Meet Our Founder
Crystal Carrero
Professional beauty is my creative outlet, but health is my superpower. I created Clean By Crystal to combine my professional expertise with my health and wellness knowledge and personal resources.
Hey there I am Crystal, health and beauty specialist, professional hair and makeup artist, raw food lifestyle and wellness advocate with over seventeen years of beauty experience.
Born and raised in the bustling streets of New York City, I was a shy but adventurous kid throughout my early years. When I turned nineteen, I had a full life ahead of me and no clue as to what I wanted to do with it.
And then the job opportunity came.
I got hired as a bartender at a low-budget, off-broadway theater. It was a small, and seemingly insignificant. What I didn’t realize was that I was part of the creative beginning productions by Diane and Randy Weiner, who would later become award winning writers and directors of some of New York City’s best, most characteristic Broadway shows and musicals. Some of their best works include Hair, The Donkey Show, Sleep No More, The Box and so many more.
As a young adult, I got to witness these directors’ artistic process almost every day for over a year. To me, their work was the most fascinating craftsmanship of the arts. The way a story was woven together, then directed, then brought to life for nightly shows with vivid voices, props, wigs, costumes, makeup, and hair to bring out the individuality of each character was extraordinary. I was in love!
Although I was originally a bartender, I began to assist in the show’s hair and makeup artistry more and more. Despite the time-constraints of putting together a show and fulfilling my server duties, I loved the job. There was so much heart, character, and creativity poured into the process, and I enjoyed more than anything getting to be a part of it all.
What inspired me most through this job wasn’t just the hair and makeup. It was the ability to creatively direct; that is, tell a story.
Out of this, came my love for hair and makeup art, and I made the decision that I was going to work for New York City’s top hair and makeup brand: Bumble and Bumble & Makeup Forever.
As I worked underneath and alongside some of the industry’s greatest hairstylists and makeup artists, I diligently poured myself into all the intense classes, with a special focus on haircutting, styling and makeup art.
Between the stressful days of cutting hair on a busy salon floor, teaching, continuing my own education, and being a new mom, I started to spiral into anxiety, exhaustion, and even illness. I developed chronic sinusitis, polyps, skin cancer, and not too long after that, a drastic case of alopecia areata.
Something in my daily life had to change.
I decided to try something new, and took a chance with the raw food lifestyle methods and techniques. Just after two weeks, major changes started happening.
Finding the raw food lifestyle was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. The philosophy of health and preservation finally made more sense than any other diet or lifestyle plan. I personally call it a lifestyle since it’s a consistent string of choices, not a temporary band aid fix for health problems. In all honesty, I think it should be called the “preservative and chemical free” lifestyle, since its core beliefs and practices revolve around the idea of choosing foods and products that are as clean and natural as possible.
What I came to find is that it wasn’t just the food that aided me, but the science and health methods behind the raw food lifestyle that taught me what I needed to do best to love and care for my body. The education was the key to my health success, and I spent hours and then years researching the lifestyle. It was hard work, but worth every ounce of effort. I investigated cooking, ingredients, fitness methods, chinese traditional methods, recipes, I spent long mornings talking to manufacturers and distributors at farmer’s markets and small mom & pop businesses across the U.S
After changing my diet over fifteen years ago, I went about changing other small things, like swapping out my toothpaste and deodorant for something natural. Eventually I started adding in natural beauty tools and techniques, an all-natural eye rinse, supplements, teas and much more. This too led to my vigorous search for top of the line high-quality (by high-quality I mean exquisite ingredients) hair products and skin care. Here began my health and wellness adventure. I struck home on something like magic, and ever since then I have wanted to share it with the world.
This is why I call it my superpower
So there it is, this is why I call it my superpower. To me, having control over being able to take care of my body gives me a sort of freedom. After I started changing my life, I felt better. Refreshed. Invigorated. Empowered. The entire thing was more of an internal satisfaction above anything else. There were no shortcuts to pursuing my health, but it was worth it to feel lively, clear-headed, and energetic again. After I made these health changes, my chronic anxiety, exhaustion, sinus, and hair loss diminished. I felt like a new, fresher, better version of me.
And then, Clean By Crystal was born to bring together all of my passions, practices, and beliefs.
For over a decade now, I’ve been a hairstylist, makeup artist, mom, but also a health and wellness expert seeking to shed light on the brands that truly make quality products that deliver long lasting amazing results.
Other areas of interest and inspiration that often tie into my work are art, photography, movies, cinematography, music, fashion, food, interior design, and eccentric people. See my production portfolio here www.crystalcarrerohmu.com
I firmly stand by my mission to only feature natural clean beauty products in my studio. If I can make them in my kitchen, then they are healthy enough and worthy to sell in my studio. Each and every product has gone through a trial process personally by me. I must make sure I believe in the brand mission and I find the brand to be credible and true. I’ve done personal research on ingredients and formulas, and most importantly although products are clean and naturally crafted they must work and preform as promised. I chose them not because of great packaging or promises, but simply because they work yet still deliver the purest, highest quality ingredients. Every product I ever endorse in my shop has been hand-selected personally and truly by me.
