Ep.96 Radiant Skin & Total Wellness: The Synergy of Nutrition and Skincare

Unlock the secrets to radiant skin and a nourished body with clinical esthetician and wellness coach Lisette Manuel as we explore the deep connection between diet, nutrition, and skincare. Lisette brings a wealth of knowledge to our conversation, highlighting the impact of essential nutrients like proteins, vitamin C, and antioxidants on our skin's health, while also warning against the pitfalls of processed sugars. Get ready to embrace an inside-out approach to beauty that could revolutionize your skincare regimen and well-being, especially through the transformative midlife years.

Are you curious about the buzz around collagen and the trifecta of skincare staples – hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, and retinol? Lisette and I dive into the modern dietary deficiencies and how supplementing with high-quality collagen can benefit not only your skin but also your hair, nails, and joint health. We share experiences and dissect how these powerful skincare essentials work in harmony to combat the signs of aging, ensuring your skin care routine is as effective as possible.

The journey towards confidence and self-care can take many forms, and in this episode, we also touch upon the transformative art of cosmetic tattooing and its power to restore wholeness to clients. Lisette opens up about her experiences as an artist and the emotional impact of her work. Plus, she gives us a glimpse into her literary contribution, "Prepare to Pause," a guide to navigating the often misunderstood stage of menopause. With her dual presence on social media through https://www.instagram.com/dermakhealthandbeauty/ and https://www.instagram.com/preparetopause/  Lisette offers a candid look into her professional insights, inviting listeners to connect with her inspiring journey.

You can find Lisette Manuel's book, "Prepare to Pause", on Amazon or lulu.com.

I'd love to work with you! Let me help you reach your health and fitness goals.
https://www.fasterwaycoach.com/?aid=MicheleFolan

Have questions about Faster Way? Feel free to reach out.
mfolanfasterway@gmail.com

Follow Asking for a Friend on Social media outlets:
https://www.instagram.com/askingforafriend_pod/
https://www.facebook.com/askforafriendpod/

Please provide a review and share. This helps us grow!
https://lovethepodcast.com/AFAF

This podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional healthcare services, including the giving of medical advice. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.

Transcript

Michele Folan: 0:08

Health, wellness, fitness relationships and everything in between. We're removing the taboo from what really matters in midlife. I'm your host, Michele Folan, and this is Asking for a Friend. I just love it when we get to talk about skin care and it's always wonderful when we get to chat with an expert who understands midlife skin, the inside-out connection and the importance of overall wellness. Lisette Manuel is a clinical esthetician, a wellness coach and the author of the book Prepare to Pause. Welcome to Asking for a Friend, Lisette Manuel. Thank you so much for having me. It's wonderful to meet you and I did give you a brief introduction, but I'd love to know if you'd like to fill in anything that I may have missed.

Lisette Manuel: 1:07

Well, yeah, that was pretty good. I've been a clinical esthetician for almost 36 years and worked in the industry with plastic surgeons, you know kind of all the things. I'm also a nutrition coach and recently a new author, so a lot going on.

Michele Folan: 1:28

We will talk about the book, because I think the book is kind of neat because it does tie in your 30-plus years of being an esthetics and then your focus on nutrition. So we will get there. But I think it'd be fun to also share your career path and kind of how your interests and service offerings have kind of come full circle.

Lisette Manuel: 1:54

Well, I took my course in 1988, the traditional aesthetic course with all the things the nails, the waxing, the hair removal, the facials and over the years worked in different areas, from, you know, in a shopping mall sort of setting to spas, to private-owned beauty suites with a plastic surgeon. So it's kind of evolved. Like any job. You kind of niche out in things that you tend to like more. So when I opened my business in 2008, that's what I wanted to do.

Lisette Manuel: 2:29

So I kind of got tired of doing certain things and it's a career that can be hard on the body physically, so bent over doing toenails and waxing and things like that, because I love my career and I wanted to do it for a very long time so to protect my neck and shoulders and back. So I just, you know, kind of niched out and evolved and I've always been interested in more of the wellness aspect and the medical aspect as well. So I took some extra trainings and just slowly worked on a business plan to kind of transform and integrate the things that I wanted to do and slowly phase out the things that I did not want to do, and here I am.

