The Who What Wear Podcast: Celebrity Aesthetic Provider Vanessa Lee Shares the Skin and Bodycare Treatments Worth Trying in 2026

0:10Hillary Kerr:Welcome to the Who What Wear podcast, your direct line to the designers, stylists, beauty experts, editors, and tastemakers who are shaping the ever-evolving world of fashion. I'm Who What Wear's co-founder and chief content officer, Hillary Kerr. And today on the podcast, I'm joined by Vanessa Lee, who is a celebrity medical aesthetic provider and the founder of the beauty concept bar, The Things We Do. Vanessa is one of the most highly sought after aesthetic providers in Hollywood, and for good reason. She's one of the few who puts natural outcomes at the forefront of her services. Vanessa is incredibly knowledgeable about every treatment under the sun, so I was eager to have her join the pod and give us the intel on the most efficacious, science-backed services to try in 2026.

1:04Hillary Kerr:Plus, she shares her tangible, fail-proof tips to improve your skincare routine post-holidays and all year long. It's all coming up on Who, What, Where.

1:23Hillary Kerr:Vanessa! I'm so excited that you're here. Welcome to the pod. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me. Truly my pleasure. Okay, so full disclosure, I am deeply familiar with your work and a patron of your business, The Things We Do. But for anyone who is not a client like myself, can you share a little bit about how you got your start in beauty and skincare and really what your expertise is. Yes, totally. Okay, so I'm Filipino American, first generation, and my mom was like, you want to go to school for art? And I was like, yes. And she was like, wrong answer. We're going to nursing school.

2:04And I was like, you know what? Let's just do this. I can do art on the side. And maybe after like a year or two, I can ditch the nursing thing and go full time with writing and creating and all of that stuff. I was also always the girl in junior high and high school to do everyone's hair and makeup for all the dances. And I loved that part so much, just like being in a room filled with girls and getting ready and the conversations and all of that. And I knew earlier on that my superpower was helping women feel confident and feel good about themselves. So ended up doing the nursing route, was working at a plastic surgery office when I first started, but was working in their minimally invasive wing.

2:43This was back in 2008, 2009, where the business that it is now is not what it was back then. Our industry, minimally invasive aesthetics, has really only been around for about 20, 25 years. And I've been in it for about 17 years. So everything was just starting to happen. And it was so exciting. And I just started at a place where they were like, listen, we can pay you really cheap because you have no experience. We're going to teach you a bunch of things. Some of it was really awesome. Some of it was kind of scary. And as soon as I had my legs underneath me, I was like, you know what? I'm going to start saying no to some of these things because I really want to make sure that at the heart of things, I am a patient advocate.

3:23And that's what we learn in nursing school is, you know, if you're seeing that a doctor has put in an order that maybe doesn't align with the symptoms that you're seeing with this patient you've been spending so much time with, you've got to have a conversation with that doctor and just be like, this is what I think we should do instead. What do you think about it and collaborate with your team. So working in plastic surgery was really, really interesting, but also was a time where the housewife shows were really taking off. And I was working in Newport Beach and it was a very specific aesthetic that I was constantly surrounded with.

3:56And I was like, I don't know if this is what I meant when I wanted to make women feel more confident. So I started to really understand that I needed to create something else with my patients. And I wasn't sure what that was yet. So I started working in dermatology instead of plastic surgery. After a couple of years of that, I found that it was the same thing. I also was told by one of my bosses, you should speak to women like they are extremely old and ugly. And you should let them know that they need all of these different things that we offer and tell them about all the packages and let them know if they do it today will give them special pricing.

4:36And if they walk out, then, you know, poo-poo for them. They get to just walk around looking old and ugly and really harp on those things. Immediately, I was like, am I going to leave this industry completely? Because now I've been to like four or five different offices and it's the same thing over and over when in interviewing process, it was like, we're here to help people. We're here to take care of people. And it's a great company. And then at around 10 years, I had become known as kind of the black sheep wherever I went. Like people were hiring me because they were like, hey, she's got this huge following as far as like patient clientele, but she's a pain in the ass.

5:15She always says no to patients. She's talking about skincare and taking up so much of the injection time. And people were just hiring me, I think, for the clout and IG and social and stuff like that, but they didn't enjoy working with me, which is fine. I'm an Aquarius. I don't really care. I just want to do a good job and fulfill a purpose. And I felt really good taking care of patients the way that I felt like I was meant to and how I would want to be taken care of, by the way, and how I would want my mom and cousins and best friends to be taken care of. So after 10 years, there was one incident where I had had it.