NATIVE NEW YORKER
Born and raised in Park Slope Brooklyn as a hispanic young girl. Life wasn’t easy; I was often sick, and we had little access to healthy living. I didn’t know it then, but soon I would have a huge problem to solve. I would go on to spend most of my teen years sick and unhealthy, this became the root cause for my deep search to live a healthier lifestyle that would improve my illnesses, mental health, de-stress my nerves and be my path to lifelong wellness.
YOGA, THE START OF MY HEALTH JOURNEY
When I was fifteen, my mom won the apartment lottery and we moved from Brooklyn to a new Manhattan high-rise building on the Upper West Side. The building offered free yoga classes, which I ended up taking twice a week for months. At just fifteen years old, yoga had such a deep impact on my life and still does today. After just a few months I felt such a total body transformation. Yoga slowed my anxiety, gave me strength and stamina, confidence and increased my agility and ability to focus. At 16 I committed to being a lifelong yogi and started building a relationship with my mind, body and soul. Naturally as I emerged myself in the study of yoga, I spent lots of time researching and learning new and old philosophies related to natural health; acupuncture, Chinese traditional medicine, pilates, the melt body massage method and many more philosophies. My research surprised me, as I realized ALL these techniques are connected with similiar core beliefs. They are daily DIY techniques put in place to practice self-care and stress relief. One of the core beliefs that still fascinates me and I try to remember daily is that the body is so closely connected to the mind it has the ability to heal itself when prompted correctly based on massage, stimulation, inversions and so many more methods.
MY CAREER INSPIRATION TO BE A HAIR AND MAKEUP ARTIST
In 2004 I graduated from high school. A neighbor suggested a temporary summer job at El Flamingo: a low-budget, off-Broadway theater and nightclub. El Flamingo was small and seemingly insignificant, but it introduced me to the creative early productions of Diane and Randy Weiner, who would later become award-winning writers and directors of some of New York’s most characteristic Broadway shows and musicals, including Hair, The Donkey Show, Sleep No More, and The Box. As a young adult, I got to oversee these directors’ artistic process almost every day for over a year. To me, their work was the most fascinating craftsmanship of the arts. The way a story was woven together, then directed, then brought to life for nightly shows with vivid voices, props, wigs, costumes, makeup, and hair. I began to assist in the show’s hair and makeup artistry. There was so much heart, character, and creativity in the process, and I enjoyed getting to be part of it all. What inspired me most wasn’t just the hair and makeup, it was the ability to be a creative director and bring a story to life.
THE START TO MY PROFESSIONAL CAREER; BUMBLE AND BUMBLE SALON
I started as a apprentice at Bumble & Bumble, a top product and salon brand in New York City. Established in 1977, Bumble was known for their innovative haircutting techniques, fun stylish product line, trendy fashion color and editorial fashion hair styling. Founder Micheal Gordon, was influenced by the crafted haircuts pioneered by Vidal Sassoon. The Bumble styling team took some of these precise haircut shapes and developed a signature haircut style by using a straight razor tool to cut instead of scissors. The straight razor left the haircut with a soft long-lasting deconstructed shape then paired with new never seen before styling products (Fun fact Bumble was the first to invent the first ever salt infused spray) the brand built a reputation for messy, disheveled imperfect cool hair. I spent three years as a cutting apprentice learning from some of the industry’s best global hair stylists. The bumble apprentice program was one of the most challenging yet fulfilling jobs I’ve ever had alongside being an entrepreneur. Each week we had to find a variety of three hair models for class. Model hunting like a scout, I’d bring a photo of the haircut or style I was working on and come up with a pitch to entice my subject. I got good at scouting, developing my eye and quickly visualizing haircuts, styles and color that would suit or improve a person’s hair, personality and vibe. The next tier in the program was to join bumble’s editorial Fashion Week hair styling team after years of classes. Every season for eight years I was placed on a different lead hairstyling team to work on top designer shows like Ralph Lauren, Lacrosse, Oscar de la Renta and many more. Although I always worked with hair, being backstage at these shows revitalized my love for makeup, which I found more creative and less technical than hairstyling. I continued to learn and grow with the company becoming an educator at The Bumble & Bumble University. I went on to eventually lead my own haircutting and styling classes teaching salons and stylists all over the world the Bumble way. Bumble was bought out by Estee Lauder in 2006 was now a powerful fashion-forward hair salon and hair care product line in New York and worldwide. I worked non-stop in many different parts of the company at this time. It was hard work and creatively competitve and demanding. However, it gave me the opportunity to build a great loyal clientele and be a part of a successful creative brand story. Some of the clients I met and worked with at Bumble have followed, trusted and continue to work with me for over 10-15 years now and are a big part of my business success today (you know who you are and from the bottom of my heart I thank you). I honor and treasure their honest feedback and suggestions about my products and services.
