Tammy Fender’s holistic skincare brand is a force of nature

We caught up with the holistic skin guru who’s based in Palm Beach, Florida.

Tammy Fender’s approach to skincare can be summed up in one word: all-encompassing. At her West Palm Beach spa, and through her sensorial products, she seeks to treat your skin, mind and soul. If you are fortunate enough to meet with her, she will assess not just your skin, but your stress levels, diet, mental state and how you are sleeping. That’s what it means to be a holistic practitioner, caring for the wellbeing of a person, and working to heal them with ingredients from what she terms “nature’s pharmacy”.

Thirty years on, Fender continues to view skincare through a holistic prism. “When I began, and up until 10 years ago, I was always considered ‘alternative’. People would say ‘She treats the skin alternatively.’” But the world is shifting, and for Fender it feels like a mission accomplished. “It’s such a tremendous breakthrough, especially because it’s being driven by consumer demand. It’s amazing to be in my position as a holistic practitioner and to see it come to the forefront. It’s a dream come true.”

To find out more about Fender’s point of view, her sublime collection available at MECCA, and how we can all learn to live more holistically, we called her at her Florida home.

TF: “The skin is our largest organ, a vital organ and an eliminating organ. I always say it’s like a third lung or third kidney. We breathe through our pores and excrete toxins through perspiration. Like all parts of our body, the skin is made up of cells that need nutrients and oxygen to survive. So, what we put on our skin needs to feed it nutritious content. The reason I love plant-based ingredients is because plants are a natural food source and they’re also our medicinal source. The body assimilates them easily [and] it works in harmony with our skin.”

“Everything we do in holistic medicine, which just means herbal remedies, is based on healing. The purpose of my practice is to speed up the healing of the skin. When you use botanical ingredients not only is it feeding the skin but it affects us in other ways. Our sense of smell is the strongest of all of our senses, so even the aromatic experience can change the mindset and have a very calming effect. If you’re tired, lethargic, stressed or ridden with anxiety, just the inhalation of spearmint gives a level of clarity to the mind.”

“In life we often search for quick fixes and want to see a result instantaneously, but that mindset is going to make you gravitate to products that are going to do something aggressive. When you take an aggressive approach, you create inflammation in the skin, so it has to repair itself. You get that fresh layer of skin, but at a cost. If someone gets sunburnt and it peels, you see that fresh skin underneath. It does look baby-like and glowy, but there was damage along the way. As a holistic practitioner, my job is to prevent that damage and take a more gentle approach.”

“Sleep. The skin repairs itself when we’re sleeping, which is really, really important. Even if we didn’t use anything on our skin, the skin still knows how to repair itself all on its own. We all need sleep.”

“It begins with paying more attention to your intuition. We all have it but often don’t use it. When something approaches you, whether it’s a thought, a person, a situation, something you see or read, think about how it made you feel. If it made you feel good, peaceful and happy, then you are on the right path, and you should continue to pursue more of that. If, on the other hand, it didn’t make you feel good, whether it’s a relationship or a food, recognise that as a guiding signal. The other way is to spend more time in nature. Nature is our healer. The more we can get in-touch with it, and simplify our lives, the easier it is to recalibrate, and that’s holistic living.”

You need to allow the skin to breathe. Don’t overdo it. I’ve seen thousands of clients and treated thousands of faces, and typically people believe that the more steps, layers or products that they add, the quicker they’ll get to the end result. What I advise is that they eliminate from their regime and do less with the skin. Products are only meant to be supportive. If you’ve cleansed, used a tonic to rebalance the skin’s PH and used a serum or cream in the night, then you don’t necessarily need to cleanse again in the morning. I often begin my morning by just wiping my skin with a little rose water and then apply a serum or cream. Simplify and the products you are using will become more effective.”

“Helichrysum is wonderful because it supports new cellular growth, increases skin elasticity and tightens the connective tissue. It’s a very powerful herb, and we use it in our Intensive Repair Balm and our Spontaneous Recovery Creme. It’s wonderful for treating inflammation, too. I created the Repair Balm to speed up the healing for any skin that has experienced trauma, and that is the powerhouse ingredient that does it.”

“I gravitate very much to rose. It carries the highest vibration of any plant on the planet. That means that it connects to the heart centre and the heart chakra. It can take five to seven thousand petals to produce one drop of rose oil, so it’s very, very precious, and tremendous in skincare. The other hero for me is organic rosehip seed oil. It has a lot of antioxidants and essential fatty acids in it. It works with the skin’s elasticity and helps speed up the skin’s healing process.”