By Stefanie Jackson – A registered nurse who recently opened a medical spa in Cape Charles is looking for new opportunities to give back.
“Women want to feel good and confident when they go out,” said Stephanie Holvick, owner of R.N. Faces.
Women who are older or disabled are no exception, and working with these clients is Holvick’s specialty.
One of the services she offers is micropigmentation, or permanent makeup. She provides this service free to women who are blind, and she is seeking referrals for new clients.
It’s difficult for a woman to apply her makeup when she literally can’t see what she’s doing, and for 27 years Holvick has been providing permanent makeup services for free to the visually impaired.
She also offers areola repigmentation at no cost to breast cancer survivors who have undergone breast reconstruction.
Holvick also is a breast cancer survivor. She had a lumpectomy in 2008 and radiation. She opted to remove the tattoos doctors had placed on her body as targets for her radiation treatments.
“Some women choose to leave the marks there as a badge of honor – and that’s their choice,” she said via her website, rnfaces.com
“I chose to rid myself of the constant reminder of cancer every time I looked in the mirror. I wanted to take back control of my body, and that was my choice.”
Micropigmentation is done by tattooing. Holvick has three different tattoo machines and prefers her traditional coil tattoo machine but also owns a smaller, quieter one preferred by some clients, particularly those who get the permanent makeup.
A full face of permanent makeup includes eyebrows, eye liner, and lip liner, and gives the client the “first line of defense” against aging, Holvick said.
Permanent makeup is a solution for older women who have lost color in their faces with age, particularly as their hair thins out, including eyebrows and eyelashes. Permanent makeup also eliminates the difficulties of applying makeup on older skin that has less elasticity, with hands that may be less steady than they once were.
The permanent makeup design is drawn onto the client’s face so she can wear the look home and show her family before deciding whether or not she wants to commit to the procedure.
The permanent makeup will begin to fade with time, despite its name, and should be touched up every two years, Holvick said.
Her specialty in mature skin also includes the removal of minor skin imperfections.
People over 50 tend to accumulate skin tags and brown spots, and people of color are susceptible to developing a skin condition called dermatosis papulosa nigra, in which small, dark moles or “Morgan Freeman spots” form on the face, Holvick noted.
These imperfections can be removed by non-laser treatment with a machine called the Skin Classic, which uses direct high frequency.
Other available skin procedures include microdermabrasion and microneedling.
Microdermabrasion breaks up and removes dead skin cells, resurfacing and polishing the skin.
Microneedling makes tiny punctures in the skin, and new collagen is formed as the micro-wounds heal, rejuvenating the skin and reducing the appearance of fine lines and uneven skin tone.
Holvick said she prefers the Skin Classic because laser treatments are more expensive and less effective.
The high frequency typically is effective in one session and can be done in minutes. For example, one client had a skin tag under each eye, and his treatment took about three minutes on each side, Holvick said.
Her husband, Michael Holvick, is a retired chiropractor who went back to school in 2005 to learn skin procedures. He works alongside her with the Skin Classic, which they have owned since 2007. They also teach other clinicians how to use the machine.
Stephanie Holvick has been a registered nurse since 1982. She was introduced to aesthetic nursing while she was working in the field of plastic surgery.
Holvick received her first training in micropigmentation about 10 years into her nursing career, and she was hooked on the concept. She has been providing permanent makeup for free for the blind since 1993.
She also has had rewarding experiences helping burn victims and clients with alopecia, multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson’s disease.
The Holvicks have traveled all around the country, working and training other clinicians on the Skin Classic.
They were in Southern Shores, a town in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, when Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012.
During the aftermath of the storm, curiosity drove them to visit Cape Charles for the first time to see if the town had sustained any damage.
Like many couples before and after them, the Holvicks “fell in love” with Cape Charles and decided to make it their home.
Both are retired from their previous careers and have been enjoying their “last hurrah” in Cape Charles since last August.
Stephanie Holvick decided that after Breezes Day Spa closed, it was the right time to open her own business. A spring opening was not possible due to COVID-19, but R.N. Faces is now open and accepting clients.
The Holvicks no longer travel to train clinicians on the Skin Classic; now Stephanie Holvick holds trainings every Monday at her office in Cape Charles.
She also plans to offer Botox and fillers at the clinic by Dr. Frances Williams, who is associated with Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital in Onley.
R.N. Faces is located at 712 Randolph Ave., Cape Charles, and is open by appointment only. To make an appointment or to refer a potential client who may qualify for free services, contact Stephanie Holvick at [email protected] or call 719-859-0707. To learn more, visit rnfaces.com
Below are photos of a woman who lost her eye to cancer, before and after she received a prosthesis that attaches to the face with adhesive, as well as eyebrow reconstruction via micropigmentation by Stephanie Holvick. Images courtesy of Stephanie Holvick.