The witches of childhood fairytales have green warts, mix deathly potions in their cauldrons and rarely remove their pointy hats. Luckily, the Wicked Witch of the West tropes are confined to fiction, and modern witches look much better in reality. Like Los Angeles-based facialist and healer Emma Goodman, also known as the Skin Witch on Instagram.
One of Hailey Bieber’s go-to facialists, Goodman has assumed the role of “witch” as it was defined before the world (and the patriarchy) rebranded them as “evil”. “Witches were healers and midwives in the beginning, they were people who you went to for different types of remedies when you were sick,” she explains over Zoom. “I use crystals, moon cycles, intention setting and a lot of energy work in my facials and, after a client called me a ‘skin witch’, it just stuck.”
Now, Goodman offers an array of souped-up facials nothing like those you’re used to. They comprise facial reflexology, massage therapy, chakra balancing, breathwork, body scanning, craniosacral therapy and gua sha—depending on what you need emotionally and physically—as well as microcurrent and microdermabrasion and more straightforward facial massage. Her aim is to encourage the body to shift into healing mode. “Eastern-based philosophy says that the body has the innate wisdom to heal itself—all you have to do is give it the right tools,” she says.