October to February
Peels and microneedling
Low sun and lower humidity: the months for the stronger work, so new skin is not met by a July afternoon on Folly.
Wagener Terrace, Charleston · Facials and skin care
Facials in Charleston, and a shorter shelf at the end.
Licensed estheticians, a nurse for the stronger treatments, a physician who writes the protocols, and a written routine of four or five products. Most of them you already own.
Bring your products in a bag. $95, credited toward your next facial.
Most of us own too many products. Fourteen bottles, three serums doing the same job, a scrub that is quietly making things worse. The first thing we do at Seaholly is take most of them away.
The Skin Audit
Fourteen bottles in. Four steps out.
Bring your shelf in a bag. We read your skin under the lamp, sort the bag into keep, pause and stop, write the routine down, and finish with a thirty-minute facial.
- Foaming cleanserKeep
- Second cleanserStop
- TonerPause
- Vitamin C serumKeep
- Niacinamide serumPause
- Hyaluronic serumStop
- RetinolPause
- Eye creamStop
- Face oilStop
- Grainy scrubStop
- Clay maskPause
- Gel moisturiserKeep
- Night creamStop
- Sunscreen SPF 50Keep
The routine: foaming cleanser, vitamin C serum, gel moisturiser, sunscreen. Retinol comes back in week three.
The room
Seventy-five minutes in a room with the shutters half closed.
One esthetician, one bed, no music you did not choose. Facials here are built on the day, from your skin and the season, and nothing is sold in the room.
Facials and treatments
Six treatments, and the right hands for each.
Estheticians do the facials, dermaplaning and lighter peels. A registered nurse does microneedling and stronger peels, under protocols our physician wrote.
Charleston seasons
The weather decides the treatment.
March to May
Pollen and calm
Yellow cars and itchy skin. Gentle cleansing, barrier repair and the acne facial if spring breakouts are your pattern.
June to September
Hydration and restraint
Humid, hot and shiny but still tight underneath. Lighter layers, the hydration facial, and a sunscreen you will actually wear.
The studio
Five people in a converted single house near Hampton Park.
What people say they wanted
Fewer products, honest answers, and the same hands each time.
Illustrative stories. Seaholly is a fictional studio; these are written examples, not client reviews.
I brought a bag with fifteen things in it. I left with four steps on a card, two of them already mine. My skin calmed down within a month.
Grace told me to stop the scrub I had used for ten years. That was the whole fix. I almost did not believe her.
Theo moved my microneedling to November because of a beach week. Nobody had ever done that before.
Where our clients come from
- Downtown
- Wagener Terrace
- Mount Pleasant
- West Ashley
- James Island
- Daniel Island
- Park Circle
- Folly Beach
287 Rutledge Avenue, Suite B, Charleston, SC 29403. Directions and hours
What happens to the products you take away?
Nothing dramatic. They go back in your bag sorted into keep, pause and stop, with a note on each. Pause means try it again in a month, once your skin settles. Stop means it is working against you or duplicating something better.
Will you sell me a new routine?
Usually not much of one. Most routines we write use what you already own, plus one or two gaps, often a sunscreen and a gentle cleanser. Retail is optional and the Skin Audit fee is credited either way.
Who does the microneedling and stronger peels?
Theo Marchetti, RN, under written protocols from our medical director, Dr. Margaret Holloway, MD, who reviews every nurse treatment plan. Estheticians do the facials, dermaplaning and lighter peels.
Will I break out after a facial?
Some people do for a day or two, especially after extractions. We tell you what is normal before you leave, and you can text a photo to the studio if you are unsure. A real breakout means something in the plan changes.
Do you do prescription skin care?
No. If you use a prescription product we work around it and never tell you to stop it; questions go to your prescriber, or Dr. Holloway can advise on a referral.
How often should I come?
Every four to six weeks if you are treating something, every season if you are maintaining. The Season Plan books four facials a year, timed to Charleston weather, paid once with no auto-renew.
The Skin Audit · 45 min · $95, credited
Bring the bag.
Forty-five minutes with Simone or Grace, a written routine of four or five steps, and a thirty-minute facial. $95, credited toward your next visit.