Tracie Alavarez, a licensed aesthetician and owner of Spa 231 in Troy, shared some of her skin care secrets with the members of the Brundidge Rotary Club Wednesday.

Alavarez said that her husband told her, “That’s a man’s club. What are you going to do?”

“I said that I didn’t know,” she said, laughing. However she told the Rotarians that men, as well as women, have skin care needs. Women are just more vocal about them and more open about the care they receive.

Alavarez grew up in Vietnam and lived in California 20 years before making her home in Troy.

“I have worked in the medical and dental fields and I know how important skin care is,” she said. “My husband is a plastic surgeon but he does not practice anymore. He wanted to be home to spend more time with our teenagers. So, I said that I must get out and work. I’d dreamed of working as a skin care professional. I was introduced to the spa and I had my dream.”

Although most of her cliental is female, Alavarez said she has products for men.

“I have products for facial razor burn and other products as well. I also have alternatives for hair loss,” she said, with a smile.

Spa 231features permanent makeup including eyeliner, eyebrows and lip liner for women and acne treatments for teens.

“I have products that you would think that you have to drive out of town to buy,” Alavarez said. “Spa 231 has many skin care products and we give facials and other professional skin care treatments.”

The Rotarians had questions for their guest speaker. Some questions were about spa gifts for the ladies in their lives and others were about her “escape” from Vietnam.

Alavarez said she and a young brother “escaped” from Vietnam in 1986 and stayed in a refuge camp.

“We were glad and blessed to get out,” she said.

“When we arrived in California, we did not speak English. In grade school, we had the choice to learn French or Russian. I chose French.”

Alavarez soaked up the English language “like a sponge” and has even learned to say, “y’all” now that she is a Southerner.

Alavarez was asked which she liked better, California or Alabama.

She didn’t exactly say Alabama, but she did lean that way by saying that she loves the Southern hospitality.