Feeling in need of a little skin rejuvenation? Isyour epidermis looking tired, or worse older than youfeel? Are you strapped for time and sick of runningall over town for your beauty treatments? Well if youanswered yes to all of the above, the new MedispaClinic in Mossman might be just what you’re lookingfor. Heralding a new age in beauty maintenance,Medispa, run by Kim Zacharia, has joined forces withthe Rachel Jones Boutique Salon & Spa. What thatmeans is that busy women on the look out for qualitybeauty treatments can now get everything done underone roof. That also includes those little cosmetic‘extras’ most beauty salons don’t offer like Botox,Restylane and the new ‘It’ lip plumping product of themoment, Juvederm. But if injections or fillers arenot for you, yet a plumper, firmer skin is the newnon-invasive, yet highly effective Thermage mightappeal. Gaynor Flynn sat down with Kim Zacharia andher good friend Rachel Jones to chat about their newconcept for top to toe beautification.

Gaynor Flynn: How long have you been in this salon now and why did you decide to merge with Rachel Jones?

Kim Zacharia: We’ve been friends for about 13 years. I was working at Manly hospital and I went down toRachel’s salon in Manly and that’s how we met. TheMedispa Clinic has been here for two weeks, we had ourofficial launch on May 9th which is very exciting. And Rachel who owns the boutique salon and spa hereand I have been saying for years we’d like tointegrate what we do. So we’d like to help people cometo one place and just have everything done. Whetherthat’s having your manicure done, pedicure done, havea bit of Botox if you need. Have a micro dermabrasionfor skin rejuvenation, all of these things arestandards we have to keep up to now and to maintainourselves.

We also wanted to create a place that’s very privateand it’s a boutique so clients feel like their goingto get something really special when they come here.We’re not necessarily about having huge volumes ofpeople coming through the door we’re about deliveringhigh quality treatments and procedures. I also like tobe able to offer something special and extra to mypatients. So if you come in for a procedure, I liketo be able to shout them something special at the endso they feel great when they walk out the door.Whether that be a manicure a pedicure a blow dry itsjust that extra add on treatment that we like to doand we obviously absorb it in the costs so we’re quitecompetitive with all of our procedures we offer here.


Gaynor Flynn: Tell me about Thermage: What is it?

Kim Zacharia: It a machine that delivers radio frequency down tothe dermis of your skin where all the collagen sits.And the radio frequency the energy, causes thecollagen that’s sitting in the dermis to contract up,so it provides subtle tightening for your skin andthen the radio frequency also causes the body torespond by producing more collagen and that will beproduced up to a six month period. So you wait to seethe full results for six months and people love itbecause there’s no down time with Thermage, there areno wounds. It’s perfect.


Gaynor Flynn: Is the treatment aimed at a specific age group?

Kim Zacharia: Women and men up from 30, so anybody who wants tohave non-surgical rejuvenation from those ages. I’veeven had a couple of girls in their late 20’s talkingabout it and anybody who’s maybe lost weight, and theywant to improve the elasticity in their skin. We cando it on the face, we do eyes as well. We can do midface rejuvenation with the machine so it just bringsvolume back into the face, into the cheeks. Its notnecessarily having tightness its about having thevolume and that’s what’s youthful. It can alsotighten the abdomen, so if you’ve had kids or lostweight. And we do arms and above the knees as well.


Gaynor Flynn: How often would people have the treatment done?

Kim Zacharia: We say it’s a one off procedure but we alwayseducate our clients that its one of those greatprocedures that you can have every year. So if youwant to avoid the knife or just rejuvenate yourselfand not go down the surgical line you can have it doneevery year. I’ve already had it done twice. We’ve hadthe machine for 18 months and its just fantasticbecause you just see the results evolving over sixmonths.


Gaynor Flynn: How long has Thermage been available in Australia?

Kim Zacharia: 18 months. We had one of the first machines inAustralia. It’s American originally and it’s beenavailable there for a few years before we had it hereso it had to go through rigorous regulatory approvalbefore it was available on the Australian market.


Gaynor Flynn: Would you say, it’s a preventative procedure? If youstarted having it in your late 20’s early 30’s wouldit act as a long term anti-ageing treatment?

Kim Zacharia: Yes. Definitely. It will keep your skin nice andplump and supple. It’s not going to change any pigmentin your skin. It’s not targeting pigment at all. Soany pigment that you have is going to stay there.


Gaynor Flynn: So is that a separate treatment?

Kim Zacharia: Yes that’s a separate treatment and we can treatthat with other processes like skin peels,micro-dermabrasion.


Gaynor Flynn: Have you seen some amazing results with Thermage?

Kim Zacharia: Yes we have. We obviously like to consulteverybody before they book in and have a procedurebecause not everyone’s a candidate. We don’t wantanyone having unrealistic expectations about whatresults we can achieve. So we get the photos out andsay this is realistic. These are the types of thingsyou can expect and if you’re happy with that outcomeand we’ve assessed you and we think you’re a goodcandidate then you can go ahead. But anyone who thinksthey’re going to get a surgical result from a nonsurgical procedure should walk out the door. It wouldbe money mis-spent. The most important thing withThermage and with any of the treatments we do here isto make sure that people have realistic expectations.We don’t want anyone disappointed. We can focus themin another direction if they’re not satisfied and weoffer everything. We offer the non surgical processesand then we can also refer them to our surgeon, DrMichael Zacharia. So if what we offer here is notavailable he consults from these rooms as well and hecan consult someone for surgery if somebody wants togo down that road.


