Welcome to ON BEAUTY, a monthly feature highlighting creative, like-minded people who inspire us.

Vanessa Ho, board-certified acupuncturist, clinical herbalist, and founder of Curator Wellness, has a healing touch. From her needle placement to the Gua Sha she employs at the end of your session, an appointment with Vanessa is the definition of care and relaxation.

The LA-based practitioner believes in transparency and education and shares with her clients the tools to practice what she preaches in the comfort of your own home.

Here, she shares how her own personal experience with TCM impacted how she treats and educates her clients, the importance of facial acupuncture for both the complexion and the digestive system, and why bedside manner is so important in her practice.

 
What brought you to practice traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture?

It was from my own experience as a child. I grew up in Taiwan and there, it’s really common for every household to have Chinese medicine ingrained in their culture. It’s basically seeped into everything. After having immigrated to the US, I started having some health issues, mainly with digestion and skin. Naturally, my parents took me to see an acupuncturist and herbalist, and it helped a lot. But while it helped, I wasn’t guided in the way I wanted. While I got results, I didn’t really know what was going on. And for me, I would have liked that along the way. 

When I went to undergrad, I studied cognitive science and neuroscience. I realized after graduating I loved health, but I wanted something a lot more holistic. And through that, I started shadowing a lot of acupuncturists and noticed that most didn’t take the time to explain what they were doing and what I could do to help myself at home. That’s a huge reason why I started my practice and I wanted to translate that lifestyle medicine approach. 

Your practice is rooted in healing skin. What made you want to focus on the complexion and what are some of the techniques you utilize?

I found that a lot of people were drawn to me for skin. Our bodies are very sensitive to any imbalances that we have, whether that’s hormonally or through stress or digestion. I look at skincare from a long-term holistic route. I make sure that I do a very thorough intake of every single patient and get to know their lifestyle, meaning sleep, digestion, stress levels, and a lot of their day-to-day routines, so that I understand where they’re coming from and also how they’ve been caring for themselves. Then, I apply Chinese medicine principles. After everything has been balanced, we start seeing results, not only in the skin, but also in many of the other symptoms they’ve wanted to address. 

A lot of people that I see fall into two different categories. Either they're struggling with acne or they want to work on their skin health, texture, tone, or fine lines more naturally. 

You also look at the whole body, from anxiety to digestion, and the menstrual cycle. How does evaluating the entire system help inform how you treat a patient?

That goes back to the principles of Chinese medicine. The mental health of the patient is just as important as physical health. We go back to what we call the five-element theory. The major organs that we look at are categorized in a way that corresponds with a different season and emotion. For example, someone who is prone to stress and reacts to it in an angry manner means that their liver is very stagnated. That’s common in a lot of working professionals. If you have a lot of anxiety, that is a spleen deficiency and it’s something that I’ve seen a lot lately. That has to be addressed with herbs, acupuncture, and holistic nutrition. That’s something that I educate my patients on too. They can’t come in every single day, but at least I can prepare them for how to best care for themselves with their constitution at home.

In your intake, you ask about the color of the patient's menstrual cycle or if they experience any blood clots. Why is that piece of information important for you to understand?

As Chinese medicine practitioners, we have to rely on different outward symptoms to see what's going on inside. A great way to do that for hormonal imbalances is to understand the menstrual cycle patterns. The color of the blood and the volume of the blood is a way for us to understand how blood deficient or how stagnated the blood is. That really changes the way that I treat the patient. A lot of people who are blood deficient are going to require different blood-boosting herbs and nutrition, including a lot of red-colored foods. They're also going to require different acupuncture points during the session versus if someone is blood stagnated. So if their blood looks a little bit darker, closer to purple, that means that we have to focus on moving the blood.

You also prescribe Chinese herbs to your patients. How do you decipher what they need and is there a commonality among patients? 

Herbs should always change with your constitution. I'm doing my job if your constitution is changing week by week. That's where custom herbs come in. They will address multiple symptoms at once and be a lot more specific to that person. We can get a lot of groundwork done in the beginning of our treatments by utilizing custom herbs. 

In terms of prepared herbs, they serve a great purpose as well and are perfect for maintenance. That said, they're still coming back in because their environment and external stressors are going to change as they continue in life. When they come back for maintenance, my patients will have a more solidified formula, usually, a patented one that is less specific to them, but more to where they are in terms of their constitution.

You do facial acupuncture, which is not offered by all acupuncturists. So what does that do for the complexion and why was it important for you to have that offering?

Facial acupuncture offers a lot more to the treatment than we can just do with body acupuncture. I always suggest it for people, especially if I'm seeing them for anything skin related, because it helps elevate our process and increase circulation in the area. It decreases inflammation and helps with muscle tone and skin texture. Facial acupuncture is also very synergistic with a lot of other modalities like herbs.

Facial acupuncture is very holistic and gentle because even though we're working on the exact area, like the jaw or the cheeks, or the forehead, all of those points lie on different meridians of the body. There are a lot of points for the stomach that are on the face. So you can work on a lot of digestive issues, too.

How long does it take to see results with facial acupuncture?

It's really hard to say a number. I never say anything until after the first session because I'm still getting to know their constitution. I only have so much information, but I want to see how they react to it after a week. Usually, it is a little bit longer for someone who is older, and I will always suggest that they come in more frequently as long as their schedule allows.

But if someone comes in and they're able to start addressing it early on in adulthood, then they don't have to come in as frequently because they've established a good foundation for skin health. 

You make your clients feel very comfortable. What’s important to you when working with one?

That’s so important to me. It really ties back to the ethos behind my entire practice. I wanted to create a very grounding space for my patients. A lot of people who are living this modern lifestyle already have enough external stressors. I don’t want them to worry about that coming in when they get treatment.

That all comes back to my bedside manner and the fact that I genuinely care about each person who walks through the door. I want them to feel comfortable so that they can not only tell me all of their main concerns and I can help them in the best way, but also be able to create that bond with them so that they feel open to learning from me in terms of the at-home practices. I want to make sure that they know every time they walk in, I appreciate their time and that they leave always feeling better than when they came in. 

Favorite scent?

Fresh jasmine. It's so warm and delicate, very feminine, and I feel like it really encapsulates my spirit and my personality. I wear it every day and I find it really comforting. 

Favorite beauty food?

Definitely tremella. It's a little hard to come by. Sometimes you have to go to the Asian supermarket to find it, but tremella is a very good yin booster. Yin, meaning water. It's so good for smooth and plump skin. It's especially great in the summertime. 

Do you have any tips for long-haul flights? 

My top three are making sure you're hydrated inside and out, meaning bring a facial, mist and make sure that you stay hydrated throughout the whole flight. The second is making sure that you get a really good Gua Sha session in and not just on my face, but also my neck, arms, and legs. Those are really important areas to get circulation. And lastly, make sure that you get some movement in at least every hour or two.

Do you have any vices?

It’s really specific, but I have a blazer collection. I really like fashion and investing in good pieces. 

Do you have any charms or talismans?

I'm really drawn to the stone selenite, and I usually have a lot of it around in my office or at home. Also, I always wear gold jewelry that were gifted to me from different pivotal moments in my life.