female thinning.
28:20
So it is something to address sooner rather than later, for sure.
28:24
Do you think like any topical products, like if you put it at work, do you know any?
28:28
Like that you can not go into the spa, but you can just use?
28:32
Yeah.
28:32
So topical Rogaine really does help.
28:36
It's nuanced because it's sticky and greasy and people hate using it.
28:40
Long-term compliance is going to really determine what your outcomes are.
28:43
And so if you only use it for a week or two, it's not going to make a big difference.
28:47
So that kind of stinks, right?
28:48
It's also toxic to pets.
28:50
So if you have a bunch of pets to sleep in your bed, don't.
28:53
It's six.
28:54
I know.
28:54
Yes.
28:54
Right.
28:55
No Rogaine from me or Bobby.
28:56
Yeah.
28:57
The topical, the topical.
28:58
So we have a couple of different formulations, like the Berber oil, I think is really good.
29:03
It has natural ingredients in it.
29:05
And I've had some clients say that it helped.
29:06
They felt like their hair started growing more when they used it.
29:09
So there are more brands coming out with good topical, more natural ingredients.
29:15
Yeah.
29:16
There's another brand called OS one that I've looked at several times.
29:19
And I think that they have good ingredients as well.
29:22
For me coming from traditional medicine, it has taken me a very long time to come to the other side of things because I have such a critical lens and I don't have a huge regulatory board and stacks and stacks and stacks of like people checking to make sure there's safety and efficacy.
29:35
And I have to like, let some of that go and say, it's not going to hurt anybody.
29:39
It's probably going to help, but certainly I still lean more on the natural anytime I can just, just,
29:44
for ensuring safety.
29:45
Yeah.
29:46
So this conversation seems to come up in a lot of wellness conversations and podcasts I have, but for hair, what about hair and GLP ones?
29:54
Yeah, definitely a huge topic.
29:57
So I have always first and foremost, and I still, I still really believe this, that the more stress you put on your hair follicle, the more you're going to risk losing your hair or going into a shed phase.
30:10
When you lose a significant amount of weight on a GLP-1, when you completely stop eating, when you're not eating any protein, you're not going to have great hair.
30:20
You're going to go in a shed phase.
30:21
It's the same big picture of your hair needs support.
30:27
There have been some more research articles that I've come up with that have been more controlled and they have found that
30:37
3% to 5% of people on semaglutide and trizapatide do see an increase in hair loss while on the medication, despite how much weight they lose.
30:46
So the mechanism of that is not clearly understood just yet.
30:51
If you picture 100 people in the room, the placebo was one person had hair loss, whether they weren't taking the medicine at all.
30:57
And then a couple more people did find they had more hair loss on the medication.
31:01
So is it an effect?
31:03
Possibly, probably to some degree.
31:05
And it could be irrelevant of how much weight you lose and the severity of that.
31:11
But I think that more often than not, when clients come in and they say, I'm on one of these medications, I'm eating 100 grams of protein a day.
31:19
I take this multivitamin.
31:21
I'm working diligently with my nutritionist, and I started having this XYZ symptom.
31:26
It doesn't usually line up timeline wise either for me, if that's the culprit.
31:31
So I cannot, I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I think sometimes people are trying to monetize the situation and blame it.
31:39
There are signs coming out, but we're not totally concrete yet.
31:42
There's, I can't find any science that says like irrevocably, this is like, this is definitely the culprit.
31:49
Yeah.
31:49
So if it possibly is the culprit, what would you say?
31:52
Like one thing that she should do to...
31:55
I mean, if it is a medication-related side effect, the only way to stop that is probably stop the medicine.
32:01
Yeah.
32:01
Right?
32:02
Because we don't know the mechanism that's happening.
32:04
We don't know how the pharmacologic chemicals are attacking or what they're doing to the follicle to know what it is that you would negate at that point.
32:12
Right?
32:13
Yeah.
32:13
Yeah.
32:13
I mean, back to red light.
32:15
I just think they're great for everyone, but...
32:17
So if a red light helmet versus like being in a red light panel, like the helmet, is it because it's closer to your scalp?
32:25
Yeah.
32:26
Is there some benefit to laying in a panel?
32:29
Probably.
32:29
Is it hitting your follicle?
32:32
I don't know.
