In a well-appointed treatment room situated near the front of the organic beKIND Salon and Spa in White Bear Lake, Lisa Anderson, “Laser Lisa,” is transforming lives, one thermal pulse at a time. One could say that, much like the fairy godmother with her magic wand in Cinderella, Anderson makes people’s wishes come true.
Anderson jokes she should have gone into psychology but chose the hairdresser path because “it was the cheaper alternative,” she says. After spending years cutting, coloring and styling hair, she switched it up to become a laser treatment specialist and completed her training in Arizona in 2007. She purchased the equipment and after sitting down with beKIND owners, brother and sister Al and Carol Fackler, she knew they would be the perfect people to work with.
“We hit it off right away,” Anderson says.
Her treatments run the gamut from micro-needling (“It’s kind of like aerating your lawn so you can get the fertilize to the roots,” Anderson says) to tattoo removal. She admits treatments are an investment, but she offers free consultations and doesn’t require clients to buy expensive packages.
But for Anderson, it’s all about helping people. In a manner that fits her caring nature, Anderson listens to the stories of those who enter the small room, trading a psychologist’s couch for a treatment bed. Moreover, she describes the treatments she offers not by the new-age technology and procedures she provides, but instead by the stories of those treatment recipients and how their lives have been changed.
She recounts the story of a former gang member from Chicago, who showed up with a six-point star emblazoned on his chest and a desire to begin his life anew after tattoo removal. “And I just treated a kid last week that had a pyramid on his cheek,” she says.
Anderson shares another about an 18-year-old she treated with laser hair removal who had taken to shaving above her chin because her hair was dark. “She told her boyfriend not to kiss her because she was embarrassed he’d feel the stubble,” says Anderson.
And another about a former salon employee who was left with a facial scar after having an acne cyst removed and sought out Anderson’s help to put his best face forward. “We used the micro-needle process on him,” she says, “and the last time he started crying because he said it changed his life.”
Speaking of her clients, whether they’re receiving treatments for younger-looking skin, to put an old life behind or to feel better about themselves, Anderson wouldn’t have it any other way. “It’s truly my passion,” she says. “I try to work on people from the inside out.”
And, it turns out, from the outside in.
Treatments offered
- Micro-needling: the latest and hottest trend in anti-aging and wrinkle reduction.
- Photo rejuvenation: treatment of sun damage and age spots.
- Rosacea: diminishes the flushing and vascular redness on the face.
- Spider veins: works the same as rosacea.
- Tattoo removal: the laser breaks up the ink into micro pieces flushed out via the endocrine system.
- Laser hair removal: using light and heat to kill off the hair follicle (only works on pigmented hair).
