S2, E2: A Body and Age Positive Approach to Beauty with Katie Westgate

Spa owner Katie Westgate is here today to set the record straight. Less is more. She explains how the world is selling us solutions that actually irritate the skin and cause inflammation. Katie talks products, tools, and effective healing treatments. I talk about her gift of healing hands and how her treatments are the definition of therapeutic.

Learn about the newest, most natural ways to improve your skin, how our skin actually works, and what it needs to regenerate and look good! A little reminder that beauty on the skin, comes from within.

If you’re in the Ann Arbor, MI area, use code MOTHER10 for 10% off skin treatments.

Resources:

KWest Skin.Body.Spirit Website: https://www.kwestskinbodyspirit.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/k.westskinbodyspirit

Laurel Skincare: https://www.kwestskinbodyspirit.com/shop-TgxhD/laurel-skin

Skincare Tools: https://www.kwestskinbodyspirit.com/shop-TgxhD/skin-care-tools

• Transcription

  Leslie 0:00

  About three years ago, I decided it was time to step up my skincare game. I was already using what I thought were good products, but I figured adding a facial here in there would be beneficial. I also had some questions that I wanted to ask a professional. Why am I dry and flaky? Is there anything I can do about hormonal breakouts? And also, how about this more reddish skin tone around my chin. I did a quick Google search, best facial and Arbor, Michigan. A few ads for day spas came up. But I was also looking for like a specific environment. It needed to be super beautiful, very calming. Luckily, I stumbled upon a rave review of a place called K West. I'd never heard of it before. But I booked it and the rest is history. Since going to Key West and meeting the owner Katie West Gate, I have changed all of the facial products that I use, I've added the use of skin tools. I've changed the way I view skincare on a hole. And best of all, I have found my single most favorite way to relax. A facial by the supremely talented, always informative Katie Westgate. Today, we talked to Katie about her unique approach to skincare, her thriving business and her commitment to supporting her customers on a healthy path of beauty, ease and flow in their skin, body and spirit. All this and more coming up on today's episode of the mother lode. So for most of my life, I thought a facial was kind of self indulgent, maybe like a once a year treat. But now that I'm older and wiser, my skin technically needs it. But also I know that my body and my mind and my nervous system need to like come down. My friend Katie, at K West skin, body and spirit gives the gift of healing touch, like deep relaxation, so that your body and your mind can be calm. I haven't even mentioned the skin results yet. Oh my gosh, those are a byproduct of your overall experience at Kate West, but you will see absolutely glowing healthy skin. And Katie is awesome with product and like facial tool education. She provides non invasive age reversing treatments, all in the most aesthetically calming and beautiful environment ever. Okay, I have to stop. You just have to go feel it and see it for yourself. Mentioned the mother lode for 10% off your services. And I'm telling you, you will not regret it. Hello, my dear.

  Unknown Speaker 3:20

  Hey, Leslie,

  Leslie 3:21

  how are you?

  Unknown Speaker 3:22

  I'm so good.

  Leslie 3:23

  Yay. I'm so glad you're here.

  Unknown Speaker 3:25

  Me too. Thank you so much. I'm super honored that you invited me and I think it's so great that you're doing this and you found this for yourself. So yeah, review.

  Leslie 3:36

  Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, you're, you're a little inspiration to me, because you're doing your own thing as well, you know, as a mama, having your own business, and also kind of carving your own way and niche out of the field of beauty and skin, if you will, but not going about it traditionally. And I feel like that's a lot of the stories and the people that I showcase here that you know, there's not one way to do something. And I think really, really special beautiful things come from that authentic approach.

  Unknown Speaker 4:19

  Definitely.

  Leslie 4:20

  So this is Katie Westgate. She is the owner. Excuse me, I'm actually getting over a little bit of bronchitis. So that's a tough one to have on your podcast. And your voice is coming in and out. But Katie Westgate owns an amazing would you call it a day spa or what do you call it?

  Unknown Speaker 4:44

  I just call it a spa because it feels like day spa sounds so like kitschy for some reason. Okay, and I really came at it wanting that whole encompassing body approach. And so we do have the yo Got to and yeah, last space. So, day spa just reminds me of like getting mani pedi and yes, like a Quick Peel or something. But I want it to be much more than that. Yeah. And it's inspired by destination spas and really that like feeling of energy healing that you have there. So

  Leslie 5:21

  yeah, spa. Okay. I love that. Very good. That makes sense. Yes, so is a spa with the best environment. Thank you facial products that I've ever come across. I'm so glad that Ann Arbor has this offering. And I want to just kind of delve in with your story. I know that it's like it could be a lot of pieces, but kind of how you got to where you are. And that those differences that I that I mentioned, to your approach to the skin. And to like overall beauty and wellness.

