Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Sash Pike, owner of Aphros Beauty Permanent Make-up & Spa in Homewood.
Every year around the holidays, Soshanya “Sash” Pike sends handwritten thank-you cards to the customers at her spa, Aphros Beauty. It’s no easy task; in just two years since the spa opened, her clientele is already up to around 260 people.
“My hands start to hurt after a while,” she said with a laugh.
Pike, who grew up in Jamaica and has 17 years of experience in spa management, uses those same hands to work her magic as a brow artist and permanent makeup specialist at Aphros.
Formerly located in Hoover, Aphros recently celebrated its grand opening at its new location at the Dental Arts Building at Brookwood Medical Center on May 8. Pike said Aphros is unique because it offers permanent makeup, paramedical tattoos and skin care and beauty treatments all in one setting.
“I’ve had some women who are cancer patients tell me that they want to do this [permanent makeup] now, because after they go through chemo, they will lose everything,” Pike said.
The services at Aphros include a traditional menu of body scrubs, body wraps, body polish, facials and waxing, alongside permanent makeup services such as ombre brows, combination brows, microblading and micro shading. She currently has a staff of four that includes an esthetician, but she plans to add a lash expert soon.
“I chose the name Aphros because I’m a sucker for Greek mythology, and Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty,” Pike said. “That name has already been taken a lot, so I decided to shorten it. We’re about not just beauty but everything that comes with it.”
Although she already had a background in spa management, Pike did not become interested in permanent makeup until a few years ago.
“We visited my friend’s sister, who was an eyebrow artist,” Pike said. “That’s when the light bulb came on and I thought, ‘This is something I could do.’”
When you connect with people, men and women, who are losing their hair from chemo and have lost their self-esteem, to help them with something that seems so small, it’s the best feeling.
Sash Pike
Pike said she decided to go to California and train under Destiny Renee, a makeup artist in Sacramento and owner of Trophy Beauty.
“I’ve always been the artistic type, and I know a lot of the artists there are good at keeping up with the trends,” Pike said. “I learned about color theory, how to choose needles and how to map brows out.”
Paramedical tattooing is a fairly new development in permanent makeup, where flesh-toned pigment is used to camouflage a medical condition or treatment.
“A good example is creating 3D nipple tattoos following a mastectomy,” Pike said. “You can’t feel it. When you touch it, it feels like normal skin, but it looks like a real nipple and areola.”
Pike, who started her career at Sandals Resort and later Palace Resorts, said she knew for a long time that she wanted to start her own business.
“I always wanted to have my own spa,” Pike said. “I still keep in touch with GMs [general managers] from the resorts I worked at, and they know it’s always been a dream of mine. I just wanted to add permanent makeup
to my services.”
Pike said she has many clients who have touched her heart, but one person who especially comes to mind is Racquel Innis-Shelton, a local oncologist who visits her every couple of weeks.
“She recently told me, ‘I work so much, and this time here is time that I can take for myself and not have to think about my work,’” Pike said.
Both of their sons are around the same age, Pike said, and were already friends before she met Innis-Shelton, and now they are both good friends as well.
“When you connect with people, men and women, who are losing their hair from chemo and have lost their self-esteem, to help them with something that seems so small, it’s the best feeling,” Pike said. “It reminds me of why I do what I do.”
Aphros Beauty is located at 2045 Brookwood Medical Drive, Suite 24. Hours are Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome.
For more information or to make an appointment, call 205-377-6511 or email concierge@aphrosbeauty.com.
