When you look better, you feel better about yourself. That’s the core ethic of the work Kerry McGill does as the newest employee at Laser Artistry & Medi Spa in Tumwater.
As an aesthetician, McGill helps people achieve their goals through treatments with laser and aesthetic injections, and the results can be life-changing. “It’s a huge confidence booster,” she says. “You see people come in who aren’t feeling confident about how they look. If they feel like they look better, they act better.”
Much of what she does involves helping her clientele, especially women, deal with issues connected with aging. Often, clients will come in complaining of looking tired and concerned about the impacts on their faces. “When you reach a certain age, your lips thin out and everything kind of sags,” she explains. “People will say, ‘I just need something to pick me up.’ Using some filler on the lip and maybe a little cheek filler will really pick up the face. It’s amazing what we can do without surgery.”
Botox is a drug that temporarily paralyzes the muscle to preventing a scowling face. It also helps with fine lines and wrinkles. She’s an avid fan of the product because of the results it creates. “There’s a reason people love Botox,” she claims. “I’ve had clients say, ‘People don’t want to approach me because I always look mean.’” Faces can become frozen into forbidding expressions complete with frown lines between the eyebrows. But, she says, “With a tiny bit of Botox, people don’t look like they’re scowling all the time.”
Being tactful but honest is part of the job, she explains. “It’s important for people to feel like we’re listening to their wants and needs,” she says. “If someone comes in and tells us they’re feeling really tired and asks if it shows, we’ll honestly say, ‘You would look better if you had a treatment.’ I want people to be able to look in the mirror and feel happy with what they see, and overall have good feelings about their experience with us.”
Prior to joining Laser Artistry, McGill ran her own spa in Centralia. Of all the clients she’s had over the years, she says one in particular stands out. “We had a young teenage girl who had a birthmark on her face,” she says. “We used laser, and it went away. It was like watching a butterfly who’d been in hiding her whole life.”
In addition to her work at the spa, McGill is a registered nurse. “I still work in surgery at Washington Orthopedic Center,” she says. She is also on call at Green Hill School, a juvenile rehabilitation facility where she removes tattoos on former gang members. “It’s a life-changer,” she says. “It can prevent them from getting out of the facility and getting killed right away.” Removing tattoos also helps with finding jobs. “How employable are you when you’ve got a teardrop tattooed on your face?”
Although she has three different jobs, McGill emphasizes that none of them are full-time – which is a good thing, considering that she also has five children. She says that the transition to Laser Artistry has been a smooth one. “My personality is really a good fit. This spa offers the total package, and it perfectly combines everyone’s expertise. The master aesthetician is amazing,” she says. “Everyone here is really kind and they’re also go-getters.”
Although she’s new to the spa, she’s known the owner, Dr. Terrence Hess, for over two decades through mission trips to Nicaragua and Central America. “I’ve been working off and on with Dr. Hess for years,” she explains. McGill’s husband Charles, the spa’s medical director, works with Hess at Foot & Ankle Surgical Associates in Tumwater.
McGill says her work at the spa allows an outlet for her creativity. “I have a good aesthetic eye,” she says. “Beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, and ages. It’s my creative, artsy side that loves this work so much.”
She believes that the work they’re doing is important. “A lot of people think that aesthetics aren’t really about helping people,” she says. “But when you look good on the outside, you feel good on the inside.”
For more information about Laser Artistry & Medi Spa visit www.laserartistryfasa.net or call 360-753-4221.
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