  Unknown Speaker 6:06

  Dad, definitely. So when you mentioned that Ann Arbor is it's great that this offering is here, that was kind of where I started from a little bit was noticing that Ann Arbor didn't have this type of space. And I moved here from New York, even though I went to U of M but I moved back and having that experience there of spas and working in spas there. And then of yoga there and how different that was coming back to Ann Arbor, I really wanted to offer that experience that I had had with the community here. And so it really grew from a small space that I opened when my son was two to what it is now. So it's been seven years opened. Okay, yeah, I was gonna ask, yeah, at this location, it's been four years. But before that I was in a small studio space, just doing facials. And the facials, we're always growing into more energy healing, too. Because as you do this type of work and the type of sensitivity that I bring to it. on all levels, I would say this sensitivity of like, almost like viscerally feeling like what my clients need in their body and in their face. It just had to grow to a spa, where we offered body treatments and yoga and energy healing. And the space had to be really beautiful and whole experience of coming there. Because another aspect of where I'm coming from, and this is actually having a graduate degree and experience design. And my thesis in grad school was how to make people more aware of themselves in the present moment, but it was through sound and light. Oh, and I never consciously like, you know, was set out to be esthetician or set out to open a spa. But it just naturally grew into this. And now I find myself doing that connection, that deep connection that I felt like I don't know where it came from. And I mean, that's another part of what I do is connecting to your soul and your spirit and how that Guiding Light, Where's that coming from, and how that then became just something that I needed to share with people. And so it grew into this. Without really a conscious like, trajectory, it was just letting my inspiration guide me. And so that's where it is. And when you say my approach, the approach is really about that too. So it's about the whole person and honoring that whole person and how we are on this earth as whole beings so you can't just spot treat the face. It's every aspect of how you're living your life is going to affect the way you look which is like so superficial, but it also is the way you feel the way your relationships are with other people. So that is just like on this deep level honoring that our body and our skin is has this like innate wisdom and we also have this innate wisdom as we age. So it's an age positive approach and it's a body wisdom. positive approach that the skin has things that it comes with that is like the microbiome, for instance, a lot of this traditional Western skincare approaches actually attack that and fragment. Us. Yeah. Like the whole marketing thing. Like, we it's like fear based, like we are not whole. So they have to come and fix us fix something in us. Yeah. And like so. My approach is really like reawakening people to the fact that they are whole, and they are smart, and their skin smart. So let's protect it and help it

  Leslie 10:43

  that is powerful. Like, thank you, is it Yeah, it's

  Unknown Speaker 10:50

  so much better place to live in this like, heart centered, like, honoring, then, you know, it's kind of sad how skincare just reading this book called clean. That's like, it's about soap, it really starts out with soap, and the whole thing. Skincare industry is like, just a marketing. Yeah, all just marketing. In just one might say like, oh, well, you're just marketing too. And it's like, no, because like, there's nothing that replaces touch. And like that energy that is passed through touch. So like that does heal. heals people.

  Leslie 11:34

  Yeah, no, you're not marketing at all. It's a completely different thing. And the marketing works on women, specifically, and then specifically, not only again, because of our gender, but because our gender is targeted with the whole beauty shortcoming thing. Like men don't feel that like, right, you they haven't been ingrained with that. Yes.

  Unknown Speaker 12:01

  It's like time that we are just like, No, yeah, like, No, I can age. Like, fu that I can't eat just right. But yeah, you can't stop it. So

  Leslie 12:17

  I am so like, Yes, this is all these are huge, amazing soul full cons concepts for a facial like you could look at, like, Oh, what do I go get done at this place, I can get a facial and that could be seen as so superficial. And that was part of like my, my question. Another question to you about, you're so natural, and you're so authentic in every way, not just the way you treat your skin and the way you don't wear the makeup and like you walk the walk, you put you talk the talk, and yet you're in an industry of beauty, where people are coming to, like you said, fix something. And I think what you just said already answered that question. My question was like, Well, how do you stay so grounded in your approach when the world has this other approach? And that is just that that we your purpose? Is that you know, we are these are ready whole beings that people shouldn't come through the door to fix their skin or to fix the aging process that yeah, they have it within them already.

  Unknown Speaker 13:45

  Right? Well, people do come in with that veiling, and so I guess that's how I stay grounded in it is to help them see. Not that I'm helping them. Like I'm letting them see the light, but like no. Yeah, but it's like, oh, now helping them see themselves again, in like a better light. Yes, that's why it was always a thing that I had to do yoga and I had to do classes, because that just makes you stronger. So that's like really part of it. But no, I would say that the whole staying grounded in my approach is it just gets stronger and stronger. And I'm actually healing and undoing a lot of what people are doing to themselves by the traditional approaches. So it helps me just be like no like this works. This is like better because I've seen them come in and see the damage that's done. So that's how I just makes me feel more validated.