Lisette Manuel: 3:16

So now I specialize in predominantly in skincare this is what I do all day long and cosmetic tattooing. So I don't do any of the nails and the waxing and these things anymore. And then a few years ago I took some training in nutrition to incorporate that, because what you eat does affect your skin greatly, and especially conditions like acne or eczema and psoriasis and inflammatory skin conditions is very much related to the gut. So I wanted to dig deeper into that to be able to help my clients further, and I deal with mostly 30, 35 plus so kind of middle-aged premenopausal women where things are starting to shift and sometimes that requires a bit of a lifestyle change as well.

Michele Folan: 4:07

You know, I immediately went to how do I make my skin look better now? But if you're working with women who are 35 years old, it can be that hey, how do you want to look when you're 60? And it is some of the lifestyle choices that we make, and I do like the fact that you do embrace this inside out philosophy. So, in regard to nutrition, what are the best foods for our skin?

Lisette Manuel: 4:37

There's a couple of things, because first is protein, and as we age, particularly around menopause time and beyond, women need to increase their protein and of course, protein is what builds tissue and collagen and your muscle tone and all of that. And then to build collagen you need a lot of vitamin C. So your fruits and vegetables, your antioxidants are super important on so many levels because you have the micronutrients in the fruits and vegetables. So those are your various vitamins and minerals. And then fiber and protein just things so that your digestive system is well balanced and you flush things out well and the healthy fats.

Lisette Manuel: 5:25

So women our age are so scared of eating fat. Right, we're from that mentality of the 80s and everything was low fat and we cringe at eating nuts or avocados and things like that. So that is very important, particularly if you live in a cold climate country, like here in Canada. The cold weather and the heating is very, very drying on skin. So incorporating fats such as nuts and seeds and avocados and oily fish like mackerel and salmon, those are all things that helps to moisturize your skin from the inside out and helps to lower the inflammation in the body and the skin as well. So that would probably be. It's a well-rounded diet, but there's a lot of people out there that are eliminating certain food groups because they're doing whatever. Whatever diet is in style or it is bad. It makes you fat, it increases your blood sugar. There's no real proof of that, and I mean. Humans are biologically designed to eat fruits and vegetables. We need those to live and for our body to function optimally, so I'm a big advocate for that.

Michele Folan: 6:44

And I think too, Lisette, that it's really the added sugars in our diet.

Lisette Manuel: 6:49

Exactly.

Michele Folan: 6:50

We all know the bananas have more sugar than, say, a raspberry, but it's that added sugar of the venti latte from Starbucks that were you know that sort of those little candies here and there, Sure sure, and those are easy to sneak in to our diets, for sure. What about foods that we shouldn't eat? What are things that are counterintuitive to having good skin?

Lisette Manuel: 7:19

Well, sugar, because we're just talking about that. When you eat processed sugar and that can be table sugar, sweets, candy, but also processed carbohydrates like white bread, white rice chips, that sort of thing so that raises your blood sugar and insulin and it creates something called glycation into the skin. So it bonds to the collagen and elastin and it ages your skin very, very quickly. And that can also be alcohol, because alcohol is sugar. So you can tell people that drink a lot when they hit a certain age I don't even have to ask if they drink, because I can see it in their skins. It does something to the skin. The lower part of the face gets the texture changes and the lines in wrinkles are very, very deeply grooved and there's a certain loss of elasticity. I mean, this happens naturally with aging as well, but it's much accelerated on. I'm going to say women, but people, because men too that eat high sugar, high alcohol sort of diet and then of course it creates inflammation.

Michele Folan: 8:25

We talk a lot on this podcast about alcohol. It just comes up a lot because it's hot out there and I always say I know it's a very unpopular opinion to say no amount of alcohol is good for you. But when you start talking about we know, for insides it's inflammatory. But when you start talking about women's skin and it being detrimental to your skin, you might get some people listening.

Lisette Manuel: 8:57

It's one of the people will give up all sorts of things they're in their diet and lifestyle. But, man, that's a hard one for people to give up.

Michele Folan: 9:06

It sure is, and I hear it. I'm not insensitive to that. You were talking about vitamin C and making sure you're getting vitamin C in your diet, because obviously we do use vitamin C on our skin. Do vitamin C supplements? So if you're taking a vitamin C tablet every day, is that a good thing to add to your diet?

