Sophie Howard's work space at Sky Ute Casino Resort is a total change from the energy of the gaming floor. She provides esthetic services, including facials, eyelash extensions, waxing, body wraps, makeup, acne treatments, as well as also men's care, including waxing, facials and acne care.
She sees clients in a small quiet room, with the calming water sound of a small fountain, in the Mouache-Capote Massage and Day Spa located just inside the hotel front entrance.
Her growing interest is to provide these services to cancer patients, a new specialty called oncology esthetics.
"That's so new there's no certificate for it," she said. "It's knowledge of how to do facials on people before, during, and after cancer treatments, training on how radiation therapy can affect the skin."
She continued, "My mom (Vickie Howard) got me into it. She is a cancer survivor. She said when she was going through all her cancer treatments, she wished she knew what she should or should not put on her skin. She talked me into going to esthetic school in Durango. I graduated in June 2015. I opened my own spa, The Wellness Connection that month" across from Bayfield High School. That building sold, and she moved her business to the casino in November.
"One of my favorite things to do is the eyelash extensions. I do a lot of facials, try to provide at least an hour of relaxation. Almost all my clients fall asleep. I've done makeup for graduation, the high school girls, wedding makeup for the brides and bridal parties," Howard said.
"I also do chemical peels. Just last month I got certified in eyelash extensions. Two of my first clients were a cancer survivor and a patient who just finished treatment. ... Sometimes their eyelashes don't come back all the way (after hair loss). The look on their faces after the extensions were applied was priceless."
She said, "I felt there was something more I could be doing. That's when I found the class in Arizona, oncology spa solutions." She had that training in December.
She continued, "I've done a lot of acne treatments. (Clients) come every three or four weeks. Being able to partake in healing someone's skin is a really good feeling, just showing them they really are beautiful or handsome. That's my goal with my business, to show people they are beautiful, to provide a relaxing atmosphere. I'd really like to get more into the oncology side of it. There's nobody else in the Four Corners area that's trained in oncology esthetics."
For information or an appointment, call Howard at 903-1847.
She grew up near Bayfield on the family cattle ranch. The Howards are a musical, artistic, and spiritual family. Dad Jay Howard pastors the Joy in the Messiah church in Bayfield. Sophie Howard also sings and plays mandolin in the family band, Heart of Fire, which plays Christian music.
