Hi, I’m Rachel Lamont, and I’ve been working in the esthetic industry for over 18 years as an Esthetician, with a dynamic history of many different spa environments under my belt. This is my story, and why I developed The Natural Art of Skin Care.
My career began at the prestigious Hyatt Regency spa in Toronto Ontario in my early 20s, and I was in the midst of a flourishing medical esthetic career. I was 26 years old, in my prime working as a talented top-tier Laser Technician, I was making a great income, and I had just met the love of my life! Everything was going great - I loved my job, I had access to all the best lasers at the time, enjoying and living my life to the fullest! I wanted to squeeze every last drop that I could.
But working that closely with lasers for extended periods, at the time may have been one of the factors that added to my declining health. After five years of being in the industry, I started noticing small changes within my body, and over the course of a year, little by little, I started to really not feel well. I became chronically tired, odd illnesses were popping up more and more frequently and were overlapping each other, which led me to be on several different medications at once. But how? I had no idea what was going on with my health, considering I’m a healthy eater, sleeper, and exerciser. I felt horrible, like I was dying. So, naturally, this raised a lot of questions for me, and I decided to get checked out and get to the bottom of this. With the C-word circulating my mind, and google searches, I can honestly say that still to this day, it was the scariest period of my life. Information wasn’t as readily available then as it is today, so I was confused. I thought I was losing my mind, and all my partner could do at the time is support me.
I was in fact sick. I developed an irregular growth on my thyroid, called a goitre. It was already quite a large mass impeding on my throat, and was continuing to grow in size, causing even more complications. But after many tests, it was determined as not cancerous,*Phewph*- still thanking God. But even growths that aren’t cancerous can pop up anytime, and cause a lot of issues and pain in our body. This mass was seeming to be the culprit for everything that was ailing me over the last few years, and was later determined that the best course of action was surgery to remove it. But don’t let that fool you - it was NOT an immediate recovery after that, it took me a few long years of healing, and making some serious changes in my daily habits before I was back on my feet in tip-top shape again. Those were some of my most eye-opening years, they reminded me of just how precious this life really is. My life had changed forever, I was never to be the same again.
I did my research, I got smarter, I discovered a whole new lens to the world, where I was able to now SEE all the Toxins that we’re surrounded by in our everyday life. I made a major shift in both my professional and personal lifestyles. I quit the lasers. I overhauled my everyday products and household items to eliminate all toxins and chemicals, I stopped dying my hair with synthetic dyes, switched to chemical-free laundry detergents, aluminum-free deodorants, and GREEN cleaning supplies.
For anyone that knows me, I love to go out so I can get all dolled up - full makeup foundation, to eye shadow, the lipstick, all the Hairspray, and everything to do with getting ready! So I had to start with these. I began switching everything - my wide range of hair and grooming products, skin care, my makeup line, my house-hold items, you name it - I was checking the ingredients. And I must say, I was SHOCKED! This journey I was on meant getting all the chemicals out of my life, it wasn’t easy, but it IS possible.
I learned about all the negative effects that so many chemicals, harmful ingredients, and preservatives have on our body, both short-term and long-term. Ingredients that, when you research them, are known to disrupt the body's natural systems, but they’re so readily found in our everyday life! I asked myself, is this worth my health? Why do we need this in our skincare? Was this contributing to the growth of my goitre all this time? I no longer wanted it. I didn't need it. And then I found a new world of effective, but healthy, alternatives!
The world of natural products and holistic thinking that we live in today, did not exist in the mainstream back then. Today we have such a vast array of wonderful, clean and highly potent products to choose from, for every different skin type, body, or house-hold. With everything I’ve learned, I wanted to take that knowledge and share it, in hopes to make life a little easier for some, and be a guide through your own holistic journey. You can, too, make the decision to clean up your life so you never need to know the battle.
There are many people who don’t know about my story, what I went through, or WHY I decided to open The Natural Art of Skin Care. At the time I chose to shy away from it, still so afraid and hurt from the traumatic experience I endured, like a bad dream I wanted to wake up, I didn’t want it to define me. But in the end, it did define me. It made me into who I am today, and I’m so proud of the business that I’ve built, and the knowledge that I’ve gained in order to now help other people.
So, if you or someone you know is experiencing issues with their skin or internal health and are looking for some answers, book them in! Together, let’s shed some light on issues that can be easily addressed. I know when you’re going through something like this, that you may feel like you’re all alone, but you’re not. There are many other people out there fighting the same battle as you, asking the same questions as you. But there are professionals that have the answers to these questions. Allow myself and my team to answer some of those burning questions for you, and help ease your mind.
If you are experiencing something like this, I plead with you to clean up your lifestyle, and your beauty products. I’m not saying don’t use any beauty products - but I want to express the importance of using the RIGHT ones. Chemical-Free & Clean.
"I am not a victim of my life - what I went through pulled a warrior out of me, and it is my greatest honor to be her.”
-Rupi Kaur