JDM Salon

Once Victoria DeJohnette became a licensed aesthetician, she immediately set her sights on her sister, who battled ever-worsening rosacea for years. "Her rosacea was at the fourth stage—the point where you get welts, a lot of acne, and a lot of congestion that gets out from the skin," she says, adding that many people never reemerge from that stage. Drastically, she decided to try resurfacing treatments. The progress was gradual, but the change was dramatic. Today, Victoria says, "you would never even know that she had rosacea."

That experience fueled Victoria's interest in the medical side of skincare, focusing on rosacea, aging, and acne. Though her pale green room tucked inside JDM Salon is serene, especially with its billowy curtains and flickering candles, she says her treatments are a far cry from spa facials. "It's more like coming to a doctor's office, only in a salon atmosphere," she says. She focuses on resurfacing skin with peels and diamondbrasion—a skin-resurfacing treatment using a microdermabrasion machine that's modified with tiny, diamond-cut bumps on its nozzles. She uses only pharmaceutical products during her procedures and hosts detailed consultations that include advice on what kind of diet is best for skin.

As her clients come back for treatments, Victoria notices the lines on their face softening, the size of their pores shrinking, and their skin's tone evening. She says that though it may not happen overnight, with a combination of home care and professional work, skincare transformation is possible. It's these transformations, like her sister's, that make her job worthwhile. "That's why I'm in business," Victoria says. "That's why I'm satisfied."