32:32
It depends on the density of hair and how much you have in between.
32:36
But the nuance of that is like we don't have research to say this red light panel.
32:41
I haven't seen any.
32:42
This red light panel is good for hair growth and that this is what we've seen in our client's.
32:45
Because people aren't buying red light panels, like full body panels for their hair generally.
32:50
It's like, oh, also while I'm here, I want this to help my hair.
32:53
But if you're truly, that's your goal, then you need to get a helmet or something that's really robust specifically.
32:59
How long do you leave the helmet on?
33:01
The one that I have is 12 minutes a day.
33:02
Oh, dang.
33:03
That's doable.
33:04
It's so easy.
33:05
And that's why I like it.
33:06
Because you know you spend 12 minutes on your phone at night trying to get off your phone.
33:10
For me, when it turns off, I'm like, you got to put your phone away.
33:12
Or you could do...
33:14
A 12 minute meditation.
33:16
Sometimes it's hard for people to sit there and meditate and be like, but I'm really working on my hair follicles.
33:22
There's another purpose behind it.
33:24
So just sit there.
33:25
Sending my good energy to my hair follicles.
33:28
I endorse that.
33:29
So what is your daily hair care?
33:32
I mean, I wash my hair probably two to three times a week.
33:35
And then I always add in a heat protectant anytime I'm going to style my hair.
33:41
I brush my hair a lot.
33:43
I brush my hair twice since I've been here.
33:45
Yeah, I brought my brush today.
33:47
So I do think the hair brushing is an extraordinary natural way that you can distribute the oils that are coming out of your scalp.
33:53
onto the lengths of your hair and it can't be understated.
33:55
And you're not going to make your hair fall out unless your hair is so fried and brittle that your brush is like catching or causing more friction.
34:03
Generally speaking, your hair shouldn't be that fried and brittle.
34:06
That's a different conversation.
34:07
Okay.
34:07
So we're going to learn how to properly brush our hair today.
34:10
So you start at the, like if you, you carry a brush with you and so you want to bring the oils down.
34:15
Yes.
34:16
And it's not like ripping hair out if you brush your time, your hair three times a day.
34:20
No, no, it shouldn't.
34:21
And we carry the brush that we carry has natural bore bristles to it.
34:25
So, you know, it definitely matters if you have a high quality brush and something.
34:28
But the brush I have, I think it was $70 and I bought it two years ago and I've used it 7000 times.
34:34
Right.
34:35
So $70 for your ROI on it is very good.
34:38
This is girl math, right?
34:39
Yes, that is true.
34:41
It is.
34:41
So what is like a bad brush?
34:43
Like, don't touch it.
34:44
Don't buy it because you're going to destroy your hair.
34:47
I actually don't know the answer to that.
34:49
Probably something plastic and I don't know.
34:51
Yes.
34:51
Just you don't want to create a lot of friction.
34:54
Yeah.
34:54
So if there's like something, then, you know.
34:57
Okay.
34:57
Air drying hair or blow drying it?
35:01
I would say you want to blow dry your roots when you can, because one of the things that a lot of people do is they go to bed with wet hair.
35:10
And that's a really unhealthy environment for your hair because we're often sleeping in dark and cold environments.
35:18
And so that dampness can create, you know, all kinds of like mildew and things like that.
35:22
So it's just not a great thing.
35:24
way to set your scalp up and the environment of your scalp.
35:28
I've seen a lot of clients actually come in and their scalp is like macerated and just kind of like flaky because of the moisture sitting on your scalp.
35:36
So I don't think it's good for that.
35:38
But I also have always been told, and my cosmetologist, the treatment specialists we have, their cosmetologist would be experts on this, but they always say that it's better to dry your hair.
35:48
Yeah.
35:48
Really?
35:48
Because I was told don't blow dry your hair all the time because it dries it out.
35:52
I mean, you want to use a heat protectant and you should be using something on your lengths to make sure you're getting the conditioning that you need.
35:59
But I only wash and shampoo this, my scalp, and then I just use conditioner on the lengths.
36:05
And so I think that's another thing too, is like people are using harsh chemicals that they might not understand on the lengths of their hair and it's compromising their hair strands.
36:14
And so it's more about conditioning the lengths and shampooing at the scalp, I think is important.
