A beauty clinic that comes to your home

While waiting in the lounge of my eye doctor, I saw a familiar celebrity wearing dark sunglasses passing by. Underneath those glasses, I noticed some bandages peeping out and I could only deduce that she had her eyes done. 

In  Beverly Hills, the tinsel town of  California, USA, there are a lot of “rest havens,”  where the rich and famous hibernate in style and privacy after going through cosmetic surgery.  In Manila, there are no such places and the rich and famous have to run the risk of getting identified when they go back to their doctors for follow-up consultation. 

This is one of the factors that inspired Happy Ongpauco- Tiu to put up her thriving new business, Slim at Home.  

“People like to look beautiful, but they don’t like the public to know to what extent they go through to look beautiful. Most men and women are very secretive about the treatments they undergo. They like to have that air of mystery of why they look good. Slim at Home is the answer to people like them. They are beautified in the privacy of their own homes.”

Happy is a chef by profession, having graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley. She comes from a clan of restaurateurs, the Ongpauco family, who own the famous chain of Barrio Fiesta,  Bakahan at Manukan, Singing Cooks and Waiters.  She is also part-owner of several restaurants like Pamana in Tagaytay (where the recipes are heirlooms from the grandmothers and great-grandmothers of the Ongpauco clan and is located at the Boutique Bed and Breakfast Hotel in Tagaytay), Hawaian Barbecue in Boracay and Tagaytay, World Topps, in Makati and Bento Box in Makati. 

Being in the food business today and having been exposed to food during her childhood,  weight gain had always been her nemesis. “How can I not gain weight when I am always in the kitchen testing new recipes and eating most of the time? I have a very healthy appetite but, luckily, I also have a lot of self-control. I like beautiful clothes and want to look good in them. I am constantly on a diet and I know there are a lot of women who have the same problem.”

Slim at Home is for men and women who are too busy to go to beauty clinics to lose weight or to undergo beauty  treatments.  The clinic goes to them, complete with a nutritionist, doctor, aestheticians and trainers, depending on the program they choose. 

For example, for those who are naturally slim but have  stubborn love handles that can’t be dissolved by exercise, Ongpauco-Tiu suggests Advance Lipo Cavitation, a noninvasive treatment that uses ultra sonic technology to melt body fats, sculpt, contour, and firm the body. It aims to make you lose at least three cms. in just one session. It targets fat cells in specific areas, such as arms, inner and outer thighs, hips, calves, upper and lower abdomen pocket fats and cellulites. The cost is P3,500.

Dr. Harold Trinidad comes to visit prior to the treatment to make sure that the client is fit to go through the treatment.  People with advance diabetes and bone implants  are not good candidates for the treatment.  Dr. Trinidad explains that there are a lot of clients who mix the lipo cavitation with therma slim for an additional P1,500. Therma slim is a noninvasive treatment allowing radio frequency to penetrate in the deep layers of the skin that causes stubborn fats to dissolve and the tightening of the skin tissues.  It is also used on the face, neck, combined with a stem-cell-serum treatment massage that diminishes fine lines on the neck.  

Other beauty treatments offered are non-surgical eye lift, which perks up the eye area through radio frequency combined with stem-cell-treatment massage to help diminish fine lines and eye bags, Thermalift for the face to reduce wrinkles and fine lines and lifts the face, and advance cavitation for the face, which contours and sculpts the face, emphasizing the cheekbones and eliminating double chin.

For those who want to go the extra mile and enroll in a weight loss management program through a nutritionist and trainer, Slim at Home can send a personal trainer and nutritionist to plan the clients’ low-calorie meals. They also offer private cooking lessons for those who wish to learn how to prepare healthy meals. Workout sessions with a personal fitness instructor. They provide exercise gadgets and accessories at P1,600.  They also offer acupuncture for weight loss, too, at P2,600 per session.

I booked for a lipo cavitation session to dissolve the stubborn love handles that I can’t seem to get rid of no matter  how much I exercise and diet. The team that arrived came with a bed, the lipo cav machine, an iPod with soothing music, after-treatment tea, and magazines to choose from.  A virtual beauty clinic walked into my living room. 

It was so comfortable to be in the privacy of my own room receiving a slimming treatment. 

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For inquiries, call Dr. Trinidad, at 215-5866, 0917-8194019, 0917-8857546. Log on to www.slimathome.com.ph