5:50A woman came in with her 15-year-old daughter. And she said, I would like you to do a consultation for my daughter. She wants lip injections. And we're doing this for her 16th birthday that's coming up. And I'm her mother, so I can go ahead and sign off. So everything's fine. We've talked about this. And I was like, your face is still changing. You're a baby. You're beautiful. And let's not do this. Let's hold off on it. And the mom had a huge problem with me. And so I was like, I need to talk to my boss. So it was a dermatologist I was working for at the time. And I was like, Hey, can you just have my back on this for a second?

6:25And she was like, the mom signing off, it's legal, just do it. And I was like, I'm done. This is it. And so I ended up leaving very shortly after. And six months later, I opened up the things we do in 2018. So knew nothing about business. But right after that conversation went to my local bank, and I asked for a humongous loan. And they were like, you're going to get a tiny fraction of that. And I was like, great, thank you. And typically in dermatology practices, in med spa practices, cosmetic derma, all of that stuff, it takes usually three to five years to get out of the red, to become profitable.

7:02And we hit that in our first year. It takes usually years to hit a million in revenue for smaller practices. And we hit 3.2 million within our first year in business. And it was because we started off by saying to patients, hey, we're only going to do what serves you. And whatever doesn't serve you, whatever your requests are, sorry, but we're going to kindly reject that and just guide you into a place that is true to your features. And what I want to do is honor your favorite characteristics and make you feel good about yourself and make sure that your skin is glowing and as healthy as possible.

7:43And it served us really well. So now we've been in business for over six years and we have five locations and we're opening up three this year and we're just so excited.

7:54Hillary Kerr:That is amazing on so many levels. And I know that the world of cosmetics in general, like it's a wild west. You really have to pay attention to who you're seeing, what their point of view is, and then align yourself with the right practice. So one of the things that I love about your work so much and everything that happens at the things we do is the fact that you place natural beauty. It's not about like augmenting to distortion. It's about a really thoughtful, balanced, natural look. How did you develop that philosophy, especially considering that when you started and And in the first decade plus of your career, people were asking for, and I'm sure people still do ask for, things that are outside of that aesthetic.

8:43Yeah. So I think my North Star in all of that was probably ever since I was younger, my mother has always hyped me up. One thing that she has always taught me is that if people are making you feel a certain way about how you look and you feel like you need to change yourself to fit into something for somebody else, you're losing your way. And that's not it. She'd be like, oh, they're just jealous of you. There's nothing wrong with you. And she would just tell me like, people love these features. People want this stuff and you have it. Just focus on your studies, focus on your purpose. You're good.

9:20And so as I came into my womanhood, when I would see some of my friends or some of my peers lose themselves in magazines or wanting to look like other people, I found myself being like, no, baby, we're good. Do you understand that? We've got personality. We're cute. We're fulfilling our hotness journey over time. We're living our lives. We're good. So I did always want to transfer that energy to my patients and patient care. So what I look like is a reflection of how I feel on the inside. And that really, to me, is dependent on the emotions I most display. It's not about how big my lips are or how much I can change the angle of my jawline.

10:02It's how can I honor my round face features that I get from my grandma, my aunts, you know, all of that. But also at the same time, if I'm looking tired or sad and angry and I don't feel that way, that's the stuff that I want to address for myself and for my patients.

10:17Hillary Kerr:That makes sense. I like that. So obviously there are lots of services that our audience is probably familiar with, like microneedling and peels. But you also have a range of services that are a bit more niche. And also one of the things I love is that you very thoughtfully add to the roster as the technology and science and results are coming through. So talk to me about some of the newer market offerings or some of the things that you really believe in that maybe are not as widespread that you were an early adopter for. Yeah. Yeah. So 2018, when we opened, our number one sought after treatment was PRFM, which stands for platelet, which we love.

11:03Platelet-rich fibrin matrix, also known as PRFM, is a growth factor and the next generation treatment of what we can do with PRP. By the way, it's offered at the same price, PRP and PRFM, at our office. And we have not done a single PRP treatment since we've opened because it's a no-brainer. You get so much more of the growth factor in your skin. It helps thicken and rejuvenate the skin without adding any kind of like unwanted fullness or shaping of the face. That's not what we're going for. We're going for skin health. So it really helps address crepey skin that's starting to pop up in the under eye area.

11:37It's addressing the perioral riteids or like those smoker lines. And I like to take a tiny stamper and gently micro stamp it into the skin with microneedles. I like to inject it all over my face. And I also like to use it post-microneedling radiofrequency and post-pico-short treatment. It's just a beautiful skin growth factor that's autologous. So it's coming from your own system.