  Leslie 14:59

  Yes. That's true. Yeah, your daily experiences continue to lead you back to purpose. And I love the whole approach to wellness. And I feel like some of the other guests that have been on the podcast. That's, again, why their stories are so unique and I love to feature them is because we live in a society of quick topical fixes, like you said, you know, people come in, and it's like, I want to fix this, and I want to change this. And I think people go to the doctor for those same reasons, like, give me a pill or and I'm not against that at all. But just like, give me a quick fix, rather than the root. And everything is a root has a root cause it's 100%. Yeah. So if if we aren't looking at why is, you know, why are you having these hormonal breakouts? Or why are you having the red patchy? Like, it's not just some magical lotion or laser that you can put on it? Because there's still something happening inside?

  Unknown Speaker 16:16

  Yes. So you're actually never going to solve the problem, that band aid approach because you rip the band aid off? It's still there. Yes. And then a lot of times, like you mentioned a pill or you mentioned a topical, like, most usually that like let's say, it's like a topical antibiotic for acne from the doctor like that will be based in a lot of really terrible chemicals too. And those caused damage to your skin. So yeah, like, why not then treat like why you have acne from the inside? Yes. So much healthier. And the great thing about skin too, is that it's like the canary in the coal mine like it's even from like a homeopathy standpoint, like that homeopaths love that the skin like is a detoxification organ and that you can see the like, inflammation coming through the skin, because it's showing that your body is pushing something out that I would otherwise like, store deep into an organ. So that's just like the canary in the coal mine is gonna like help you be healthier. So don't like shy away from those.

  Leslie 17:37

  Like, like wordles

  Unknown Speaker 17:39

  freshers Yeah, sign going on, like, use them. Yeah, use them as like your healing. Yeah, well,

  Leslie 17:47

  yeah. Because we can't see our liver and we can't see, you know, those organs, our adrenals and things on the inside. So yeah, using that to guide you and say, Hmm, I wonder what is underlying here. And that's something that I love. When I come to you. You are just full of such guidance and wisdom. And it's it's very non directive. And it's very much just like, this is something that I know, or this is something that I have found to work in the past. And maybe you would like to try it, and maybe you would not. And it's just a lovely way to take in information. Right?

  Unknown Speaker 18:31

  Well, it's everyone's going to do their own research, and they're all going to do their own have their own experience with things. So I'm not going to judge anyone for trying something. It's just Yeah, exactly. Like this may work for you. It may not just like the whatever the doctor gives you may work for you or may not like yeah, people come in, they're like, oh, I have rosacea. And doctor gave me this prescription stop doing anything when disease again anyway. And it's like, Okay, that didn't work. And that's a doctor telling you that so I mean, we all come with our own past and our own like path. So it's just yeah, the same. Yeah, thing with this.

  Leslie 19:21

  Yes. Well, and we are taught that approach, right. Like I feel like as I get older, the beautiful thing is I realize there's so many other ways to figure things out from the root like we talked about, but when we're young, you know, you get sick you go to the doctor, the doctor gives you amoxicillin and then you're better like we just we have to find that almost for ourselves as we get older. And I think that the first approach is sometimes that way, even in skincare I know when I came to you I was using retin. A, and everyone. And their brother says that that is like the magic Fountain of Youth potion because it gets rid of your topical layers of skin. And so therefore you're constantly regenerating new cells. And doesn't that make sense and your your skin is fresh because the other skin sloughed off everywhere. And that's I was trying to make that work. And I couldn't get rid of the constant flaky, dry skin.

  Unknown Speaker 20:34

  Right? I mean, I don't know if anyone tests to be honest, because it's doing what you just described doing? Yeah. And what I mentioned before, is the microbiome is very important for our health of everything in our bodies. So if you're constantly sloughing that off, if you've got like, an imbalance, and your skin isn't going to behave properly, or like hold moisture, for example, and then you're just going to be super dry, and then that's going to look like more wrinkles, when that's what you came to that approach from the get go. So yes, yeah,

  Leslie 21:17

  absolutely. Yeah. And they told me, because I, you know, said this, like, it's dry, and I can't, I can't make it stop being dry. And it was like, Well, you got to get over that hump, it was like, keep going, keep going, you'll get to a point where it won't be that way. So then I was like, backing down on the volume of it. And, and from the beginning, I felt like, gosh, this is a harsh chemical. And surprisingly, I have found, and I don't, other people may or may not feel this way, but like, I am so natural and clean in every other avenue of my life, right. But when it came to my skincare and my face, I was like, willing to go like gimme all the chemicals. And it was really contradictory to the way I, you know, made decisions for the rest of my body, if you will, right. So it was in coming to you and being introduced to the Laurel skincare line, which I'm just a huge fan of and so obsessed with. And I think that has changed my skin a lot that I gave, you know, I gave up the chemicals, if you will, and you just were like, if you want to try this, you can and I remember walking out of the first facial being like, well, I want to keep it feeling and looking like whatever you just did to me. And I think to at that point, I was definitely ready to try that clean approach because it did dawn on me that I was dumping chemicals on my face. And you you know sometimes you know things but and you can hear them over and over but I love when somehow someone says something some day in a way that you're just like I'm doing this ah you know, glad

