A NEW beauty salon which hopes to unite ‘science and soul’ and make customers feel like they're in another world has opened its doors in a York suburb.
The Cave, a new salon owned by skin expert Olivia Heppell and holistic masseuse Lubna Lazrak, has officially opened its doors in 113 Millfield Lane, York.
The pair – who have both worked in the beauty industry around York for several years without crossing paths – met around two months ago at a trading event and decided to team up after bonding over their shared vision of beauty treatments with a focus on wellbeing.
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Olivia said: “We didn’t know each other eight weeks ago, but we met at this event and bonded over the fact that we were the only girls there. As it turns out, we knew each other’s families already and we completely hit it off.
“I used to work at Hannah Mae’s in town and after it closed, I’ve been a bit lost. I was looking at opening my own salon anyway and I had an appointment booked to view this property.
“Originally, I was going to hire Lubna to work here, but we thought why don’t we just go into business together and so we decided to start things up together.”
The sink, which inspired the remodel (Image: Alice Kavanagh)
Since then, the pair have worked to create their shared vision – planning the renovation around the raw stone bathroom sink and hoping to create a ‘cave’ like environment where people feel as if they’ve been ‘transported to another world’ outside the stresses of daily life.
Lubna added: “We’ve renovated it ourselves and despite all the stress, we haven’t had a cross word. We just get on so well.
“We got the keys on August 10, but we couldn’t start the renovation until the end of the month, so it ended up being a three-week transformation. The shop started as a green sandwich shop, so we’ve had to strip all of that out.
The Cave prior to renovations (Image: Provided)
“Most of the work, we’ve done ourselves – with some help for our floors from Tom Power, who was amazing, and for the plumbing. Since we started, it’s just been so busy in here and we had an amazing response on our opening day with people travelling hours to see us.”
Within The Cave, the pair run their own businesses, with Lubna bringing together reiki, hot stone, and Swedish massage techniques along with traditional Moroccan oils, teas, tarot, and a focus on mental wellbeing that hopes to cultivate a relaxing mindset.
Olivia offers a unique skin plasma treatment which is the only one of its kind in Yorkshire, offering ‘natural scientific treatments’ that help treat psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema, acne, and removing issues like skin tags or moles.
Lubna on opening day (Image: Provided)
She said: “I used to have really bad acne and I found that people are so quick to offer medication instead of looking at the reasons behind the issues.
"I fled from domestic violence when I was younger and whilst I was in protection, I took that time to learn about skin and plasma treatments. Since then, I’ve become one of the leading UK practitioners in skin plasma and I'm the only person in Yorkshire to offer all three kinds in one place.
“From my own experiences being bullied for my skin, I found that doing this was really empowering. Everything is chemicals, toxins, and quick solutions, and we’ve found real wellbeing gets put to the side in self-care, so I want to offer that to people.”
Olivia with her son on opening day (Image: Provided)
The pair said that they are so grateful to the community for their ‘love and support’ that they’ve given the salon, with Lubna adding: “It’s the people who you wouldn’t expect that are coming in. We try to create an inclusive space as everyone deserves to have self-care and love.
“Everyone who came for our opening said it just felt so relaxing – that’s what we hope to achieve here. The community spirit has just been amazing.”
The Cave can be found on Instagram at @thecaveyork with a number of different packages available, including discounts for those with breast cancer and wellness experiences for groups.