Lisette Manuel: 9:31

It can be if you're really not eating enough in your diet. The best source is always food because the bioavailability of it you absorb it better, you digest it better. Supplements can help, but sometimes if you take too much vitamin C you're just going to pee it out anyway. You can only hold a certain amount. So people that have maybe allergies or for whatever reason cannot eat enough in their diet. Naturally, yes, and you can add supplement from time to time as a little insurance policy. But the thing with supplements sometimes people rely on them so much and they forget to eat the real thing.

Lisette Manuel: 10:10

But it can have some benefits. A lot of collagen powders have it added in to the formula because they work together so it helps with the absorption and the production of collagen. So it can have a place, but extremely high percentages or milligrams of it. Sometimes you don't need as much as you think you do. So it's something to discuss with your physician as well or your pharmacist if you're not sure if you need it or what to take, because a lot of people take it like oh, it's cold in flu season, I'm going to up my vitamin C, so it can. But you're better off adding an extra portion of fruits and vegetables in your diet rather than taking a supplement.

Michele Folan: 10:55

All right, that's great advice. You keep just segueing right into my next topic that I had on my list. If they ask you, I was going to ask you about collagen, and I have heard every opinion about collagen, and so it runs the gamut. I always say now, I've been taking collagen for years.

Michele Folan: 11:15

And now I'm at that point, I joke. I say, well, I'm not going to stop taking collagen now, because I'm afraid some body part of mine will fall off if I stop taking it. What are your thoughts on collagen, and should we add that to our diet?

Lisette Manuel: 11:33

Like you said, it is controversial. The latest studies is starting to show that, yes, it is having an impact and honestly, if you think about ancient humans, like how we used to eat, you know way back in the cave mandays, we ate every part of the animal. People would eat the skin and the ligaments and things like that, the eyes, like I've seen my grandmother do it many times. You know she'd eat the eyeballs of the salmon. But the whole low fat society of the 80s take the skin off your chicken and all this stuff. That's where the collagen lives. It's in that skin. You know, when you roast a turkey or a chicken and you put it in the fridge and that jelly in the bottom of your pan, that's collagen and it's also used to make things like Jell-O. But you know that's not the best source. So it's something that you know we're kind of designed to eat and with our modern society it kind of phased out of our natural diets. So you can get it that way but then you know you're getting the fat which some people are concerned with animal fat If you're eating the skin off your chicken and off your fish and eating fish skin is not really palatable for most people. So, with that being said, a supplement can give you that component of your diet that's naturally missing. It's not going to be like overnight that you're like a facelift. You know you're not going to have a new face, but it has an impact on your skin, on your nails, on your hair, as well as your joints and ligaments.

Lisette Manuel: 13:10

So, depending on the type of collagen whether it's from fish or bovine and what else is in it and I always try to get like the purest, most organic source, without all the bells and whistles, when I personally prefer a powder that you can mix in liquids, it seems to be more bioavailable and more easily digestible. If you take a collagen in a pill form before your body processes all of that, you're probably not getting much Right. So I take a brand that is locally made here, not too far from from where I live, actually, and wild caught fish and the way that it's processed. It's very organic and clean and they don't add flavorings and things like that. So, like you said, I've been taking it for years and I find sometimes, you know, we get busy and we forget and I feel it in my joints when I stop immediately, you know within weeks.

Michele Folan: 14:07

That's my thing. It's really my joints and if I don't take it, that's probably the first thing I notice. So I appreciate you saying that, because I didn't know if that was all in my head.

Lisette Manuel: 14:16

No, I've seen signs that started. You know that are new at it. Usually nails and hair is what they notice more how fast it's growing and how much you know healthier and the nails get harder, the hair gets stronger. Skin takes a bit of more time because your body absorbs it in different ways and it's a large organ so it can take a few months of taking it consistently before you start noticing in your skin. But it does, and when I do certain treatments like micro needling or where the skin needs to heal and rebuilds, I often get my clients to take collagen during those treatments as well and it seems to have a quicker response.

Michele Folan: 14:57

Okay, no, and thank you for your thoughts on collagen, because, but it's evolving right.

Lisette Manuel: 15:02

The research is always evolving and they could find something else next year and, like it gets better and better. With technology they're formulating it differently and easier, so I think it's one of those supplements that's probably going to stay around for a while.

Michele Folan: 15:18

They'll have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands, probably because I'm going to stop taking it. Now. I would like to talk about face products and you, being an esthetician and with your years of experience, if you had to choose just three face products, what would they be?

