Sivana Spa

WALLA WALLA-Is self care high on your New Year's resolution list? No matter what level of self care you claim, Gillian Herbrandson, licensed esthetician and proprietor at Sivana Day Spa and Boutique, has the next level for you.

Sivana opened officially in late October 2019, the second business to do so in the new Showroom on Colville building. Joining the Combine Art Collective, the Market by Andy's and others, the space is now becoming a one stop shop of sorts. Back in November, however, it was more of a leap of faith, according to Herbrandson.

Esthetics can cover a broad berth of self care which itself is a very generalized term. The estheticians who practice esthetics are not medical doctors; instead, are licensed technicians who perform cosmetic skin treatments, such as facials, superficial chemical peels, body treatments, and waxing.

Herbrandson says, "It can go both ways. Sessions can go the way of just aesthetics or it can be deeper than that."

Herbrandson is not currently an Ayurvedic practitioner, but is a self proclaimed Ayurveda enthusiast. "There is a governing body and I would never practice it without going through the proper licensing."

Ayurvedic medicine ("Ayurveda" for short) is a holistic healing system developed in India based on the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body, and spirit.

It's easier said than done. How does one achieve this balance? A key step is learning to listen to our bodies.

"With the skin being the biggest organ in the body, it is very telling to what we're going through in life," Herbrandson explains, "whether that's environmental stressors or home stressors and if I am able to provide a little bit of relief then I think I am doing my job."

Getting to a place of assessment and correction, with the goal of finding balance requires putting yourself first and giving yourself permission to be a priority in your own life.

"I have so many [clients who are] mothers and they make their kids their priority, but you don't want to run yourself down like a battery, then you're empty and you're of no use to anybody.

This is only one step in self care, but it's an important step," Herbrandson continues.

It's all different pieces to a puzzle or an equation. It's never just one thing. I know that my shop isn't the one answer, but it is part of the equation."

To begin, one must find what piece of the puzzle you're missing by going through a series of questions about lifestyle, and your skin. "If you're looking to start getting into skincare as a part of your self care, and it is for me," says Herbrandson, "your first interaction is going to be with me, getting the expertise and opinion of someone who can tell you what's going to work.

Consider the three steps: cleansing, exfoliation and moisturizing.

If you're already using great products, you don't need to buy this, I'm not into just selling." Unless you're working to build new habits, if you're not someone who already washes their face morning and night, then a whole line of products would likely be a waste.

"If you're not going to use it, what's the point?" asks Herbrandson. Her approach is different than a traditional retail store. Sometimes people are affronted by her honestly, "but I've also gotten people to start taking care of themselves by being honest. And that's one of the things we're lacking is that kind-honesty, not the brutal honesty." When Herbrandson is quiet it's likely because she's formulating a kind-honesty.

The Experience

For facials, Sivana offers three levels of service. The introductory version is the Mini in which skin is cleansed, toned and hydrated for a fresh face in under 30 minutes.

The mini facial includes a scrub exfoliation, a custom mask, and a nourishing moisturizer. What's not included is extraction, the process of removing dirt from an inflamed pore. For that, the next tier, the Essential, comes into play. In it, deep pore cleansing is followed by an enzyme exfoliation with steam.

The Essential also includes an energy balancing marma facial massage, a custom mask, facial contouring, and extractions, if necessary. Herbrandson's website describes the treatment as gloriously relaxing and revitalizing, to which I will add the word transformative.

After a series of questions, Herbrandson chooses products from her arsenal best suited to each client's skin for the day's treatments. In a facial, process is as important as the products used. Herbrandson asks clients to come in with a clean face and an open mind.

The most comprehensive and pampering of the three, the Luxe facial, includes all the elements of the Essential, plus a plumping eye collagen treatment and an extended massage, for a total of 90 minutes of pure bliss.

Clients lay on a heated table beneath a weighted blanket with an unending soundtrack of calm sounds and gentle music. Like a dream, it is impossible to tell where one song ends and the next begins.

The name, facial, implies a particular area of the face and neck, but Herbrandson's treatment involves the scalp, decollete, arms and shoulders.

Having never stepped foot into a spa, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the skincare industry.

If Herbrandson is an ayurveda enthusiast, I am a skincare as self care enthusiast. Washing my face isn't so much a chore as it is a brief respite from everyday stress. In the past I've written spa treatments off as cost-prohibitive. Instead, I've clung to at-home either peel off, or sheet masks that aren't necessarily targeted for my skin's needs.

Prior to treatment at Sivana, I considered my skin type to be oily. Having a professional comparison, I've learned that my skin is more combination than oily and that it was products I was using that were creating the appearance of oils that wouldn't otherwise be there.

I also learned that more is not necessarily better. Rather than layering products on top of skin that isn't at its most receptive, work on a warm face.

Estheticians are split on the topic of facial steamers. While some note that steam helps with relaxation, softens sebum for easier extractions, and creates greater penetration of skin care products, others note steam's tendency to have a drying effect on the skin. Ideally, a client should come in every four weeks because that is how long, on average, the skin cells take to turn over. "Truthfully," says Herbrandson, "I would only use steam in a facial." Her expertise has lent her a workaround to the drying aspects.

For her more sensitive clients, for example those with rosacea or eczema, Herbrandson typically would not recommend the use of steam. At home, just a warm water or (a soft, freshly washed) bamboo washcloth will do.

Sivana also carries the Lone Body brand of body care products, including natural, aluminum-free deodorants. The business, located in Waitsburg, is owned by the Isley siblings who inherited and perfected a family recipe.

There are also an assortment of candles, and lotions available at Sivana, as well as hair removal and lash dying.

"Whatever you want for yourself, start addressing or moving yourself toward being the person you want to be," Herbrandson encourages.

Sivana is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.