  Unknown Speaker 23:15

  that that was that was

  Leslie 23:17

  that was you? Absolutely. So yeah, the the chemicals and that approach for skincare are just so huge. And that is the fix it mentality. And so I debunked the Retin A thing right away, went to the natural product line. Tell me about the products that you use and how they are different than what other spas would use on facials

  Unknown Speaker 23:44

  right so we now also we have the Laurel whole plant organic but then we also have living libations which is another completely natural like not it's not as farm to bottle as Laurel is like Laurel is made in California and they're continually harvesting their plant matter and making products to order. So it's a lot different than a lot of other skincare lines where they make a massive batch and then it sits in a warehouse with a bunch of preservatives. Yeah, this is super fresh, just like the living libations are both made to order and they are made. Also not to just honor our own skin but to honor the earth to like both of them are very sustainable companies. Packaging Yeah, the packaging is glass. And it's just the same idea. Same concept I was talking about before where you are respecting the knowledge of the skin and the knowledge of wholeness of its I mean Laurel's called whole plant organic because they try to get as much as the whole plant in there. So when you relate that to food is a really easy way for people to, to like digest this concept is like it's yeah, like a whole plant as opposed to like process of like processed food or like derivatives and skincare like process vitamin C isn't going to be as bioavailable to the skin as that whole plant. And then um, we

  Leslie 25:31

  get that when it comes to food, right, we're out there eating more get oh yeah, that makes sense. And then we're like chemical, chemical chemical, right.

  Unknown Speaker 25:38

  And both of the lines, they don't use emulsifiers. And what emulsifiers do is like any cream that you have is usually with an emulsifier. And that ingredient, even if it's a natural emulsifier, which is usually like a form of a wax. With that mixed with water, it does not absorb into your skin repellent. Yeah, like sits on your skin, they also don't allow glycerin into their products where glycerin is from like just a point of like, what it is it binds water to itself. And so everyone's like, Oh, that's so amazing for skin because it's going to bind water from the outside into your skin. But it's not true. What it is, is it's binding wire to itself. So it's actually taking your own water that's in your skin and binding it to itself. Oh, and it has the effect of making your skin look even more dry. So shrivels your cells. So there's a lot of benign seeming ingredients, and even natural products like within natural products, there's still a choice to be made for efficacy. So that's why I chose those two lines is because like the science behind it is really protecting your skin and still giving you those benefits that everybody loves. Like like vitamin C and vitamin A, but it's coming from like, plant matter. Yes. It's so good. Yeah, and like for instance, both of them have a sun serum. And that has raspberry seed oil in it which is a ingredient has the effect of diffusing the harm in the rays of sun they actually neither one well living libations does have a zinc oxide but neither one has like a real sunscreen and in it because they want this your you to get some sun. So they don't want to just block the sun all the time because our skin actually benefits from sun and our body benefits from vitamin D. Yeah, it's even great for sleep regulation the sun is so they honor the fact that like we need sun, so don't block it out. But the sunscreens also anesthetize the skins that we actually can't feel the sun's rays which then actually gives you more hyperpigmentation. So I think I'm like really into this concept where they believe that you can get the sun use the sun serums to help, like bring more antioxidants so that you can process the sun in a healthier way. And then get out of the sun when you feel like you're getting hotter getting burned. Whereas like other sunscreens like just sit in the sun, you'll be fine. Yeah, you slather this. Oh, yeah, just get out of it. Or like wear a hat. Yes. Go in the shade.

  Leslie 29:01

  Yeah, it's like using your own knowing. You know, I think the approach of just slathering the sunscreen everywhere is like just assuming that people can't make a good decision for themselves when their skin is getting red, or they're overheating that, you know, it's just kind of like a blanket approach, rather than using your own intuition. And yeah, it's

  Unknown Speaker 29:25

  like this dumbing down that like everyone's just fragmented and doesn't know how to take care of themselves. So like, we're going to come in and take care of you. Yeah,

  Leslie 29:35

  yes. And the whole sunscreen thing. That was one of my questions. For so long. Anything you've read or researched anywhere was like the number one you know most important piece of skincare or like anti aging is sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen sunscreen. That is like has been the end all be all forever. Yeah, well would you say is the most important?Description text goes here