Hey, Hi, Hello World!

My name is Myranda Sanchez, and I’m your Esthetician! Welcome to my Blog!

Let me start off by saying how excited (and nervous) I am to get this project going! I decided to start a blog because I love writing. Writing is one of my favorite outlets to express myself, and I wanted to find a way to interact and connect with my clients that was different than using traditional social media. I will still be posting on my socials! But this is where you’ll see more personal posts, in depth explanations, product recommendations, and more. My In my first post, I'd like to tell you more about myself and answer your guys’ most asked question… Why do you do what you do?

“Oh my gosh, it would be so weird for me to see people naked all day! I could never. How do you do this for a living?!”

This is, by far, the most common question I get asked! I probably get asked this by almost every new client that comes into my suite getting a Brazilian. I never get tired of answering it! Let’s start from the beginning..

The basics: I’m a whole 27 years old! My birthdate is October 30th. I’m a Scorpio sun, Virgo moon, and Gemini rising (if you’re into that sort of thing;)). I have a little boy named Elliott, and he is currently 8 years old. I was born and raised in the Coachella Valley, and graduated from La Quinta High School in 2012.

After high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I started working at Panda Express when I was a junior and was still there by the time I graduated. I didn’t want to continue to work in fast food and the thought of college intimidated me because I could never commit to one major. Instead of going the traditional route and enrolling in community college, I did what any indecisive, young girl would do. I enrolled in beauty school.

This obviously put me in the right direction to be where I am now, but when I walked into Milan I knew nothing about cosmetology other than I’d be learning how to do hair. I think I lasted three months haha. There were parts of it that I did enjoy! I got to learn the basics of hair, skin, and nails. The cosmetology program just wasn’t for me. I knew I couldn’t do a full 18 months of it. I didn’t want to quit entirely though. The skin care portion of the program was the only time I felt a little bit interested while I was enrolled so I went off that. I asked the dean if there was any possibility to switch programs instead of dropping out. She explained to me that no one in the school had ever asked to go from Cosmetology to Esthetics so she would have to ask around before giving me an answer. Long story short, I switched! The esthetician program was only six months long. I was given one month credit to the esthetics program for my three months in cosmetology. I didn’t know I was pregnant with Elliott at this time so I didn’t really care when I would finish. Classes started quick. My bump grew, and so did the relationships I made with my instructors and classmates. I had an amazing instructor (shout out to Mrs. Sandy!) who taught my class so much and left a huge, lasting impression on me. There are still girls I talk to from school to this day! I fell in love with skin during those five months.

I graduated from Milan Institute of Cosmetology in June of 2013, I took and passed my State Board licensing exam in August 2013, and just four weeks later I gave birth to Elliott on September 6th! I was able to stay at home with Elliott for the first year. I didn’t utilize my license at all before I delivered. When it was time for me to go back to work I didn’t know if I should start looking for a job in the esthetics field or something easy to have flexibility with a baby. I opted for the latter. I got a job at Fresh, a local juice bar. While there I had gotten to shadow a couple shifts for facials at spas, but I couldn’t get back into enjoying skin in the same way. I quit trying in the esthetics field and decided to stay at Fresh. At this point, I had also started going to European Wax Center to get my eyebrows waxed, and eventually my Brazilian after I got comfortable. I enjoyed going, I met a waxer I liked, and stayed consistent with her. I was going there every two to three weeks for maintenance. We got to know each other more over time and eventually she found out I also had my esthetician license. She asked why I had never thought to apply and I couldn’t even give an answer. It honestly never crossed my mind! Well, the next time I showed up for my appointment the owners were in the lobby and asked me the same question. “Why don't you apply?” There was no reason for me not to, so I did! I got the job with no prior esthetics or waxing experience, but they promised they would train me and I’d pick everything up in no time. I spent a little over four years with the company.