Gaynor Flynn: Zacharia? Any relation?

Kim Zacharia: (laughs) Yes we’re married. He’s an ear, nose andthroat surgeon who has specialised in facial plasticsurgery.


Gaynor Flynn: What’s your background?

Kim Zacharia: It’s interesting because as a child I had reallybad ezma and it use to flare up and I use to go to thedermatologist as a high school student and I use tolook around at all the machines and I wondered ifthere’s anything in here that could fix my skin. Andof course there was nothing new that was out therethat could fix my skin. And at that stage I wasworking and umpiring netball and doing all sorts ofthings but it was really beginning to get me down. Iwanted to find a solution so I started working for thedermatologist when I finished uni waiting to go andwork in a hospital before I became a registered nurseand he opened up my eyes to all these cosmeticprocedures that were out there and things people werehaving done to rejuvenate themselves. During thattime I found a solution to my skin problem throughcontact with doctors and dermatologists. So I reallyfeel for anybody if they’ve got something they’d liketo change it’s not necessarily about vanity its aboutmaintaining self esteem and feeling good about who’sinside and being able to present yourself to theworld.


Gaynor Flynn: Is Thermage for men as well?

Kim Zacharia: Yes and its surprising the number of men we dohave coming in here. We’re also open later oneevening each week so we work in with everybody thathas busy professional lifestyles and then again on aSaturday. And then we do have a VIP day on a Sunday wedo obviously charge a little bit more but you can havea private room with me doing a private treatment inhere and then have a private hair session, privatemakeup the works so if someone’s going to a functionor something like that we can do it all, or if theirjust busy or just don’t want anybody to know thattheir coming in.


Gaynor Flynn: Rachel, tell me about your background?

Rachel Jones: I’ve been hairdressing now for 18 years. I did myapprenticeship here in Sydney and then I moved toLondon and I worked underneath Andrew Collinge, I wasin his creative team and then I came back here andworked for Philip Zavier in Mossman for a couple ofyears and then at the ripe old age of 24 I opened mysignature salon, Rachel Jones Hairdressers and that’sbeen running for 9 years and ever since I was little Iwanted to open up a spa. And I married a Texan and soI get to travel a lot and last time we were over theremy brother in law took me to the most incredible dayspa I have ever seen in my life. It was in Texas inDallas and it was absolutely unbelievable. This womanset it up. Her husband is on $5 million a year so itwasn’t as if she was lacking money to spend and it wasjust extreme, it was fresco’s over the ceiling and Ijust walked in there and I went, I can do this. I meannot so much grand scale but I was so inspired by thisgirl and I thought if she can do I can do it. So Icame back, this was one year ago and I virtually gotoff the plane and went hunting for a property and Isaw this site and I walked in and it was an absolutetip and I just had a vision that it would all work inhere and here it is, one year later.


Gaynor Flynn: Why the interest in owning a spa?

Rachel Jones: Because I want to look after my clients from topto toe. I don’t want them going anywhere else becauseI feel like I have a lot to offer in that industry andI know what the best things are for people and tt’s atime efficiency thing. People come in, they’re gettingtheir hair coloured, what are they going to do in thathalf an hour? Women are sitting there thinking gosh Ihave so many things to do if I can get something elsedone, waxing anything while I’m sitting here why not.


Gaynor Flynn: You’ve created a very warm environment here, unlike alot of other salons.

Rachel Jones: I’m very aware of my surroundings and I’m reallyover that sterile feeling of a lot of salon’s. Iwanted to create somewhere with a lot of warmth, nothaving that stereotype hairdressing salon beauty salonlook with pictures of people everywhere and its inyour face and you think, god look at her she’s sobeautiful on the wall and then look at me. I thinkit’s a negative thing that we’re portraying what youshould look like all the time by pictures of people. I think we should just look in the mirror, see how welook and work on it from there and the same with thehairdressing salon. There are no pictures of womenthroughout the whole place. Its just going to be youin front of a mirror and making you look fantastic andnot being compared to a model on the wall becausethat’s an unrealistic world and its all photo shoppedanyway.

Freebies:

To celebrate the merging of Medispa and the Rachel Jones Salon, Medispa will give away 10 micro dermabrasions valued at $130 each.

All you have to do to win is call the salon on 02-9904 9901and tell them you saw this article on Girl.com.au. Every tenth caller will win one absolutely free. In addition to that, Rachel Jones will give away a free blow dry(worth $50) with every Vichy Shower in the month of June. Again, when you book the shower mention Girl.com.au. This is an experience you will want to have at least once in your lifetime because when it comes to top to toe pampering, the Vichy Shower winshands down.

Imagine lying back on a cushioned Vichy bed, under a strategically placed rain bar with six shower jets. Then imagine your entire body being scrubbed with aromatic salt from the Dead Sea. First one leg then the next and so on. While the therapist is working on one part of your body, warm soft jets of water cascade over the rest of you (like warm rain) massaging awaythe tension and stress. Warm towels are strategically draped over you, so that between the scrub, the water and the thick soft towels you are continually wrapped in a warm cocoon of deliciousness. Then imagine the same process all over again, but this time warm oil ismassaged into your entire body. The treatment lasts for an hour and a half and afterwards your skin tingles and glows and will feel softer and more alive than it has done in years.