Lisette Manuel: 15:40

Hyaluronic acid is pretty high on my list. So that is a molecule that we naturally have in our body, or something we naturally have in our bodies, the type of sugar. The fun thing about that is that it can hold a thousand times its weight in water. So each molecule think of it as micro cup. It's sponges. So when you put that on your skin it sucks up water from the air and it's recommended to put it on damp skin. So it's going to take the water that's on your skin and hold it there for hours and hours. So it has a nice plumping effect and nice kind of calming effect on skin that's very dry, irritated or sensitive. It can come in different formulas, because that's what's in an injectable. You know when you get your lips injected or your cheeks. It's usually hyaluronic acid. So it's a kind of natural sort of ingredient. But it has so many benefits.

Lisette Manuel: 16:34

The next one would be vitamin C, as we spoke earlier. Internally super important, but externally what it does? It's an antioxidant, as we know, and a lot of people hear this word but they don't necessarily understand what it means. So antioxidant is a fancy name for rust. So if you leave your bicycle outside in the rain for weeks and weeks, or months and months, or years, or your cars. Things will rust. But our body has similar things. So as we age we get the dreaded little brown spots right Like the sun damage the age spots, sunspot, whatever you want to call it so that in a sense, is rust. So free radicals are particles that are all around us in the air. They'd attack our body. That's what ages our body. It ages fruits and vegetables, it ages your house, it ages your car. It's everywhere.

Lisette Manuel: 17:24

So an antioxidant found in particular, vitamins like vitamin C, vitamin E, it's like a shield, it blocks it. So the easiest example that I often give my clients what do you use to keep your fruit salad from turning brown if you cook at all? Right, if you're chopping up apples, particularly in bananas, and we know that within 20 minutes they turn brown, you use citrus, exactly. So a sorbic acid is the type of vitamin C that's found in lemon juice or any type of citrus. This is often what's in the skincare formulas. So when you're putting those serums or creams on your skin is the equivalent of putting the lemon juice on your apple slices to keep them white. So it has a lightning effect on the spots that are there, but it's more so as a preventative and ideally to use it in the daytime under a sunblock, because as you're walking around being exposed to all these free radicals and UVA, uvb rays, it's that shield that is on your skin and it also has an impact on collagen production as well.

Lisette Manuel: 18:33

And then after that would be as far as like all purpose ingredients, that for any skin type, because there are a lot of good things. That was a hard choice to make. And then it would be probably like a very nourishing type of cream, something like that has shea butter or squaling, like oil, because as we age our skin gets very dry and just a little light lotion sometimes is not enough. Squaling is actually an oil taken from shark liver, so it penetrates very well and it's very well absorbed by the skin. Shea butter is from a nut like. It's a nut type of butter. Cocoa butter is another one, so it's something ingredients that bring oil and acts like a barrier protection for skin, because after menopause the skin gets very, very dry and water evaporates easier. So you want to have things that is gonna seal a lot of that in and moisturize and repair the skin.

Michele Folan: 19:37

I have a vitamin C serum that has a squalene base and it feels so yummy oh it's really nice.

Lisette Manuel: 19:47

It's a rich oil, but it's not sticky or greasy.

Michele Folan: 19:50

No, it does not leave my face sticky or greasy looking, but it's so easy to apply, it's so lovely and it's made by Womaness. I had the co-founder of the company on my show. I met her at an event. I went immediately and got some of that vitamin C and I've been using it. I absolutely love it. Couple things so you didn't mention retinol or retinoids and I was wondering what your thoughts are about using those.

Lisette Manuel: 20:22

I have a love hate relationship with retinol.

Michele Folan: 20:25

Okay, I'd love to hear this. It is one of the actual, proven ingredients.

Lisette Manuel: 20:32

That has an anti-aging effect on the skin. It does change the molecular structure of the cells the skin and the cells but it's very strong. I personally I've tried everything I have a hard time using it. I look like I have eczema all over my face. It makes me itchy.

Lisette Manuel: 20:51

It was for first and foremost designed for acne, right? Because it's a vitamin A derivative and we know that people that have acne will often be prescribed Accutane, which is an oral medication for acne. So the retinol is a derivative of those vitamin A. So there's different formulas, different percentages, different strength, time release encapsulated all these different formulas. So it's kind of you have to do a little bit of trial and error, but there is a protocol to start using it. So you have to use it very slow, like once a week for the first month and then you build to twice a week and you know we'd start with a low, maybe 0.03, and then go up to a 1.0 and things like that.

