Hey Skindelush babe! How have you been? I know it’s been a while, and I just want to say thank you for supporting me through this rollercoaster of a journey. When I opened Skindelush back in 2020, I had no clue about the other side of entrepreneurship that people rarely talk about. The past two years have been one of the most difficult periods of my life. It seemed as though everything around me was at risk, and the only way to solve it was to let the cards fall where they may... and that’s exactly what I did.
It was a moment that humbled me completely because it forced me to scale back, reevaluate what I was doing wrong, be more present with my family, and most importantly, prioritize my health. As many of you know, Skindelush went through a very intensive construction period, and shortly after, we crossed paths with not one but two separate businesses that took advantage of what we had to offer. One of them trashed our salon, forcing me to reinvest in our interior, and the other completely ran off without paying the invoice. Crazy, right? But I silently fought through this all because of my faith in Skindelush and our mission.
I often dealt with imposter syndrome, questioning my judgment as a business owner, who I was as a person, and why my own community had set me back not once but twice. In the midst of all of this, my health started to decline tremendously, and my anxiety worsened. I suddenly became afraid of people, the business, the world. Which led to changing my hours to a part-time schedule to focus on healing and becoming stronger for our Skindelush community. I created Skindelush after my first depressive episode, and once again, she saved me. Prioritizing my skincare again gave me the space to decompress and quiet the heavy thoughts in my head. Leaning into wellness and learning more about holistic herbal medicine helped my body function more effectively.
This experience brought me back to the original vision of having a space in the Bronx that provides services for us, but now I’m also focused on creating a safe space for women to commune, learn, and become better spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. I say all of this to say: It’s okay to have bad days... It’s okay to make mistakes... It’s okay to have losses—just promise yourself that you’ll never give up because it does get better.
As I work to rebuild and continue serving you, I’ve added a donation box to our homepage to help sustain the business and recover from the losses we’ve faced. If you feel moved to support, you can visit www.skindelush.com to make your donation. Your contributions, whether through donations, sharing the campaign, or simply sending good vibes, mean the world to me and help keep Skindelush alive and thriving.
Once again thank you so much for sticking by my side through all of this. All your words, visits, talks, check-ins, EVERYTHING encouraged me way more than you know. I'm so thankful to have clients like you all and I look forward to our next chapter.
We HERE BABY!
Skindelush
est. 2019
xoxo,
Nalaika
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