Look Good Feel Good
Etna’s Citrine Lounge For The Whole Person…
Beauty isn’t just skin deep at the Citrine Lounge in Etna. “We want to bridge the gap between wanting to look good and wanting to feel good,” explains Teanna Flippo, an esthetician and co-owner of Citrine. Having opened earlier this year during the pandemic, the fully organic spa is run by Teanna and her sister, Tearra, and is focused on whole-body health. Even the name Citrine references a quartz crystal that is supposed to encourage abundance, prosperity and positivity. “We are building a healing space for individuals who need not only an aesthetic connection, but also a spiritual connection.”
Before building Citrine, the sisters worked in the beauty industry. Then, life circumstances brought them back together. “We honestly never thought we could build a business together. Tearra began her career as a nail tech in Vancouver, Wash., and I was in California building my esthetics practice. But when Tearra was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer, we knew the distance between us was too much. So, we made a plan for her to move home to Scott Valley and build something really amazing that not only serves our highest self but our beautiful community, as well.”
As an organic spa, Citrine puts a lot of effort into sourcing organic products, most created by other local and female-owned businesses and offered for sale at the salon. Teanna notes, “We work with an amazing team of wildcrafters who are working year-round to harvest products that are 100 percent from the earth, from the hair care to the body care to the facial care…They have been crafting, distilling their own oils or brewing their own tonics.” Teanna also credits much of the powerful energy of her shop to the women whose businesses she gives an outlet. “Honestly, I can talk all day about building a healing space during one of the hardest times in our world history, and how we are able to support women that I love and care about so deeply. These women are extremely powerful.
They have a voice that needs to be heard. And I feel like every day when I give a facial and my clients step out of their facial, feeling like a new person, and they’re like, yes, this is what I needed.”
Citrine’s consciousness also surrounds the containers products come in, not just the content. Flippo says, “I have been working on a plastic-free lifestyle for many, many years, and that is extremely hard to do when it comes to hair and body care. Some of my favorite brands that are also organic and wildcrafted are still packaged in plastic containers. But our crafters have changed the game for me. Our shampoo and conditioner all come from a really great company called Under Luna. The owner Carly has been formulating haircare for many years and created this sustainable company for her family, and then it sort of spread out into her tiny little community. People started realizing that you can have great hair care that doesn’t come in a plastic bottle. Plus, it’s ayurvedic.” Teanna also doesn’t discount the personal connection she has with the crafters of her personal care products. “I want to talk to a person, a face behind the product. And I’ll admit that I have women who come in with facial issues or skin pigmentation issues, and I’m like, OK, well, we tried this or we tried that. But then I can call on any one of my gals and be like, hey lady, what would you do? And they’ll answer me. And that’s cool.”
Filled with plants, wood and natural light, entering Citrine Lounge’s physical space brings a calming sense of peace. Teanna is proud of the sanctuary they’ve created. “I danced in that space for months before we ever opened. I left the doors open. I left the windows open every day that I was in there before I ever allowed another being to step foot through our doors. We knew that we needed to hold space for ourselves before anybody else. We decided that this space is either healing or it doesn’t succeed.” For the clients that have already found Citrine, the two sisters are nothing short of magical themselves. But, then again, perhaps in the words of Mandy Hale, “There is nothing more beautiful than someone who goes out of their way to make life beautiful for others.”
Citrine Lounge • 591c Collier Way, Etna
(541) 601-4850 • Find them on Facebook