Lisette Manuel: 21:37

So it's not something I just recommend for everybody, because some skins if you have example of rosacea can't tolerate, or very, very thin skin usually have a hard time with it. So there are other things that can do a similar effect. So I prefer to do a treatment like micro needling or something like that. That's gonna give you this similar firming and collagen induction with less side effects. But I have some clients that tolerate it really well and do very well and they can use it every day with no problem and seeing really good results. So I'm hesitant to just put it out there for everybody, because some people are not great candidates for it, so that's why I wasn't on my top list.

Michele Folan: 22:24

I was curious. I was like, oh, she didn't mention retinols and I've had some dermatologists and estheticians say retinol. But I see where you're coming from. There are when it's really cold out.

Lisette Manuel: 22:36

I find it's overprescribed.

Michele Folan: 22:38

Yeah well, and I can say just from personal experience and I know one of my sisters says this too if it's really cold out and your skin's already dry, it just adds insult to injury. So it may not be something that I would use every single day, but I do use it. I let it sit for a minute and then I hit it with a really heavy moisturizer.

Lisette Manuel: 23:03

Because of that, you need to put it on clean, dry skin only at night and wait a 10 to 15 minute before we're applying other creams. And in cold weather definitely you need those barrier creams we were talking about earlier with the squalenes or ceramides or a thicker kind of oilier to prevent that transepidermal water loss that can occur.

Michele Folan: 23:26

Yeah, so I like that you mentioned that you used the retinol on dry, clean skin and then wait, let it do its job before you add anything on top of that, which is great advice. The other thing is you mentioned using hyaluronic acid, maybe even on damp skin, to really capitalize on that moisture, and then would you do the vitamin C over that.

Lisette Manuel: 23:52

Yeah, it depends on the formula. So you want to use your lightest, most water-based products first. So let's say your vitamin C is combined with vitamin E perhaps, or a squalene where it's in an oilier formula, then you would use your hyaluronic acid definitely first, because you want to do the water-based stuff first and work your way up to the thicker, oilier based. If your vitamin E is liquid, like in a drop or form, let's say, and it's very watery, there's no oil in it as well, or at all, then you could do that first and then, while that's still kind of damp, put your hyaluronic acid on top, or either or. So it really depends on the formula that you're using.

Michele Folan: 24:39

Did you mean say vitamin C or vitamin E? Vitamin C?

Lisette Manuel: 24:43

But a lot of vitamin C serums are combined with a vitamin E because you're getting two antioxidants. Some serums or creams have both. But vitamin E, as we know, is oily right, it's an oil-based vitamin, because if you open the little capsules it's oil, right. We tend to put that on scars and things like that. But vitamin C is water-soluble. So it just depends what is combined in your product and what you have.

Lisette Manuel: 25:11

And this is something that I see pretty much every day in my clinic. Women use stuff and they don't know what they're using and what it's for. They just buy whatever the sales clerk told them to buy or their friend that they're. You know their thing.

Lisette Manuel: 25:24

It's important to look at the ingredients on your bottle of potion or cosmetic or whatever you have and know what you're using it for and why, because certain serums are designed for daytime, some are designed for nighttime, some are designed for a short period of time, not year-round. So there's a lot and you know I've had clients come in and they're using five different serums from five different brands. So there can be interaction there. Chemically, either they neutralize each other or they can cause irritation and reactions Because there are chemicals and the pH and all these little intricate details. It's important to know how and what and why. I guess this is where institutions come in and we coach and guide our clients. But when you just buy things online or at the store by yourself, sometimes you're not sure and some products don't even have the ingredients and the instructions on it right, or it's on the box and you threw that away two months ago and now your bottle is like what was this for again? So the steps? It depends on the formula.

Michele Folan: 26:35

Are you going to weigh in on red light therapy on these masks? What do you think of those?

Lisette Manuel: 26:41

That is my favorite gadget. I use it consistently in my treatment room. I have the professional, you know the big panels with different settings and different lights, and I also do retail the face ones for my clients. Yes, there are a few contraindications. So of course, pregnancy, right, and breastfeeding, because your hormones are unstable at that time and a lot of pregnant ladies develop melasma which is sensitive to heat and light. So we don't like to, and nobody wants to, test these things on pregnant ladies. So, as with all skincare and beauty things, we say no to that.