I BECOME A MOM
I FOUND THE RAW FOOD LIFESTYLE
After years of holistic research I came across the raw food method by Natalia Rose. I was instantly interested in the raw food lifestyle philosophy simply because I hadn’t heard of anything like it. At this point in my life I was in desperate search to find a holistic approach that could help bring relief to some autoimmune illnesses my son and I suffered from like chronic sinusitis, eczema, nasal polyps, skin cancer, and eventually a drastic case of alopecia areata. Natalia was sensible and confident that this was the path to optimal long-term natural health and beauty. She believed any person looking to increase their energy, lose weight, gain mental clarity, or strengthen and improve their skin and hair from the inside out would be impressed with the results of this lifestyle method. I went on to practice a raw food lifestyle detox intensely for 1 year. At the start I lost over 50 lbs, rejuvenated my skin and hair, and cured some of our illnesses mainly through just eating clean food. What I learned was the raw food approach extended way beyond diet and natural beauty, I found a detox tool you can use at any age. I believe parts of it are a “lifestyle” choice because it’s a consistent, preventative, foundational string of techniques that all flow together. Best part is you are in control of tending to your bodies needs which forces you to monitor and care for your own health. Some core beliefs and practices revolve around the idea that the body is smart and powerful enough to cleanse and beautify itself if prompted to, nourished and most important de-stressed. This includes natural homemade foods, simple preservative free products, detoxing fitness routines, skin and body massage cleansing, food combining and much more. (place a link to Natalia’s book here) Throughout my 14 years of raw food lifestyle studies I changed all my beauty products, daily hygiene products, fitness tools, and supplements. I believe I found an incredible way to help my body naturally detox from the inside out. I continue to be engaged and curious to learn new human body health science capabilities and philosophies.
MY PASSIONS GROW; I SET OFF ON MY OWN AS A FREELANCE ARTIST
After eleven years at Bumble & Bumble, it was time to go my own way. Though I valued all the training, friendships and care I received, I had some new ideas to put to the test. Working there no longer fulfilled me. Bumble was a high fashion brand, and when it came to hair and skincare I was more interested in function and health; I wanted to start my own brand using products I loved and believed in. The first step I took after working for a large beauty company for 11 years was to be a freelance hairstylist while focusing on my dream creative outlet of being a professional makeup artist. I enrolled in intense makeup course training at Makeup Forever Academy in Soho. My unique skill set, experience, hard work and creative eye I’d developed in my early years set me apart from other freelancers in the industry. I was able to get work with some of NYC’s top talent agencies, assisting powerful leading artists and practicing my own hair and makeup creative direction skills on small production gigs. See my professional hair and makeup portfolio here www.crystalcarrerohmu.com I booked great jobs quickly and networked. I searched for a salon I could join part-time that would allow me to still work with my clientele and aligned with my love for using clean natural products but it did not exist. Hopping around the city and renting chairs forced me to problem solve and create my own salon environment. Then it came to me! I would build a private clean beauty studio in a co-working space to test my idea and new clean beauty salon concept. Clean by Crystal opened in 2018 in the heart of midtown Manhattan Nomad NYC and became one of the first clean beauty salons.
CLEAN BY CRYSTAL IS BORN
Clean by Crystal was created to be a clean beauty salon, online store and educational blog for people of all ages interested in modern health and style. It brings together all of my professional skills, passions, practices, research and personal values. I believe that health from a holistic approach is a “superpower” no matter what your life circumstances are and I can teach it to anyone who is open and willing to do the work. My core mission is to educate, share my knowledge, answer questions and bring old and new health methods to life in the most effective, fun, stylish authentic way. After spending 15 years working with many traditional beauty brands and comparing them with products I believed in, it was time to share methods and research I had tested and learned. As a hairstylist and makeup artist I spent most of my career touching, feeling, troubleshooting, and trying to teach simple at-home maintenance to my clients. For years I used and recommended natural products, provided samples and tried these tools and products on different skin types and hair types. Gathering feedback to understand how they work best for each person. I then found a trusted vetted resource EWG (environmental working group) skin deep database to research and ensure all curated products I chose contain clean sustainable ingredients.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR CLEAN BY CRYSTAL
Today, Clean by Crystal is thriving. In the salon my clients enjoy the relaxing environment, care and private experience I’ve created for them. My online store has been a fascinating new experience. I’m now able to connect with people from all over the world interested in healthy living and seeking my professional guidance on product suggestions and solutions. Several times a month I still enjoy working on a variety of projects and productions. The experience allows me to continue experimenting, sharpening my skills and stay updated on growing trends. Additionally this is the space I created for weaving in and testing different skin and makeup products to my beauty applications. Adding on, my now 19 years of professional experience as a New York City hair and makeup artist puts me in a unique position to get real feedback and answers to questions from a large audience of clients, models, and online store customers from all over the world. Naturally, my next journey is to develop my own curated special line of hair, makeup, and skin tool products inspired by my clean beauty brand. My vision for the future is Clean by Crystal product brand will bring all my years of research together to create a product with high-quality safe preservatives and ingredients, sustainable smart eco packaging and fun tasteful colors and designs.