What's Hot New Zealand chats to New Zealand’s top Dermapen therapist Bernice Olderwagen about her award-winning treatment, the importance of homecare, and why she loves the beauty industry.

Bernice, a skin therapist at Nicola Quinn Beauty & Day Spa in Christchurch, has just been awarded the NZ Dermapen High Performance Practitioner 2021. With over 10 years’ experience, Bernice knows how to craft a bespoke treatment plan that delivers results – and skin confidence.

Congratulations on your award! Talk us through the winning treatment plan.

My client had several skin concerns that she wanted to combat. She was wearing makeup every day and unhappy with her skin texture, acne scarring, and pigmentation. A course of Dermapen microneedling treatments, peels, and a bespoke homecare routine was the clear choice to help my client achieve skin confidence. I saw her every three to four weeks, alternating between a pigmentation treatment and a deeper treatment targeting collagen induction.

Why is a homecare routine important?

After you visit the dentist, you still need to brush and floss your teeth daily. The same can be applied to your skin. Arguably there is no point in having a skin treatment if you’re not going to continue the good work at home. Your Dermapen treatment kickstarts your skin – think of it as a reboot. But, in order to really see the magic happen, you also need to be consistent with your skincare at home. I prescribed my client a thorough skincare regime with easy-to-follow instructions about when to use what. It is really important to me that skincare doesn’t become overwhelming. It should be something you slot into your day – just like brushing your teeth.

What inspired you to get into the beauty industry?

Hands down, it was the life-changing results that can be achieved for clients' skin. Feedback like this, from the client in the winning submission, makes my heart sing: "I've never been the girl with great skin or natural glow and have always been very self-conscious of my freckles from a young age. Bernice’s Dermapen microneedling treatments have dramatically improved my skin texture, scarring, pore size, fine lines, and definitely given me that ‘glow’. So much so, I stopped wearing makeup without making a conscious decision to do so! I'm no longer ‘hiding’ my freckles and have the confidence to let my natural complexion be on display."

The client featured in the winning submission had six Dermapen microneedling treatments over an 8 month period and was committed to her homecare routine.

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