Lisette Manuel: 27:20

Secondly, if you're on a lot of photosensitive medication and you know antibiotics or certain anti-anxiety, anti-depressants, hormones, birth control there's a lot of drugs that usually have a warning label to it's mostly for the sun, but let's say you're on four of those it could make your skin a little more sensitive with those lights. You just have to use with caution, right. And or if you have epilepsy, let's say, because some of them blink so you're getting this constant flashing in your eyes, so you have to be careful with that. But otherwise pretty much any skin type can benefit. There's different colors that has different actions, and red is kind of like the all purpose right. It treats inflammation, redness, it increases collagen, it helps with healing, it helps with bruising. So if you've had injections or any work done in your face, I usually bring them in to you know, help to accelerate some of that healing.

Lisette Manuel: 28:21

If you are using retinol and active ingredients like that, do not put it on immediately before putting your red light. So you would use this on clean, dry skin first and then put your active ingredients afterwards, because it can accelerate the effect of something like retinol or salicylic acids or certain glycolic acid, that sort of thing. So it can kind of make your product work a bit stronger, which is not always a good thing. But yes, big advocate for those. They're proven to work. You know it's an old technology that was developed by NASA like over 50 years ago. So there is the data to prove that it does have an effect on tissue.

Michele Folan: 29:04

Okay, good. And then my other question how often should we exfoliate, and is it okay to use a washcloth

Lisette Manuel: 29:15

It depends on the skin type and the age of the person. If you're young, your skin naturally renews itself every 28 days or so, but as we age it can be 40 to 50 days, right, that process slows down. So if there's no sensitivity like inflammation from acne, you know, really flared up, rosacea, lupus, those sorts of things, you have to be careful because it can irritate. And the weather so winter's cold weather, you would exfoliate a bit less. People think more because oh, my skin is dry, I'm just going to scrub it off, but it can actually make things worse.

Lisette Manuel: 29:52

So on a normal skin, normal situation, once to twice a week is plenty. But if you're using products that exfoliate, right, we're talking here mechanical exfoliation from scrub or a brush or one of those loofah mitts. But sometimes you get an exfoliant that's in a product, such as alpha hydroxy acids and salicylics and retinol itself. So those are very potent natural exfoliants. So if you're using those daily, there's really no need to be doing a scrub twice a week on top of that, because it's kind of overkill. But if you're not using anything like that, then yes, once or twice a week at the most, not daily. I'm not a fan of cleansers that have like a daily exfoliant and plus doing a weekly scrub and doing this and doing that it's too much. We're disrupting the natural microbiome of the skin and it can lead to a condition called TEWL. T-e-w-l, yes, stands for transepidermal water loss, where your think of your skin as having a saran wrap right that holds all the water and all the nutrients. When you over exfoliate, that saran wrap becomes full of holes and then water evaporates too quickly and then you start getting conditions like irritation and dryness and itching and sensitivities. So it's a very complex organ. So I'm a less is more type of girl.

Lisette Manuel: 31:25

I find, as a whole, what I see on the internet and particularly Instagram, there's too much stuff going on over exfoliation. Okay, depends where you live, on your climate and your age and a lot of things. But a washcloth to getting back to your question it doesn't really exfoliate and I'm not a big fan of those for the face because you have residue from fabric softener and you have scented. People use all these scented things in their laundry, so that's going into your skin. So I prefer to use cleansing sponges or something designed that you just use for your face on your face, a lot of these little microfiber cloths or sponges. That is just more sanitary and you want to exfoliate in a controlled manner, and a lot of those scrubs have vitamins and hydrating things like hyaluronic acid. So you're exfoliating but you're also getting treatment on your skin, while if you just use like a washcloth or a brush, you can do it. But okay, why not use something that's going to add more to it as well?

Michele Folan: 32:37

Okay, you do cosmetic tattooing and I checked out the photos on your website, which are really amazing. If a client's coming to you, what most often are you doing in regard to cosmetic tattooing?

Lisette Manuel: 32:56

It depends on the season, eyebrows are probably the most requested of all things that I tattoo and the last couple of years everything eyebrows has exploded, so it's super popular and a lot of women as they age will get bald spots thinning sometimes it's caused by medication where they're losing their eyebrows, stress, alopecia, all these things.

