Published: Nov 5, 2008

a personal mission

Who better to help women going through cancer than an esthetician who’s a cancer survivor herself? Lupe Guthrie, an 18-year veteran of the industry, was diagnosed with breast cancer October 2005, eventually leaving her job for 18 months before getting a clean bill of health. Leaving her job meant shutting down her business and turning away her longtime clients. “It was very hard to let go of everything, very shocking. All your dreams, all your plans—gone.” she says.

Before her diagnosis, Guthrie previously had clients diagnosed with cancer who then disappeared while undergoing treatment. “I didn’t understand it. Of all the times, this was when they needed that healing touch,” she says. But when she herself went through treatment, she finally understood. “Your body is in a lot of pain,” says Guthrie. “You don’t feel your skin anymore, you feel your bones. You don’t want anyone to touch you.”

Guthrie didn’t disappear and retreat, though. Instead, she researched and experimented on herself. She learned from her oncologist what she could and couldn’t do. She had detox treatments and discovered Reiki. To care for her skin, which became very thin, irritated and spotted, she first tried products her oncologist and dermatologist recommended. Finding no relief, she went to skin care shows, talking to the companies, researching ingredients, buying products and trying them out. Along the way, she discovered what her mission would be when she recovered.

In November 2007, Guthrie reopened her business, Therapeutic Skin Care in Agoura Hills, California, and is slowly rebuilding her clientele. She’s helped along by doctors and nurses in the area who are treating women with cancer. “As my knowledge and enthusiasm for healing my own skin grew, my oncologist and nurses asked if they could refer one cancer patient and then another and another to me for skin care consultation and treatment,” she explains. Guthrie now gives people who are going through chemotherapy or radiation a hydration treatment for free on their first visit, and almost half the price on follow-ups. She sells products to them at nearly cost. She bends over backward to accommodate their schedules, coming in on Saturdays and Sundays or whenever she is needed. “There is a need there, and I am just putting myself in the best position to help them,” she says.

Guthrie is also involved in the American Cancer Society, which sends her out to talk to women in the community. She would love to reach out to more people in the beauty industry who are treating women with cancer, or are interested in finding out how. You can e-mail her at lupeskincare@juno.com.


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