The Face Place At Salon X

Salon X has had a makeover!

Delta Cosette Bayer has downsized her salon and moved it into an adjoining space which she renovated in the blink of an eye. Add designing hip salons to her already packed resume. Although the salon is no longer occupying the large storefront (Delta plans to open a Spice Market in there this Fall), Salon X fans will be happy to learn that the facial room with Tianna Bolchunos at the helm, is still as busy as ever with Micro Needling, a new addition to her arsenal of skin care regimines.

Salon X continues to carry the PCA line which Tianna uses in her sublime facials and exfoliating peels, but manis and pedis are no longer on the menu. Tianna is an in demand hair stylist as well as an aesthetician, and has only so much time at her disposal.

Brooke Garver has also kept her chair at Salon X, and Delta says she is delighted with the new arrangement of just the three of them working shorter hours, in a smaller, easier to manage space.

“It feels really great in here, and my clients seem to like it too,” she told me last week, when I went in for a Micro Needling treatment. “So far, so good.” She smiled.

While I waited for Tianna, I chatted with Michele Hooker, one of her regulars both for hair and skin care.

Michele, a former model, originally from Virginia, moved to Taos a few years ago with her partner, after a lifetime on the East Coast, and found the dry climate aggravated her rosacea

“I tried everything,” Michele told me, “but it just became more inflamed and irritated.”

“I came here for a mani and pedi during the winter,” she recalled, “and discovered Tianna had a special going for a series of facials so I decide to try it as a last resort.”

“She took one look at my skin and proceeded with great caution”, Michele explained. “At first I could only tolerate a couple of very mild products.”

“PCA and Tianna saved my skin,” she said. And to look at her now, her skin looks youthful and glowing (Michele is 60 years old), one would never guess that just months ago it was raw and inflamed..

I’m a huge fan as well. After a series of peels over the winter, my skin’s texture and appearance has improved dramatically, but I still have smoker’s lines around my mouth I’d like to diminish and a furrow between my brows I’d like to erase sans Botox.

Micro Needling piqued my curiosity so there i was waiting to have my face numbed and needled!

Four to six monthly treatments promise to reset the clock with visible results that last far longer than Botox or fillers without any of the side effects. In fact Google Micro Needling and you’ll see it is all the rage, with Dermatologists and Plastic Surgeons declaring it the next best thing since, oh, okay Botox!

But we shouldn’t discard botox though! It is still as popular as ever. A lot of people use Botox to help them look younger whilst being free of fine lines and wrinkles. However, there tends to be a lot of misinformation about botox, but deciding to read this article that deals with companies like ReShape, can help to debunk all of the myths about this treatment that you may have read. Maybe more people will be inclined to use it, but it’s not for everyone, and that’s fine. Some just simply prefer to try micro-needling to receive the same results.

They claim that micro-needling not only stimulates collagen renewal, but it erases fine lines, droopiness and melasma while refining pores and improving skin’s texture. Some people opt for other methods to help with collagen renewal. Try the new collagen patch by PatchMD as one option, and ask your practitioner if there are others available.

I was sold, fear of needles be damned, especially since Tianna recommends peels only during the colder months due to sun sensitivity. Micro Needling is the perfect warm weather alternative!

Many people alongside botox or micro-needling want to improve themselves further by expanding to their teeth health. This includes getting things like teeth whitening, cleaning, or getting a perfect set of veneers. All these things would add an extra level of togetherness and class that your new youthful look will provide.

While Michele was getting her mini Oxy Facial, I sat in the gallery space between the new salon and the facial room, enjoying Tracy Olson’s beautiful paintings hanging on the pristine white walls. I found I was able to see them better, now that the salon was in a separate space and they could be viewed in a more serene setting.

Michele soon emerged, her skin looking luminous, and I went in to have my skin prepped and numbed for the procedure.

It takes twenty minutes for the numbing agent (applied topically), to take hold, and layers of plastic wrap are placed over your face (leaving your nostrils open), so there’s not much to do while you wait but nap or meditate.

Then Tianna gets the needling device out and mostly one just feels a slight tingling vibration with very little discomfort.

I asked her to concentrate on my problem areas which she did, and then it was over and i was smothered in serum and healing balm and sent home with product and strict instructions to keep my hands off my face after Tianna caught me touching my cheek without sanitizing my hands. Your face is full of tiny open wounds after Micro Needling which is how the collagen is stimulated. There is serious science behind this, trust me.

That evening my skin felt a little sensitive but nothing out of the ordinary, and the next day it looked great. The lines were still there – it takes a few sessions to see results – but my skin glowed.

Micro Needling usually costs upwards of $300.00 per session. If you decide to go for the full round of five treatments, Salon X charges only $199.00 per session, plus take home product. If you’d like to try it once before committing to a series of treatments, it will cost you $250.00. That price includes your needles. They are sterile and disposable.

For more information on Salon X and all the services they provide, please visit their site linked below this post.

Salon X

All photographs of Salon X and Tianna by Delta Cosette Bayer

Photograph of Michele Hooker’s gorgeous skin, c/o Michele