VALDOSTA — Rhonda Tomlinson has been working since she was 13 years old.

Tomlinson had an interest in aesthetics because she’d had several skin disorders growing up. At 13, she was a hair stylist and slowly began to incorporate aesthetics into her work.

“I saw the demand for (aesthetics),” she said. “It was something I had always been interested in. When I had seen that it was starting to grow — I actually started with Dr. Sonya Merriman and she agreed.”

As time passed, Tomlinson added more aesthetic options to her shop, she had to make a decision if she wanted to do hair or aesthetics.

“I did both until I built this business up and had to choose one or the other,” she said. “I chose this. This is my passion.”

When Tomlinson began her work in the field, there was no official school for aestheticians, she said. So, she was grandfathered in as a practice that could legally operate.

However, Tomlinson decided she wanted to go to school even though it wasn’t required. Now, she has 53 certifications and is a nationally certified aesthetician, meaning she can practice anywhere in the United States, she said.

Her decision to return to school was influenced by the low number of fully certified aestheticians in the country at the time.

Her business grew and after awhile, someone offered to buy her business from her, she said.

At the time, Tomlinson had been working for several decades and thought taking a break would be nice.

“I got out of it for four years,” she said. “Honestly I’d worked 37 years of my life and someone offered to purchase my business, and I thought, ‘I’ve worked since I was 13 and thought I might take a break.’”

After Tomlinson sold her business, she spent two years in the mountains before moving back to care for her parents.

After a while, Tomlinson turned her early retirement into a four-year sabbatical.

“I found out I did not like it,” she said. “It was good for me, but after four years, I was like, ‘I’ve got to go back to work. I love what I do.’”

So, in January, Tomlinson officially launched her second aesthetician shop: Rhonda Tomlinson Medical Aesthetics.

Now that she is back in business, Tomlinson said doesn’t feel behind in her field at all.

“During, my time off, I was keeping up with my education. Not even knowing I would come back, this is my hobby, my passion,” she said. “I was always looking at clinical studies that had come out. I feel like I walked in even better than I had left because I had a lot more time to do research and a lot of research behind me.”

Now that she is back to work, Tomlinson described her new job is “wonderful.”

“I knew I missed it, but I had no idea how much,” she said. “I love it. I don’t ever see myself leaving it.”

At her new facility, Tomlinson offers “everything aesthetically up to the cutting edge of plastic surgery,” she said.

She offers laser hair removal, photo rejuvenation, fractional CO2 laser, rosacea treatment, acne treatment, micro laser peel, chemical peels, medical micro-dermabrasion, ThermaScan skin tightening chemical treatments and more.

After her sabbatical, Tomlinson decided to work on personalizing her treatments to her customers because each person and each case is different.

“I offer personalized custom treatments where I may do a combination of three different lasers and a chemical treatment, because one of the things I have found is that the nose may need something more than the eyes,” she said. “… I’m going to have to work on the pores, the acne … It’s not a one-time thing like it used to be.

“So, I’ve been customizing. It’s one of the strategies I’ve learned in this business. I customize for every person.”

Tomlinson said she works directly with every client.

“I had large practice and a lot of aestheticians working for me, and I wanted to come in this time and keep it all with me, and my knowledge,” she said. “I wanted to be involved in every single customer that comes in here. It used to be I could leave and have four aestheticians that could take over.”

Along with treatment options, Tomlinson sells products that can be used at home.

“I do carry the national top skin care lines that is going to take care of daily aging,” she said. “I carry a makeup line that is the plastic surgeons preferred line in makeup.”

Throughout the interview, Tomlinson talked about aesthetics as her passion in life. When asked if aesthetics were beneficial to the community, she referred to herself, how people are living longer and creating a better quality of life.

“I’m 53, I don’t feel like I look 53,” she said. “I’m looking for the best of the best for my patients. I love it so much that my hobby is research. I look up anything that is beneficial to my patients in the latest and greatest in the art.

“The 50s is the new 30s and the 70s is the new 50s. It’s not considered a vanity, it’s considered taking care of herself.

“It makes you feel better as a person. It gives you more confidence without the vanity. The way it’s offered non-surgical, you don’t have to go through what women used to.”

Rhonda Tomlinson Medical Aesthetics, 107 Woodrow Wilson Drive, is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday though Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 Friday and, by appointment only, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call (229) 588-1116. 

Jason Smith is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1257.