36:20
If someone starts taking care of their scalp and listening to everything that you do and what we're going to still talk about, like how long until she sees a difference?
36:31
I would say it starts.
36:32
It depends on where you're coming from, right?
36:33
Like if you have super short hair and you're like, I need it to grow really long.
36:37
It's going to take a couple of years.
36:39
If you are really at a place where just changing the shampoos and conditioners and the daily dressings.
36:47
day-to-day products that you're using, you could see a big difference pretty quickly if it's something that's actually going on with your scalp.
36:54
A lot of people, especially in Austin, because the water is so hard and there's so many minerals, some people will change something as simple as the shower filter and they'll see a big difference, right, if you're not stripping and putting all these
37:05
minerals on your hair that can make a difference.
37:07
I did that and I could tell the difference.
37:09
Yeah.
37:09
I mean your skin too right.
37:10
Yeah.
37:11
I will say that you have to change the filter.
37:13
That's a big thing because a lot of people forget to change the filter.
37:16
But if you think about everything that's being blocked by that filter that can really mess up your plumbing.
37:20
So I'm always like very cautious on that.
37:22
But yeah.
37:23
A filter can be really helpful pretty quickly.
37:25
And just making sure that anything that you're adding to your hair is the right thing for your hair, which is where our treatment specialists come in.
37:32
They give very specific customized recommendations to every client that comes in because we want you to not just come in and get an hour that's relaxing.
37:39
We want you to walk out saying, okay, I now understand better what I need to do in order for this to extend at home.
37:45
Like these products I can keep these products I should take out and,
37:49
how to edit it in a way that when you come back for your next visit, we can visibly see a difference and you're happier.
37:54
So I pull my hair back a lot, probably 90% of the time.
37:59
Is that bad?
38:00
Like a ponytail, a clip, a scrunchie?
38:02
Like what should we do?
38:03
What should we be wary of?
38:05
It depends on the traction and the pull.
38:09
So if you're pulling your hair back in a really tight ponytail, not only are you getting the pull at the level of the root, but then you're also getting the tension at the ponytail.
38:20
And so there's a couple of different ways in which that could damage your hair.
38:23
I have seen clients, so traction alopecia, alopecia is just when you have hair loss or when there should be hair in an area that's not, that's alopecia.
38:31
So traction is really truly when it's just the pulling from a hairstyle that causes hair.
38:37
So that's the number one thing.
38:38
As far as the clips go, I think as long as it's a decent clip, it's in, you're not, you know, but looser hairstyles are always going to be safer.
38:45
I actually I went through a phase where I was like doing super high tight ponytails.
38:50
It's just like, you know, snatch your face back and it looks good.
38:53
And like look it back.
38:54
And my hairstylist, she's like, have you been wearing high ponytails?
38:58
Yeah.
38:58
I was like, yes.
39:00
She's like, I can tell.
39:01
And then I stopped.
39:02
Yeah.
39:03
You don't know until you know, right?
39:05
Like, well, maybe I can get away with it.
39:07
What about wearing hats?
39:08
Because I also wear hats a lot.
39:10
I mean, I don't have an issue with hats.
39:11
I think it just depends on how tight it is and where it's hitting you.
39:14
But if you're having issues where you're having thinning on an area where your hat is also hitting consistently and rubbing, then that's probably not going to help that area.
39:21
But if you're having like no issues and you're not having a super tight hat, I would say that what you're getting from that is like decreasing the UV.
39:29
And a lot of people are getting a lot of UV exposure to their scalp and no one's putting sunscreen on their scalp.
39:34
So there's actually a benefit to that.
39:36
And then what about this little myth, cutting your hair makes it grow faster?
39:42
False.
39:43
Tell me more.
39:44
I mean, your hair grows from your follicle out.
39:48
So the end is dead.
39:49
There's nothing happening at the end of your hair.
39:51
Cutting it doesn't do anything.
39:53
Is that like a myth that our parents told us as kids because we didn't want to go get our hair cut?
39:57
And they're like, don't you want beautiful hair?
39:59
What's funny is I, we'd had the Hespa for a year before one person asked me that.
40:02
I was like, I can't believe no one's asked me that yet, but there's just no way that it's true.
40:06
I mean, your follicle is what determines the growth cycle and everything to do with how long your hair grows before it sheds.
40:11
So like, I don't, I don't know where that came from.
