Saturday, April 10, 2010

Rejuvenating Simply Aesthetic

The winds of change finally shifted towards Simply Aesthetic last week. With the departure of Joey and Candy within days of each other, the energy has changed considerably. Julie has finally settled the spa sufficiently to start focusing her attention on the clinic. And I've been very blessed in being able to persuade an old friend to come in to help organise the place medically.

I first met Celia in 2001 when I went to Cambridge to sub-specialise in Day Surgery. A fellow Singaporean, she was the Sister in charge of the transplant theatre. She also happened to live just around the corner from me! Although we tried to keep in touch after my return to Singapore, the inevitable happened and we lost contact with each other.

Out of the blue, I received a Facebook friend request from her. So I accepted and we sent a few messages to each other. Her comment was that I looked so different she'd never recognise me!

At the end of last year, she announced that she was taking early retirement, and heading home to Singapore. We had planned on meeting up, but never got round to contacting each other till a couple of weeks ago. I realised I needed someone strong and organised to come in to set the procedures right. Without a sensible leader in the clinic, things were spiralling out of control. Previously, we had either Mery or Dyna co-ordinating everything. Since they left, it seemed they took common sense with them too! So we had to come up with procedures & operational policies for everything. Decency & integrity seemed to have disappeared too, and I'd been robbed blind by some of the staff that had left!

So Celia started earlier this week. She's written out the policies and is now organising the chaos the old staff left behind. Julie has removed anything that is remotely scary for anxious patients in our treatment rooms. Jam, our spa receptionist has kindly donated sarongs, to match the bed skirtings, which have finally arrived. The rooms have now a much softer feel, quite different from the minimalistic clinical feel it had before. Every corner is being cleaned, and all unnecessary clutter tidied away.

Staff-wise, MJ is learning to cope with being the only trained Clinic Assistant in place. Marigold, another nurse from the Philippines is finding her feet. Aubrey's pass has just been approved (finally!) and she arrives next week. We have also just interviewed Jam's friend, who is keen on coming in as our Intern.

With the new furnishings in the treatment rooms, the walls suddenly look very bare. So I'm in the process of ordering some prints for the walls. I've chosen a pretty floral theme with frangipannis. These should be up by the middle of next week.

In addition to our new takeaway menus (designed a few weeks ago), we will soon have some posters outside our front door, so it's not so easy to walk past without realising we exist.

All in all, it feels really good to finally move towards the next phase with a new team, and two fantastic women helping me. After years of struggling on my own, it's such a relief to finally have assistance, and I'm truly blessed as both Julie and Celia are power houses on their own right.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

XL Hair Update

We often take our crowning glory for granted, but premature hair loss is becoming a very common problem, in women as well as men.

As a result, we've gone through all kinds of hair loss treatments over the past few years, mostly with disappointing results. The brochures and data are always impressive, the science irrefutable, but the results not impressive. Actually, only mesotherapy worked. All other topicals were a waste of space. We went through Minoxidil, Floxia Hair and Ballvic Serum & Shampoo. We don't stock any of these now. In fact, we got the distributor to take back virtually the entire Floxia range as we really didn't think they were as effective as the other medical skincare brands.

So when I was introduced to XL Hair, I was skeptical. If not for samples being available, I may not have even tried the treatment. So when the hair growth was unrefutable after just a month of weekly treatments, I was very impressed!

We've since treated 2 men and 2 ladies. One lady was not compliant with the treatment schedule at all, but just based on the home spray alone, has now grown a very luscious head of hair that is the envy of all around her. The thinning area which occupied her entire crown previously, is barely visible now!

The most recent gentleman, still in the middle of his treatment program, has started sprouting baby hairs in the receding temple area, which has been totally bald for many years now. We had not held out any hope for this area, the prime aim of treatment being to stop the hair loss in the crown area, which was thinning out very quickly. That seems to be responding well too!

So I could't be happier to offer this new XL Hair hair loss treatment at Simply Aesthetic. Finally, we have something that is as effective as mesotherapy, without the discomfort. Infact, most describe it as a very soothing treatment! And yes, I'm drooling... My hair's not thinning by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm lusting after luscious locks too!