Lisa Haning has exciting business news that also pleases her as a mother. “My daughter, Olivia Haning, is my business partner,” she says. “Olivia studied for two years to become a master esthetician. She brings to our electrolysis practice a new array of skin care options in addition to her being an electrologist for permanent hair removal.”
“We are both very sensitive that many of our clients come to us in a vulnerable state of mind with unwanted hair problems that can be very painful emotionally and even physically. Folliculitis can hurt. My mom and I were electrolysis patients so we know how upset our own clients might be,” says Olivia Haning, who was a client and then an intern at Simply Flawless. She then went to 1,800 hours of professional training and became partners with her mother. Having said that, the mother-daughter duo enjoys laughing together about some of the occasional funny stories. One of their current clients agrees to talk about it:
“At my first visit, Lisa was asking me how I had been handling the unwanted facial hair up to that point. I said that I knew I shouldn’t pluck, but I had been plucking for decades. I knew I was ruining my skin. I knew that I was making the hairs grow back worse every time. But when Lisa asked how often I plucked, I fessed up. ‘Um — every red light?’ Laughing about it is easier than crying about a chin full of whiskers,” the client explains.
The client continues, “After a couple of sessions, Lisa could see what I was dealing with. She said she wasn’t just trying to get my money but she advised that I should come twice a week. That way she could catch new growth cycles early and prevent me from plucking them. That was the smartest thing she did for me. I started having amazing progress after that. I went from twice a week to about once every two to three weeks now — and I did throw away the tweezers in the car!”
For other kinds of skin care, Olivia customizes facials. “I love helping women and men feel confident in the skin they’re in! I give facials if they want a temporary lifting effect. Ultrasonic facials produce a more intense effect of any products being used. I’d say about 95 percent of the time, my mom and I use a kind of permanent hair removal process called thermolysis. Rather than sending a more painful electric current to the hair follicle, thermolysis uses heat destruction of the follicle. But I’m not like a make-up artist. My master esthetics course included 600 hours of advanced clinical skin care, chemical peels, microdermabrasion and lymphatic drainage.”
Lisa and Olivia work in the office three days a week for as long as 10 to 12 hours a day. They do not work in the treatment space at the same time because it is designed for the privacy of one patient. “So if I need to travel, my patients have the option of getting booked into Olivia’s calendar if they don’t want to miss a treatment. And when my patients ask, I can recommend products that I know Olivia would recommend,” Lisa says.
Although the partners do not work together during the day, they do need to talk about the business from time to time at home or in the car. Olivia will be married in June 2020, so she currently lives at home. Their house rule is not to talk about the business in front of other family members. When they really want to take a break from it all? “Watching Top Model!” Lisa and Olivia exclaim as they laugh about their own antics during the television show.
Their tone turns more serious as Lisa explains just how personal the business can be. For example, “I had a transgender client who was in the process of transitioning to female, and I was involved with her permanent hair removal. She asked permission to pass out my business card to members of her support group. My bread and butter customers are women and their faces. Some send their husbands for work on their hairy ears, backs and necks. We also get seasonal business related to bathing suits. In all these cases, we really get to know our clients at a personal level. There can be a lot of communication in a session — unless I’m working right on the chin — but even then, some try to talk!”
Olivia concludes, “My favorite part of this business is making people feel better about themselves. We really miss them after they achieve permanency.”
TO THE POINT:
Simply Flawless Electrolysis
Address: 11815 Fountain Way, Ste. 300, Newport News, VA 23606
Contacts: Lisa C. Haning, 757-968-3032; Olivia Haning, 757-968-2703
Website: simplyflawlesselectrolysis.com
Be the first to comment