Emer O'Callaghan: Self-love is vital to your wellbeing

I recently had a lovely girlie Sunday afternoon in the Hayfield Manor spa. I get it as a present for my birthday every year, as everyone who knows me knows I don’t relax too much and I am all go - just like the majority of women today.

I enjoy the lovely massages, but the outdoor jacuzzi and pool are an added bonus for a water fanatic like myself.

I won’t lie, I really don’t spend much time on the loungers after as that to me is just so boring!

Any good hotel will have a spa as the demand is there for relaxation treatments for people when they are away on a break.

As a beauty doctor and skin specialist, I feel my job is about educating, informing, and empowering my clients so they know the pros and cons to all treatments.

I champion natural beauty and the enhancement of that, but our industry right now is fighting against the wave of cosmetic treatments.

Of course, it is all personal choice, but I prefer to promote natural beauty for all.

In my business, we love skin, we want to protect it, and this is why we need more education out there for people to know the importance of protecting it.

I have never had cosmetic work done to my face, I don’t like it, I’m very happy with the way God made me, and I work hard on my skin. with my own monthly facials. I am happy to age gracefully, and thankfully I am not alone in that, as the clients who come to my clinic are also just trying to look well naturally.

WHY DO BEAUTY TREATMENTS?

When someone books in for a beauty treatment, regardless of which one, what they are saying is they value themselves and want to invest in themselves - that’s what they are really doing.

I’ve met many women over the years who openly told me they wouldn’t dream of wasting money, as they called it, on ‘any of them beauty treatments’, and I wouldn’t even dignify them with an answer.

I see every day in my job the difference in the skin and appearance of the clients who do invest in their skin and facial hair and the general maintenance of being a woman.

I see the women who are investing time and care into themselves following my skincare plan, and they are really saying, ‘I have self-love enough to make time and care for me’ - and that is the bigger thing so many do not realise.

SKINCARE IS A DAILY RITUAL

I start my morning doing my skincare regime, I have my shower first and then I do my routine to get my skin ready for the day ahead.

I see this as just another routine, the same as I eat food to fuel my body and drink water to stay hydrated.

Then, in the evening, once I finish work, I enjoy my evening ritual of removing my make-up and doing my night skincare regime. I do it early, before 8pm, and I see this as a completion of my busy day, like I’m washing off any stress or what the day may have thrown at me.

I am also preparing my body and skin for rest and an unwinding night’s sleep.

I say this to all my clients when I am doing up their personalised skin care plans, and each of them says they too now see the concept of the ritual as something they look forward to every morning and evening, and the skin results are just amazing.

The new Dermlogica Neurotouch Symmetry Serum, €149, is a best seller this season at Emerald Beauty Clinic it’s an oil-based serum thats lifts and firms the skin tone while improving collagen and elasticity.

People have been using this serum daily as part of their skincare ritual and with it comes steps on how to massage it into the skin to relax and unwind after a busy day. Available now at Emerald Beauty Clinic, postage options available.

INVESTING INTO YOU

Often, I hear people say things like, ‘Oh, how can people afford to do monthly facials, like, and buy the good skincare?’ These are usually people who spend their money on a few takeaways a week or on drink, or fags, or lots of sun holidays.

They don’t realise that investing back into yourself and your skin and appearance is hugely beneficial in so many ways.

Our grandmothers did it for decades, and I and many of my clients still do it. That €20 or €50 into a jar or envelope every week adds up over a few weeks, and is how so many do their facials and skincare.

I did one of my popular beauty videos on this recently, you can see it on our Emerald Beauty Clinic Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok pages.

FAKE BEAUTY V NATURAL BEAUTY

Every day, someone tells me in work about a sister, friend, daughter or work colleague that they feel has really altered their face cosmetically, and how beautiful they had been beforehand.

When people love themselves enough, they shouldn’t wish to do such invasive, drastic, face-changing cosmetic work, they should just want to look natural and beautiful and like themselves.

I’d say there is not a week goes by when some man will not say to me something along these lines: ‘Jeez, Emer, I hate all them huge fake eyelashes they’re all wearing now, they are like huge insects growing out of their eyes’.

The botoxed huge lips, the orange tan, and the very long nail extensions are other areas that lots of men mention to me.

I always laugh them off, but I do hear what they are saying, and the truth of the matter is these extreme looks were never what the beauty industry was meant to be about.

When I did my training 25 years ago, the whole concept of every beauty treatment we did was to do a job correctly, you just subtly enhanced the clients’ lashes or nails or brows. You would do fake lashes, for example, in a way that you couldnt actually tell the clients’ lashes were even fake, same with the brows and nails - it was all done so well.

Fast forward to today. and you see people’s eyebrows and lashes coming from 20ft away, then the big botoxed faces, it’s like natural beauty is being destroyed.

However, I believe we are now thankfully seeing a move towards natural beauty looks.

I do feel history in time will not reflect on how we look today too well, I think the next generation will look back in slight horror at the extremes so many have gone to in altering their natural beauty and faces.

I believe the next generation are learning already from this and will be far more careful as to what cosmetic and invasive beauty they do to ‘feel good’ about themselves.

I will keep banging the natural beauty drum as the real women of Cork want this, and they know the value of loving yourself enough to invest time and care in helping your own natural beauty.

Emer O’Callaghan is a beauty doctor, skin specialist, and winner of Irish Beauty Therapist of the Year, who works at Emerald Organic Beauty Products Ltd, trading as Emerald Beauty Clinic, 021 4365949. A Multi Award Winning Five Star Gold Standard Clinic, 2008-2025, see www.emeraldbeautyclinic.ie or follow on Facebook/Instagram/TikTok. Free Parking.

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