Skin Care at it’s Finest

Esthetician remedies personal anguish by treating others

Celeste Raydon, a skin-care specialist, has made a career out of making others feel good about themselves through various procedures at her Rancho Palos Verdes business, Skin Sanctuary.

However, getting where she is today began under some tragic circumstances.

Raydon’s mother, Alyda Raydon, endured a battle with ovarian cancer that ended with a stroke in December 2005. After being ousted from her “cold” corporate job selling architectural products — a direct result of caring for her dying mother — Raydon took the advice of one of her three brothers and “reinvented” herself, taking a chance at the profession she “always wanted to do,” she said.

“It kind of began initial growth on my part because I remember feeling really bitter,” the former Peninsula resident said. “I already knew I’m never working for anybody else. That was my goal … I always wanted to affect a change in people, and I always wanted to be of service and to give to them. So many people have helped me along the way, and have been loving and kind and given me good advice or just listened to me. That’s just how I want to live … I wanted to be my own person.”

Once she received some of her mother’s trust money, Raydon, 47, attended Paul Mitchell’s Skin Academy, where she graduated in the top of her class. Since Sept. 13, 2006, she has independently contracted her business, eventually creating a permanent space inside the Western Avenue establishment Le Salon Specialiste.

With the support of her husband, Dean Slater, and friends, who now are clients, Raydon had many helping hands in all aspects of the salon, from creating a logo, marketing and even painting her treatment room a distinct eggplant purple.

“I just wanted it to be this place where you can come and feel enveloped and loved and safe,” she said. “It would be an experience … What goes in the room stays in the room — kind of like the Vegas thing, only true. Whatever you’re having done or whatever you’ve shared is in the room, it’s private; it’s between us.”

The relief provided from the therapeutic experience is something that keeps her client, Shauna Tate of San Pedro, coming back to Skin Sanctuary. Tate’s first visit to Raydon’s room was almost two months ago, when she was “feeling gloomy,” facing her own mother’s fight with bladder cancer — a common ground that brings the two women closer together. A pumpkin facial peel and massage later, Tate left the salon “walking taller.”

“I walked in feeling not really terrific, and her humor, her story made me appreciate what I was going through at the time, and saw that struggles do lend itself to triumph,” she said. “Her story really moved me — what she has gone through and where she is today.

“[Celeste is] a huge giver, and her generous spirit makes me want to give back, as well,” Tate continued. “She treated me with lots of tender loving care, and made me laugh up a storm … You can tell she gets so much joy out of that.”

Said Raydon, “It’s one of the very few places that you can go and be touched in a healthy, loving way … I’m seeing the really beautiful parts of them. It feels just great.”

Aside from the mandatory 600 hours of clinical practice to earn her esthetician license, Raydon also studied the science of skin and chemicals at the International Dermal Institute, and receives extra training from Dr. Howard Murad of the Murad skin product line.

“Fascinated” by skin conditions, Raydon uses various techniques and regimens to treat skin conditions such as rosacea, acne and psoriasis.

“It’s a good challenge to work with a dermatologist to get that person’s skin to be clear,” she said. “It’s really debilitating, in terms of self-esteem.”

Raydon also is skilled in microdermabrasion, LED light treatment, performing extractions to remove blemishes, the art of dyeing and custom shaping eyebrows, Brazilian waxing, body treatments, medical peels, makeup and facial massages, among other areas.

She guarantees a “red-free exit” and a glow on the outside that is a reflection of a restored internal confidence.

By Ashley Ratcliff, Peninsula News
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 6:43 PM PDT

Being reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

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