Lisette Manuel: 33:21

So that kind of is like the top of all the tattooing I do, and then I also do more like the eyeliner and lips. It's more cosmetic eyebrows it's kind of more of a need. I don't have eyebrows, I need eyebrows. And then my favorite thing to do, though, is nipples and areolas, but it depends, right. Usually, I have like spring and fall seems to be.

Lisette Manuel: 33:45

The eyebrow tattoo just goes, because you have to avoid the sun while it's healing. You can't swim, you can't travel, there's a bit of downtime, right. So my clients tend to kind of pick seasonal times where there's not much going on for the healing process and for the ink to have time to heal properly and set. Not a best situation in the summertime, when you're swimming or on a boat or you know, but it can vary, and with the areolas, that's usually can most of the time breast cancer reconstruction, but also scar camouflage from breast reductions where there's been necrosis of the nipple and there's scarring and disfiguration, and just to kind of even things out. So there's a lot of different situations where I would be tattooing nipples and areolas, and then I do a bit of scar camouflage and things like that.

Michele Folan: 34:40

So it just makes— oh neat, I didn't even think about camouflaging scars, but that's fascinating, I think you have a flat white scar.

Lisette Manuel: 34:47

But sometimes facelift patients you know they'll have that telltale scar around the ear and around the hairline. So we just do a little bit to blend that in and make it a bit less noticeable. But it doesn't work for all types of scars. It's very particular for that.

Michele Folan: 35:03

Okay, and the photos that I saw the areolas and the nipple tattooing that you do are absolutely amazing. By the way, you are so talented. How gratifying is it for you to help restore women's confidence a bit and help them feel whole after having major breast surgery like that it's extremely gratifying.

Lisette Manuel: 35:32

It is probably one of my favorite things to do, because the artist in me likes the—every client is different, right? So I'm never going to be drawing the same thing. Eyebrows are eyebrows, like. There's some variations. But with this, especially when I'm trying to match the other side—let's say it's a unilateral mastectomy so I'm trying to match the real color and shaping in it. So it's more challenging for me that way. And the look on their faces. Even when they come for a consultation, I have these little stick-on tattoos. You use a wet cloth and, like the crackerjack tattoo is what we used to do, so they can try it out a little bit before. So I usually will put those on during their consult and I say go home and live with that for a few days, see how you feel. And just when I put those stickers on, they go to the mirror and the tears come out immediately usually.

Lisette Manuel: 36:29

So that's that.

Michele Folan: 36:31

And for me, like even— yeah, like you're getting choked up right now because you see the emotional scars of them not— it takes away from this.

Lisette Manuel: 36:41

I mean, every scar is different. It depends on the surgery and what was done, but that's all they see, right? That's all they see is their scars. So when you tattoo the nipple and it takes away, you know you're just stepping out of the shower. You glance at yourself, you look more normal, I guess, more whole, and just that is such a—yeah you can't explain it, how gratifying it is, but—.

Michele Folan: 37:10

Yeah that gets you out of bed in the morning, right that kind of stuff knowing that you are making that kind of an impact on someone's life. That's very heartwarming.

Lisette Manuel: 37:22

It's not something that I had heard of or planned of when I started my career, but it kind of fell in my lap and I'm like—I immediately was attracted to that right. So as soon as I—I took my training as soon as I heard about it and, yeah, just been honing my skills ever since I guess.

Michele Folan: 37:43

Yeah, that's fabulous. Lisette, I would love to talk about your book. The book is called Prepare to Pause. What prompted you to write it and who did you write it for?

Lisette Manuel: 37:56

It was one of those things that wasn't planned at all. I'm very in tune with the universe and you know I'm a bit holistic that way and I find things happen for a reason. But it started out as being a pamphlet, because I do consultations and the same questions arise, the same conversations. So I thought—and I would usually kind of recap everything and send an email, but it's a lot of work, right. So I thought, what if I have like a nice little bullet point pamphlet to give out to my clients and, you know, take notes on, and when they get home they can read it and kind of remember what we discussed?