11:59Hillary Kerr:Got it. Is there anything else that you are really excited about? Oh my gosh, there are so many things. There are threads also. I love threads so much. And they get a wonky reputation in our industry. And I completely understand why. So with polydioxin on threads, PDO threads, there are collagen building threads and there are facial lifting threads that actually lift the tissues in the face where fat pockets are starting to move downwards and are displaced. We can go ahead and lift those up. So when threads debuted here in the U.S., we had these companies selling threads to us and it was like the blind leading the blind.

12:36Even if it was facial plastic surgeons who were teaching these techniques, we were not learning it from people who had mastered these techniques for 10, 15 years before us. And that was the problem. There's a much higher learning curve with threads than there is with filler and Botox. With threads, you have to make sure that you have the right threads, the right measurement of threads, and the right thickness of threads, and the right barbs of threads because there's so many different combinations. So there's a lot more variation in variables that you have to control in order to get a great result.

13:08That being said, I was like, I want my gels lifted without surgery, but I'm surely not going to go to these people who are fucking everybody up. So what I'm going to do is get a training from a South Korean plastic surgeon just to make sure that we're learning from who has just nailed it and mastered it for decades before us. So I did that and our staff really just became known as like the kids who do it right on the block when it comes to threads. So I always love when I see these green screen videos of aesthetic practitioners and different doctors being like, I think they have had a facelift and they've probably had XYZ.

13:46And I'm like, oh my God, these are my patients, first of all, and they have not had a facelift. And so there's so many more people that I think have benefited from caring and careful techniques with threads from the things we do. So we love the threads so much. I was just threaded a couple months ago. Love my lift.

14:05Hillary Kerr:Okay, so I know that you're not like trend oriented, but at the same time, you really are interested in like new technology and new opportunities. So talk to me about some of the shifts that you've seen both in what patients want and also in like newness for the practice that you are excited about now in 2026. Okay, so I'm going to run it back. I love a trend, but I very rarely fall for things that don't work. I will try it, but here's what I won't do. For patients, I won't do something that's completely new to market and is lacking scientific evidence and just be like, yeah, I heard this is really great.

14:44Let's put it in your face. That's happening a lot right now in our industry. Still the wild west. Oh my God. It's still the wild west. And now that people are really into the conversation of biostimulators and bioregenerative treatments, they're just like, this is from an animal. This is from an umbilical cord. We can put all of this stuff in your face. Sure. We can inject it even And if on the syringe, it says do not inject. It's the craziest place to be. Here's what patients are asking for, though, this year. Patients are realizing that they have in the past focused so much on injectables and have not paid attention to what their skin actually needs on their face and their neck.

15:21And they're like, oh my God, I might have a tighter face shape or I might have the higher cheekbones that I wanted, but also like all of the sun damage over the years. We live in Southern California, right? So even if you're wearing sunscreen as much as possible, we're getting that sun. We're at the beach. We're outside with our kids. We're driving our cars. We're driving our cars for five hours a day. So the sun damage, the brown spots, the unevenness in the skin tone, the thinning of the skin, the drying out of the skin, the rosacea that's popping up because of the sun damage in our diets, the stress acne, the anxiety acne, all of that stuff.

15:58So that's what we've been paying attention to. So we've brought on the PicoShare Pro laser. So in March of 2025, I was in Korea. I was actually there for education. So I had a mini fellowship out there with two plastic surgeons. And of course, my one free day, I was like, fuck me up, fam. I'm going to do a million treatments while I'm out here.

16:18Hillary Kerr:Let's do all the things, baby. So I show up at this really prestigious clinic and they were like, okay, so tell us what your concerns are. Is it, you know, facial sagging? Is it this or that? And I was like, no, I've taken care of all of those things. The one thing I cannot master as a woman with skin of color and someone who is out in the world and driving, I need to get rid of this sun damage. And I've tried chemical peels. I've tried everything I've done Cosmilon. And like, I can't peel for three weeks, twice a year. So please tell me your best treatments for getting rid of sun damage now. And they were like, okay, well, you want to do the PicoSure Pro then?

16:58And I was like, baby, give me 14. Like, let's do it. So ended up doing the Pico. And I was like, I don't know. This is not hurting.

17:06Hillary Kerr:You know, I was like, so therefore it can't possibly be working. Yeah, I was like, I'm not in pain. I don't think this is going to work. But, you know, I'm doing it for the plot. Like, great experience, I guess. After one treatment, I was like, holy moly bajooli. After two weeks, I saw a clearance of brown spots that I had tried getting rid of for over a decade. And I was like, I don't understand. I didn't have any peeling. I didn't have any of this stuff. So how PicoSure works is it uses an acoustic sound wave that hits the skin at a trillionth of a second. And it breaks apart any kind of skin cells that are unhealthy and usually hyperpigmented cells, right?