I learned quick. I was able to build up a clientele. I got fast and efficient. It was the same thing day after day. I’d come into work, wax, and clock out. The excitement was lost after a while. I wasn’t making enough to live on my own, let alone support a child. At this point, I had thought there was no future in waxing if this is how it was going to be for the rest of my career. I loved what I did but working for EWC wasn’t going to make me a living. This was when I decided to go back to college. I still didn’t know what I wanted to major in so I was left undecided for a while. I’m not sure how or why I decided I was going to be a Mathematics major but that’s what I chose. I wanted to become a Biomedical Engineer! I’d bring my laptop to work and do assignments in between clients. I wasn’t really happy, but I told myself to push through it and it would all be worth it in the end. I kept going. Working at the franchise started to get toxic. I was drained every day. I felt depressed. I was barely getting by financially. I loved seeing my clients, but I dreaded clocking in. I didn't enjoy what I was doing anymore. After a couple months of being miserable, I took a leap of faith and decided to start the process of going solo. There was no financial preparation. I had no one with experience helping me out. I started with a blank slate and a credit card. Within a month of starting the process, I quit. I was terrified but I knew I needed to do this for my mental health.

In August of 2019, Bare Beauty by Myranda was born.

Starting a business isn’t easy. It’s not impossible, but I definitely should have prepared more. I found a suite to rent. I got the basics; a wax bed, wax pot, waxing supplies, a few decorations. Yelp, Groupon, handing out business cards, I did anything to get clients. EWC wouldn’t tell anyone where I went, even though they knew. It’s how business works, I guess. I had some clients find me on Facebook and Instagram asking where I had gone. It wasn’t much though. The mentality I had for the first six months of business was “just see enough people to make rent this week” or “try to hold on until tax season.” I wasn’t busy at all. I was seeing maybe two to three people a day at best. I could barely afford my bills. I wanted to quit. I thought I made the worst mistake of my life by leaving my old job, and they wouldn’t take me back after going on my own. I would cry to my mom almost every day; I would have to borrow money to pay bills sometimes, and she always helped. She was one of my biggest supporters during all of this. I couldn't have done it without her and my family. Around February 2020 business finally started picking up for me. Word was spreading. People were telling other people about me. More of my old clients from European Wax Center found me and came back! Things were really looking up!

Well, we all know what happened in March 2020.. Personal care services had to close their doors for almost seven months. SEVEN MONTHS of being closed after only being open for six and barely getting a hold of things. I thought I was ruined. As of January 26th, 2021 we were able to officially open our doors again and haven’t closed up since. As much as I hated the pandemic and being closed for so long, I think it truly helped my business grow into what it is now. The mentality of others changed. I had new people scheduling with me left and right! A lot of them were coming in and saying after the pandemic they wanted to support small business now more than ever. Most had heard of me from a friend or family member. This is where things really started to get amazing. I’ve never been busier. I have my ideal schedule to be able to spend time with my son, I can support the both of us without having to ask for help, I have amazing clients who respect me and my business, and best of all: no more toxic work environment. Don’t get me wrong! I am so thankful for the knowledge, connections, and experience I got from the franchise. It helped make me the esthetician I am today. But that chapter has come to a close. Now I come to work every day looking forward to seeing every single person who walks through my door. I get to do what I love on my own terms. It’s more than magical. I’ve seen so much growth in myself and my business. There’s no stopping any time soon either!

Now if you’ve stuck around for this long, congrats! We’re going to talk about the how and why I do what I do:

I’m not saying I was super ecstatic about waxing vaginas for a living. During the interview process at EWC, they asked me if I would be comfortable seeing female anatomy because of the services they provide. Lil ol’ me didn’t think Brazilians were as popular as they are so I said yes, thinking I would do maybe one or two a week. HA! I was so wrong. Brazilians are, by far, the most popular service I do. I will typically see anywhere from 15-18 people in a day and at least two-thirds of them will be a form of bikini wax. I’m not phased by the human body anymore. I honestly forget its not normal for people to see stuff like that on a daily basis. Its very normal for people to come in feeling shy or embarrassed. The best feeling in the world is having someone get off the bed and leave your suite saying how comfortable you made them feel in such a vulnerable position. I love being told I made a normally unpleasant experience something they would be willing to come back and do again and again. There is so much gratification in knowing I helped someone walk out of the building feeling a little more confident, a little more sexy than when they walked in. That’s why I do what I do.