40:14
Yeah.
40:14
And then I have one last question.
40:16
Would you choose being an ICU nurse or small business chaos?
40:22
I, they're both chaos.
40:25
I would say that what's really fascinating, I had no sense of until I obviously did it for myself.
40:30
When you're in the ICU, all you're doing all day long is like you're isolating a problem and you're coming up with a solution very fast.
40:37
What are you doing in small business?
40:39
Isoling a problem and coming up with a solution very fast.
40:41
It is kind of the same thing, right?
40:43
It's just a different problem.
40:46
Yeah, different problems.
40:46
But do you feel like your cortisol spikes more owning your own business?
40:50
No, because no one's dying.
40:53
All I did for 15 years was talk to people about how their, them or their loved one was going to die.
40:58
And it was, you know, it was an awesome responsibility to have.
41:02
And I saved a lot of lives and it was really cool.
41:05
But no one's dying because their hair is, you know, falling out.
41:09
Everyone's happy.
41:10
They're, and especially in the end, like everyone gets hair growth and it makes them feel so much better and so much more confident.
41:16
We have great conversation.
41:17
So many of my clients come in and say, you know, I actually, this is pretty fun coming in here.
41:21
So, yeah.
41:22
I've been there.
41:22
It was fun.
41:23
Yeah.
41:23
Yeah.
41:24
Perfect.
41:24
Yeah.
41:24
It's great.
41:25
Yeah.
41:26
I also have two very good friends that are ICU nurses and it's much needed work.
41:31
And to be able to do that takes so much just caring from someone.
41:36
But one of them, she switched over to plastics because the patients are always happy.
41:40
Yeah.
41:41
Yeah.
41:42
Yes.
41:42
Honestly, I really enjoyed working for critical care for a very long time.
41:46
It
41:47
It was a wonderful career for me.
41:49
Yeah.
41:49
Just so thankful that I found something that was alternate that gives me so much to work off of.
41:55
And we have so much growth ahead of us.
41:57
We're really excited about it.
41:59
Aside from hair, what is your wellness routine?
42:01
Like workouts, skincare, all that stuff.
42:05
I am not a huge skincare junkie.
42:06
My skin is really sensitive.
42:08
So I have a hard time doing much to it.
42:10
I do the Peloton and I do weights and kettlebells and things like that.
42:14
I'd say my number one wellness thing, as silly as this is, is spending time with my dog that I'm obsessed with.
42:19
What kind of dog?
42:20
She's an English lab.
42:22
And I have another English lab who's in Oregon for the summer.
42:24
So honestly, spending time with my...
42:26
my people that I didn't used to get to do when I was working in critical care, because if I was not working, I was so depleted.
42:33
Now I can be more present and more available and I can sit with my friends and just in like offer support in a way that I didn't used to have the capacity to do.
42:42
So for me, that gives me a lot of wellness.
42:45
I love that you mentioned part of your wellness routine is your dog.
42:48
I mean, that is very true.
42:49
No one's said that before, but obviously I have six dogs.
42:51
So I know they're, I mean, when they're around.
42:54
It's your mental health.
42:55
It's so impactful.
42:57
Yeah.
42:57
Yeah.
42:58
I love it.
42:59
So how can people find you?
43:01
Where do we go?
43:01
Yeah.
43:02
So we have actually a brand new website, EliseanHeadSpa.com.
43:06
And you can go on.
43:07
There's so many of our before and afters for all of our hair growth clients.
43:11
We have before and afters for the head spa clients.
43:14
Hopefully now it's really easy to know what our treatments are and all the different enhancements that we offer.
43:18
And of course, our client care specialists are really happy to answer questions as well.
43:22
The huge wall of retail, you can always come in and say...
43:25
this is what my hair is doing.
43:26
Like someone help me and they'll help you.
43:28
And so it's really like, we want to offer as much help to as many people as possible.
43:32
And we love it when people walk in the door and say, do you know how to help me?
43:35
And we say, yes, you know?
43:37
Yes, of course.
43:38
Yeah.
43:38
Well, Katie, thank you for sharing all this knowledge.
43:41
And now I'm going to start coming and taking care of my hair more.
43:45
So I can have that beautiful, thick hair like you.
43:49
Love to have you in.
43:50
Thank you for having me.
43:51
Thanks.