Getting To Know Hazel, The Beauty RN
By Laura Hilton
Photography By MARSIN MOGIELSKI
Dress by Augusto Manzanares, Jewelry by Glenn Bradford Fine Jewelry Southampton
As a nurse practitioner, Hazel, The Beauty RN, is personable with a calm and soothing bedside manner. She has a unique ability to truly listen to what makes you uncomfortable about your skin, understand your specific challenges, and curate a solution that works. As she says, “These decisions go much further than just skin-deep. The procedures you do impact how you feel about yourself.”
Hazel is known as a skincare and laser expert. Her patients have been known to call her a perfectionist because she is passionately committed to her clients feeling their best about how they look. And she has a keen eye for symmetry and precision. She is a true virtuoso of skin care. It’s no wonder that her client base comprises a mix of celebrities, socialites, and so many others seeking out her talent with injectables.
Hazel’s expertise is matched by her compassion. Social Life sat down with the legend herself her to learn about why she is such a dominant force in the aesthetics industry as well as discover the roots of her compassion.
Tell us about how you grew up?
I was born in Jamaica, raised by a single mom, and immigrated to Brooklyn when I was 11. My mother had moved to Brooklyn six years prior to establish a home and a stable foundation to provide me with a better life. We were separated for six years, which was hard on me, especially as I didn’t really understand what was going on. I felt abandoned by her. When we reunited, I struggled with reestablishing our mother–daughter relationship.
My mother understood how I felt, and she handled it with grace. She did everything humanly possible to help me understand her decision-making. During this time, she taught me core values about hard work and dedication. These qualities stuck with me, and they certainly helped pave the way for my professional success later in life.
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Have you experienced bumps in your journey?
Like many others, I’ve had my own share of challenges in life, much like my mom did. For example, in Jamaica, I never thought about a person’s skin color. I looked at everyone as an individual. However, after moving to a predominately upper middle-class community in Midwood Brooklyn, I realized that I was different from everyone else around me. People would stare at me and sometimes cross the street to avoid me. I quickly found out about racism and learned how to deal with being different from everyone else around me.
Later, as my career progressed, I encountered other instances of racism. For example, when I started in the cosmetic industry, I was surrounded by nurses who had blonde hair and blue eyes. No one looked like me, and it seemed that people were not used to seeing someone like me in that environment. I had to work ten times as hard to gain trust and cultivate relationships with my clients.
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What was it like to launch your own business?
Launching a business was the scariest thing I had ever done. When I started my business, I had to continually fight for respect from peers, doctors, and clients. These experiences helped shape me as a provider. They’ve only made me stronger, and I’ve accumulated a great deal of empathy for people struggling with various life challenges. My passion is rooted in my sincere desire to help people, something that makes me happy. And I believe this translates clearly to how I treat clients, and they truly feel my genuine care for them.
An interesting fact I like to share is that I went to P.S. 283 in Brooklyn, the same elementary school that Ruther Bader Ginsburg attended. She was a true pioneer and forged the way for women. She was strong and dominant, like my mom, and I like to think of myself in that light too.
Bodysuit by Augusto Manzanares, Jewelry by Glenn Bradford Fine Jewelry Southampton
What are some of your favorite things outside of work?
I have many things that I enjoy when I’m not working and trying to help my clients feel and look beautiful. I love social media and find it scintillating to catch up on the latest society and celebrity gossip. I also enjoy traveling and a good Pilates workout. I feel so good afterwards!
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Do you have any favorite restaurants in the Hamptons?
Food is a passion of mine, and when I’m out East, you can find me at Pierre’s in Bridgehampton or Le Bilboquet and Big Olaf’s Ice Cream in Sag Harbor.
Tell us about your skin treatments.
Some of my treatments for both women and men include all types of injectables, cutting-edge lasers, ultrasound, micro-needling, facials and peels, skin-tightening and radio-frequency procedures. I prioritize keeping my finger on the pulse of new technologies to ensure I offer my patients the best treatments available.
Dress by Augusto Manzanares, Jewelry by Glenn Bradford Fine Jewelry Southampton
What is your favorite new technology and how does it help with skincare?
AdvaTx is my favorite device right now because it has the unique ability to treat all different skin types. Until now, there wasn’t an effective laser that could treat skin discoloration on all skin types. This device treats melasma, rosacea, hyperpigmentation, sun damage, stretch marks, vascular lesions, active acne and acne scars, among other problems. It requires no numbing, no downtime, and clients walk out glowing.
How many treatments are required?
Protocol is based on a person’s exact problem as well as their age. However, it requires a minimum of six treatments to see desired results.
Who’s a candidate for AdvaTx?
I would recommend this treatment to any of my clients regardless of age and skin type. It’s such a revolutionary device as it improves tone, texture, clarity, and boosts collagen. This device is simply amazing.
Now we understand why Hazel, The Beauty RN is loved by so many and continues to dominate the aesthetics industry. We just love her!
