This article is in the About Carolyn section of my website, carolynash.com. One of my publicists wrote it when my first book, Timeless Skin,
was coming out and I was in high-promotion mode. Through the years I
have updated it to correspond with where I’m living and any other
updates that are needed.
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| About me page on my website: From Ballet to Beauty |
Carolyn Ash
from Ballet to Beauty
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| Me, age 14 |
A
passion for health, healing, and the human body led Carolyn Ash to a
career as an aesthetician and a renowned skin care specialist—but her unique understanding of skin and the body can be traced to her years as a ballet dancer.
A dancer since the age of four, Ash studied on scholarship at Balanchine’s School of American Ballet (SAB) in New York City before injuries forced her to give up dancing. Yet it is her experience as a dancer that is what she attributes to her unique insight about the connection between mind, body, and spirit.
“Ballet dancing really puts you in-tune with your body like nothing else can,” says Ash. “Through dancing I learned to appreciate the key role that diet and exercise play in determining how we look and feel.”
At age 23, Ash decided to follow her avid interest in health and healing and moved to Dallas to attend skin care school. In 1986, when the Hotel Crescent Court in Dallas decided to open a spa, Ash was hired as a facialist and massage therapist.
A dancer since the age of four, Ash studied on scholarship at Balanchine’s School of American Ballet (SAB) in New York City before injuries forced her to give up dancing. Yet it is her experience as a dancer that is what she attributes to her unique insight about the connection between mind, body, and spirit.
“Ballet dancing really puts you in-tune with your body like nothing else can,” says Ash. “Through dancing I learned to appreciate the key role that diet and exercise play in determining how we look and feel.”
At age 23, Ash decided to follow her avid interest in health and healing and moved to Dallas to attend skin care school. In 1986, when the Hotel Crescent Court in Dallas decided to open a spa, Ash was hired as a facialist and massage therapist.
While at the world famous Spa at the Crescent, her talent as an aesthetician quickly became recognized. In ’86 and ’87 she received the distinction of “Best Facial in Dallas” by D Magazine and “Best Facial” by W Magazine. Celebrities such as Kim Alexis, musician Lisa Loeb, and journalist Robin Leach also discovered Ash’s talents as a skin care expert, and many celebrities have continued to seek her advice over the years.
In 1990, Carolyn left Dallas to live in Los Angeles, working for yet another renowned spa at The Biltmore Hotel in Beverly Hills, as well as Dr. Harold Murad’s A Sense of Self Day Spa in Brentwood, California.
After two years in L.A., Ash returned to The Spa at the Crescent to share her new knowledge with her Dallas clientele. Then in 1994, she fulfilled her long-long dream of opening her own skin care center, Carolyn Ash Skin Care, which was located in the prestigious Highland Park neighborhood in Dallas.
In 2002 Carolyn moved to Chicago and opened a successful storefront salon on Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park. Then in 2007 she moved to the state she was born and raised in, Colorado, where she currently has a salon in the wonderful front range town of Boulder. Since opening her salons, she has built a clientele that includes people from all over the country. Based on her experience with literally thousands of clients, she was inspired to write about how to have and maintain healthy skin.
“I wrote Timeless Skin and Skin Care A to Z because I believe people want to be told the truth,” says Ash. “I wanted to dispel the myths and falsehoods floating around about skin care and instead offer sound advice to help people maintain healthy skin...for a lifetime. It all comes down to following a simple skin care routine, protecting your skin from sun exposure, and finding ways to balance the stress in your life.”
“We are all concerned about aging. But aging is a natural process—one that we should embrace not run from. Accepting this inevitable process, acknowledging your inner beauty, and realizing that The Fountain of Youth is found within, is what aging gracefully is all about,” says Ash.
If you were in a different field prior to becoming an aesthetician, consider putting something about your experience on your website. I have found many clients like to know personal information about me and having something like this for them to read satisfies that curiosity.