17:42If you have natural freckles, those may lighten a bit, but they're going to state that's a part of you. It's a healthy cell. If you have sun damage on top of those freckles, that is hyperpigmentation and unhealthy. Now your macrophages from your lymphatic system, it's these cells that are sent from your immune system, are going to internally attack and eat those old hyperpigmentation. And you are going to release it through your lymphatic system. So it all happens internally. Nothing is happening to the surface of the skin. It is so amazing. and I was like, hold on, why is this not the most famous laser in my home country of the US of eight?

18:19And I realized in speaking to the manufacturer, Sinusher, it is incredibly expensive of a machine. In fact, they don't even love to talk about it that much because one of the reps was telling me, we actually have to grow a part of this machine. So we have to like farm a part of this like crystal that goes in. It is not super lucrative for us. It's really expensive for us to make these machines. and it's expensive for everyone to buy them. And I was like, I don't care. It's the best. So we ended up buying one three weeks after I got back because I was like, this is amazing. And now all of our locations are going to have them.

18:55We paid them off almost immediately because patients were like, listen, we don't want to go through the downtime of all of the flaking and CO2 stuff and all the chemical peel stuff. We want to be able to like live our lives and get to it. And also it's a safe laser for all skin types. So Fitzpatrick scale one through six, everyone can get this safely. That's amazing. So it's a beautiful treatment. Quick question, does that work for melasma? Oh my gosh. PicoSure is FDA approved. It's one of the only lasers in the US. I think there's one other for melasma. So it works beautifully for melasma. And it's called PicoToning in Korea because it does help tone the skin in two different ways.

19:33So toning as far as like even toning the skin and toning as far as like you are getting texturally a tightening and softening of the skin. So your skin is slightly tighter because of the neocollagenesis that you're getting from it at the same time. And you're also getting this glossy glassiness to the tissue. So it's an all around laser, but it is most famous for how it treats hyperpigmentation and is used for and approved for melasma, which is so difficult to treat.

19:58Hillary Kerr:Stubborn as hell, that melasma. Yes, stubborn. Also, there's another treatment I did out in Korea called Onda. So I was out there and they were like, is there anything that you want to reduce fat or tighten skin? Because I was only talking about face in my consultation. And I was like, well, I'm getting a tummy tuck and a breast lift later on this year. So let's talk about arms, I guess. And she was like, yeah, we do this treatment and you're going to, I hated this too. They were like, it's Barbie arms. And I was like, what, what's happening with the Barbie arms? And then like, am I going to turn it into like a tiny plastic?

20:32And they're like, it's fat reduction and skin tightening simultaneously with this machine. And I was like, how much does it hurt? It's like always about the pain for me. And they were like, oh, it's very comfortable. So went and had the treatment done. It took about 30 minutes, no numbing. They put this beautiful jojoba oil on the back of my arms because that's where I was really holding on to some fullness, even after my 40-pound weight loss journey. Shout out Manjaro. A dermatologist started wanding the Onda machine over the area that we put the oil on. And he was like, okay, you're done. There was a warming and heating sensation to the point where it got a little too hot is when we were done already.

21:08So it never was too much for me or overwhelming with discomfort. And he was like, yeah, in about a week to two weeks, you're going to start seeing the tightening and you'll start seeing up to around eight to 12 weeks slimming in your arms. Onda technology is a nanowave technology where this same technology has been used in physical therapy. diathermy is what it's called since the 1940s and also onda is created by you're gonna love this so much deca in italy and i looked up the ceo i was like i gotta get in touch with this company and i saw all of these photos pop in with him in the pope rest in peace so i reached out to him and i was like i just gotta tell you i loved my results so much and i just want to say kudos to you how did you guys come up with this can you put me in touch with a scientist and also what's with all the Pope photos.

21:55And he goes, oh, our lasers are used to preserve some of the art in the Vatican. And so the Pope, just to say thank you, let me into the headquarters. And I was like, well, look at that. So these Barbie arms are also related to Vatican art. And I was like, I love this machine. I would love to purchase as soon as you guys have this available. And he was like, actually, would you do us the honors of being the first to debut it? And I was like, stop it, Paolo. Yes, 100%. So we are going to be the first in the US. It is now FDA approved onto cool waves. And I'm going to be putting that puppy back on my arms for one more session.

22:36And then I've got some other areas to just kind of tighten up. It's beautiful.