Lisette Manuel: 38:36

And so I just started putting ideas together on my laptop and you know, as thoughts would come up and questions and I would go write and add and add and it just—there was just too much. And then it just started to flow out of my brain and first thing I had 10 chapters written and then it evolved into kind of being a bit of my own story because I had—and still having quite a difficult menopause. I can't take any hormone therapy because I had a pulmonary embolism a few years ago, so I can't take anything and I found the writing very therapeutic. The worst of my menopause really hit me the first year of that pandemic. It was a rough ride. And then it kind of opened conversation and women are so scared to talk about menopause. And then I have like the younger ones that are just starting. They're coming in for a facial treatment and they're like I don't know what's going on and I'm breaking out here and I have hairs growing there and I can't sleep and they're stressed out and the conversation starts. So I thought if I would have—how could I have something for that age group to help them kind of prepare them to what's coming? They make—some women have no symptoms at all and have a very easy time, but 70 to 85 percent of us have some sort of symptom or issue going on.

Lisette Manuel: 40:07

So the title Prepare to Pause is basically how to prepare for menopause, but also to prepare to pause, as in take a pause in your life, reassess Because at middle age we do that, eh, like we reassess, and we—you know your life is changing, your things are evolving and we're stressed out creatures by nature. So, like, prepare your mind. Like you're going to retire soon, prepare for that pause. So it has multiple meanings. But the book I would say mostly for the premenopausal, perimenopausal women is what it's mainly designed for.

Lisette Manuel: 40:47

But even if you've been postmenopausal for years, there's a big chapter on skin treatments and skin care. In there. There's nutrition, there's sleep, like it covers all of this health and wellness components. Even if you've already been through that and are done with your hot flashes, there's still things for women to learn and information to be gained from that. But it was kind of for that age group and it just—it's not a serious read, it's a very easy to read. Each chapter is individual. You can pick it up two months from now. You don't have to reread. You know what I mean. The story doesn't continue right. It's individual, kind of self-help sort of format and, yeah, it just kind of evolved into that, so it was not planned.

Michele Folan: 41:41

Well, a lot of things that we do, particularly midlife, aren't really planned. We just, sometimes we just get a hair and we just say you know what? This is something I'm going to do and we do it, but that's—let's say that's. The beauty of midlife is that we don't need permission to do things. We give ourselves permission and we have earned that confidence and that privilege to be able to do things that maybe we would not have ever done, even 15 years ago.

Lisette Manuel: 42:13

Exactly and you gain knowledge and experience with life.

Michele Folan: 42:18

Right, yeah, we've got some credibility that we can share with the world, right? One other question I have for you is what is one of your key pillars of self-care, and I know you probably have 20. Oh yeah.

Lisette Manuel: 42:35

That's a hard one for me. I guess I would go with nutrition that being the first chapter of my book, because I feel that if you don't eat well, nothing works well right. Your brain doesn't function well, your skin will suffer, your mood will suffer, because we know that nutrition and mental health is very, very much, you know, integrated in each other. You need to have a balanced diet to have it. So it's the base and the key, I feel, to all the other things. I could say get a massage, yes, that's great, but if you don't have a healthy diet, so many things that can go wrong or happen to your body over time. So to me, that is something that I feel very strongly about. I'm very, very careful of what I put into my body. It's a non-negotiable for me in my lifestyle. So I feel very strongly about it and I wish that everybody else would, because there's so many fast food and process food that's available and people have kind of forgotten how to eat the basics right.

Michele Folan: 43:46

Yeah, oh yeah, and I actually wrote down your quote here because I'm going to probably post this on something If you don't eat well, nothing works well, and I think that really kind of ties a bow on it. Lisette, I would love for you to tell listeners where they can find you and find your book.

Lisette Manuel: 44:07

I am on social media. I have actually have two accounts on Instagram, so my aesthetic business one is Dermak Health and Beauty and then I have a Prepare to Pause Instagram account so that one's more menopause. It's a little lighter, more, less serious. You know more. It's more me, who I am, as me, while the other one is more business related with the services I do and things like that. And then my website is Dermak Aesthetics. com, where my book. You can purchase my book on my website, on Amazon and also on lulu. com.

Michele Folan: 44:50

Oh, okay.

Lisette Manuel: 44:51

And I'm also on Facebook under Dermak Aesthetics as well.

Michele Folan: 44:55

All right, that will all go in the show notes. Appreciate the info. And Lisette Manuel, it is wonderful to meet you and thank you for being on Asking for a Friend.

Lisette Manuel: 45:07

Likewise, and thank you for having me.

Michele Folan: 45:12

Follow Asking for a Friend on social media outlets and provide a review and share this show wherever you get your podcasts. Reviews and sharing help us grow.