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Invited Lecturer at the
Aesthetic Show in Las Vegas
Hazel, The Beauty RN, describes her internal essence as akin to gently flowing water. Maintaining calm during constant movement is key for mental focus in her busy NYC private practice. Being a true creative, mindfully listening to the wants of her patients while caring for her own needs is paramount in her work–life balance.
Each weekend, Hazel comes to Sag Harbor as a respite from her normal NYC routine. Here her days are all about slow starts and self-care. Hazel has been coming to this idyllic village for the past few years and is always charmed by the authentic architecture, small shops with curated goods, and the beautiful marina. The deep waters of this former whaling village resonate with her. “My maternal grandfather was a fisherman in Jamaica, where many calm and thoughtful hours were spent in simplicity at sea,” she says. Although she has left the nets of the fishing boats behind, she captures that same contemplative tranquility simply by sitting at Le Bilboquet, one of her favorite restaurants, drinking a glass of crisp rosé while watching the sun set over the water. “It reminds me of being with my grandfather in Jamaica. It reminds me to savor the simplicity of life,” she adds. Hazel also enjoys touring the Southampton African American Museum, which she finds dear to her heart.
Hazel brings this same sense of simplicity to her Upper East Side private practice. She maintains an important balance between patient requests and procedures that are effective and safe. This risk is doubled for the concerns of women of color. “In the past, lasers were predominately targeted to those with lighter skin tones. My practice has a diverse patient base, treating patients with darker skin tones with lasers wasn’t really an option until I began working ADVATx,” she says. This gentle yet powerful dual-wavelength laser system from Advalight not only allows for a broad range of practical applications for improving and rejuvenating skin, but it is also safe enough to treat skin of color without inducing side effects like post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation. ADVATx has been FDA/CE-cleared (meaning approved by the U.S. government as well as the European Union) to treat 25 indications on all skin types. “Finally, an inclusive and effective laser has arrived. Being a woman of color as well as a practitioner, ADVATx was personally a game changer.
This year, the prestigious Aesthetics Show invited Hazel to lecture on several topics. She was especially excited to be the show’s first African-American nurse-practitioner faculty member. “When Advalight’s CEO, Jacob L. Philipsen, PhD, learned I had been invited to lecture at the Aesthetics Show in Las Vegas, he asked me to speak on how to avoid complications with skin of color. I was immediately on board, adding this as my fourth lecture during the expo.”
Hazel deliberately chooses procedures that are natural and effective and preserve the individuality of the patient. Ethnicity, age, facial structure, and body type must always be considered. She uses Galderma products because they allow her a multi-pronged approach, and she is Galderma’s No. 6 provider. At this company’s request, she also lectured about her non-surgical approach in achieving optimal outcomes using neurotoxins, injectables, and PDO threads. “To share my specialized techniques and vision with my peers was extremely rewarding.” She describes the feeling as “humbly gratifying.” And she says sharing knowledge with fellow colleagues at the event was critical to her journey. “Being a woman, especially a woman of color, I am attuned to representation and what it means to those who are on the same path. I hope others can be inspired by my growth in the industry.”
Hazel began her career working at one of the country’s largest hospitals specializing in gynecology/obstetrics, and she watched lectures of plastic surgery and dermatology conferences online. Hazel was naturally drawn to the aesthetic areas of medicine. She describes how working with women in the gynecology field gave her true insight into the vulnerability most women experience during their first pregnancies and new motherhood as well as their struggle to preserve who they were before a baby arrived in their lives. Hazel also drew upon her personal need for self-care when she worked at a hospital at the same time she was taking courses to become a certified family nurse practitioner. To this she added opening her Upper East Side practice. Building a practice and taking courses was arduous and time-consuming, but throughout this time Hazel was careful to practice self-care and more determined than ever to help others. She says, “Balance is extremely important to self-care, to one’s wholeness in life. I find it deeply rewarding to provide aesthetic services that help women maintain the best version of themselves.” Her unique gift of truly seeing a patient for who they truly are is clear.
The aesthetic industry is rapidly evolving and Hazel, the Beauty RN, offers a vast array of services specializing in laser and micro-needling combined with injectables, neurotoxins, and thread lifts that are executed with precision to achieve symmetry for each patient. Reflecting on the incredible path she has created, Hazel explains why she loves what she does: “It has been my pleasure to offer true artistry to my patients and I will continue to be a pioneer of innovative treatments in my private practice. We look forward to watching Hazel and her creative approach to medical aesthetics.
Hazel, The Beauty RN
Hazel Forrester, MSN, FNP, CANS
60 East 66th Street
212.772.3411
[email protected]
Instagram @hazelthebeautyrn
Dress by Augusto Manzanares, Jewelry by Glenn Bradford Fine Jewelry Southampton
Creative Director and Photographer Marsin Mogielski Makeup Artist Francesca Cree-Torres Hair Stylist Nikki Brenton Hamptons Beauty Bar Inc. Sincerely Something Borrowed Inc. Wardrobe Stylist Fama Kuran Producer Mago
Gown by Victor dE Souza, Jewelry by Glenn Bradford Fine Jewelry Southampton
