Kari Skin

Blair started looking at locations, meeting with potential employees or finalizing a list of products and services, she wrote up a mission statement detailing her new spa’s core values.

“I spent decades experiencing a beauty culture that was led by fear, instead of leading inspiration and encouragement,” she says. “When I envisioned Kári Skin, I envisioned a true sanctuary: free from discrimination, from intra-employee bullying, worker intimidation from management and sales practices that take advantage of clients’ vulnerabilities — all of which I have witnessed at other establishments.”

Working in the Spa and Medical Spa industry for more than 24 years, Tirzah has become an expert in the care of skin. She has worked with some of Philadelphia’s “Top Doctors” and trained under highly skilled estheticians from around the world.

“Over my decades in the beauty industry, I’ve seen a few places that projected the image of being a nurturing place of healing for its clients while also putting its estheticians under extreme pressure to sell products,” Tirzah explains. “The result is ugly. It produces a situation where having the highest sales means that maybe management will stop berating you for a month, but your coworkers will see you as competition that needs to be taken down. I started Kári Spa in part because I was tired of a culture that protected its bullies and allowed for mean beauty to prevail.”

Tirzah also notes that such practices aren’t just bad for employee morale — this unhealthy dynamic affects clients as well. “The high pressure to sell means that estheticians end up recommending extra products that won’t really help the client just to ring up sales. It breaks trust.”

New Team, Recommitment to Inclusivity

Kári Skin opened its doors in January 2020, but was forced to stop operations temporarily during the COVID-19 shut down. This unfortunate pause provided an unexpected benefit for Tirzah’s spa as a direct result of her anti-bullying stance. “After quarantine, everyone was searching for a work environment that was non-toxic,” she explains. “Employees want to feel supported and encouraged. I was lucky to gain many new team members who are not only impeccably skilled, but extremely passionate and kind.”

The Old City spa now includes the services of an award-winning a-list team of Estheticians, including Kimberly Murray, Suzanne Zelley, Charlene Anderson, Alexis Conda, Veronica Lopez and Arin Kahan — plus two rock star massage therapists: Megan Steel and Colleen Foster. All employees at Kári Skin — and Tirzah herself — have signed an equality and respect contract to hold themselves accountable. In addition to a zero-tolerance policy for any form of bullying or discrimination, the contract includes a commitment to the ethical selection of products and services based on the client’s best interests. In addition, while the spa has always been proudly LGBTQIA-friendly, Tirzah and her team are working to be more supportive of all genders, and all colors from the staff to the shelves. “I have hired a ‘beauty scout’ to help find Kári Skin find the best products from minority-owned luxury brands, while simultaneously supporting our clients,” she explains. “I don’t have all the answers, but I am open to learning together.”

The spa’s esthetic services include skin-care consultations, facials and massages. Modality offerings include Luzern oxygen machine, four-channel microcurrent, single-channel microcurrent, electricity-infused sheet mask therapy, phontonophorisis, wet microdermabrasion, manual lymph drainage massage, and vasodilation manipulation and contraction techniques. About Kári Skin

Kári Skin is a luxury medical skin-care practice where science meets nature. Its philosophy combines medical expertise with a clean beauty focus. Kári Skin has selected a carefully vetted services and skin-care lines that are designed to be prudent and effective applications. By respecting the environment at every level, Kári Skin fulfills its goal of clean, connected living. Located at 325 Cherry Street, on a cozy Old City Philadelphia side street, Kári Skin believes that beauty starts from beneath the surface, and its mission is to uncover the underlying beauty waiting to emerge from behind every face. Kári Skin welcomes each client with warmth and acceptance setting the stage for a skin care awakening.