Conversations
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N°
6
After more than a decade in skin therapy, Mara has developed a way of looking at faces that goes far beyond surface. We sat down with her to talk about intuition, restraint, and why the best treatment she ever gave involved almost no products at all.
What drew you to skin therapy originally?
I was studying biochemistry and kept finding myself more interested in the membrane than the molecule — in the interface between the body and the outside world. Skin felt like the most honest version of that boundary. It reacts to everything: what you eat, how you sleep, who you love, what you fear. I found that endlessly compelling.
How has your approach changed over the years?
I used to believe in doing more. More actives, more steps, more technology. And there is a place for all of that. But I've come to trust restraint much more deeply.
The most transformative work I do now is often the quietest — a lymphatic drainage, a barrier repair facial, an hour of slow, attentive touch with almost nothing on the skin. Clients always seem surprised that less can feel like more.
What do you see most commonly when a new client comes to you?
Barrier damage from over-treatment. People have been told, or have convinced themselves, that stronger means better. They arrive with skin that is raw, reactive, and exhausted from too many acids, too many actives, too many things being asked of it simultaneously. The first thing I usually do is take everything away.
What's the one thing you wish your clients understood better?
That consistency beats intensity every time. A simple, appropriate routine done faithfully for six months will outperform any dramatic protocol. The skin responds to trust — to being treated gently and repeatedly, rather than aggressively and occasionally.
And the best treatment you've ever given?
A client came in during a very difficult period in her life. She said she didn't care what we did, she just needed an hour of quiet. So I cleansed her skin, applied a calming mask, and spent the rest of the time doing a slow scalp and shoulder massage. She cried at the end — not from sadness, but from relief. I think about that session often. It reminded me that what we offer here isn't really about skin at all.
— A NOTE IN THE MARGIN
"A conversation about skin is always, in the end, a conversation about how someone has been living."
Notes & references
Note 1
Her Current Favourite Ingredient
Mara's current favourite ingredient is bakuchiol — a plant-derived retinol alternative that delivers comparable results without the irritation. She has been incorporating it into treatment protocols for clients with sensitive or reactive skin with consistently strong results.
Note 2
On dermal remodelling
Collagen synthesis, by contrast, is patient work — measured in months, not weeks. Most clinical endpoints in the literature land between week 12 and week 24 post-stimulus.
Note 3
A note on this piece
Written in the consultation room over four mornings. Edited with Helena Park. Errors are ours; the patience is the body's.
Speciality
— Ch. 05 · Continue reading
