Brentney Blair’s dream of working in aesthetics began while watching Beverly Hills plastic surgeons on Dr. 90210. “I thought ‘I wonder how I can get into that industry without being a physician,’” the now registered nurse and laser safety officer remembers. She was inspired to pursue nursing by her mother, who was also a registered nurse and a public health director. Now, as the owner of Botox Bar & Aesthetics in Dallas’ Design District, Blair and her team have performed more than 450,000 preventative and corrective anti-aging procedures—ranging from Botox and fillers, to the salmon sperm facial that Kim Kardashian recently made famous.
Blair went to medical school to become a nurse in 2008, after serving as a hairdresser since the age of 18 and earning a degree in criminology. At the time, there was no direct pathway to becoming a nurse injector and only three certification schools in the nation, according to Blair. “I just kind of got into it by perseverance,” she says. Upon graduating, she became an operating nurse at Baylor while obtaining her certification in cosmetic injecting. She got her first job in plastic surgery at a place that offered many deals from Groupon, as Blair puts it. “It was a lot of unrealistic expectations for low budget,” she recalls. From there, she took a job with a plastic surgeon for two years before working with a med spa in Highland Park.
All the while, she continued training and professional education. “I’ve probably spent $50,000 on continuing education,” she says. Blair has trained with top providers in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, including Dr. Zein Obagi of Obagi Medical Skincare and ZO Skin Health. Around 2018, the medical director under whom Blair was working encouraged her to start her own business. She began freelancing for two years before launching Botox Bar & Aesthetics in 2020. “I wanted to not be the most expensive, but not be the cheapest. I wanted to treat everyone, whether you have money or not, the same,” Blair says.
Botox Bar follows a conservative aesthetics philosophy—conserving and enhancing patients’ natural beauty—and offers functional medicine treatments, such as microbiome testing, to improve internal health. “I love helping people better themselves and feel good on the inside and outside,” Blair says. “Aesthetics and functional medicine are colliding, and we consider ourselves like functional health coaches.” With all her patients, Blair is big on education. “We try to continually educate you on what is happening—whether you are 20 or 70 years old,” she says.
New Botox Bar clients receive a consultation, where Blair and staff discuss their goals and options before building a customized treatment plan. Staff explain other epigenetic and lifestyle factors that may be influencing clients’ perceived problem areas to help the client make an informed choice about what they would like to pursue and what is comfortably within their budget. “I always ask your top three goals aesthetically when you come to see me, and we always start with number one, because, if you don't correct number one, you always go back to that flaw,” she says. Once treatment is complete, she guides patients through periodic follow ups to help maintain desired results, since none of Botox Bars’ procedures are permanent. “I always say, ‘At one point, you are going to be grandma or Dolly Parton, so you have two choices in life,’” Blair laughs.
Her advice for those considering injections or aesthetic treatments? Do ample research. Blair says there are companies that certify unlicensed professionals, then pressure them to gain clients. This incentivizes purchasing cheap product illegally overseas or online. “Ask about credentialing and don't do something you're not really comfortable with,” Blair advises. Additionally, every aesthetic provider will have their own personal touch on treatments and results, so it’s important for a client to know the style they are looking for. “It’ like an artist: They're all going to have their paintbrush, and they're all going to paint differently,” Blair says. Once a client finds a provider they like, they should stick with that provider.
Going forward, Blair wants to continue to focus on education for aesthetics and functional medicine, eventually creating a teaching program for young nurses. “I’d like to get into the teaching part, if time allows,” she says. She also hopes to open more Botox Bar locations outside Dallas, if the market allows. “Right now, Dallas is a saturated market for med spas, and we have a huge black market problem in Texas, so we will see,” Blair says. “I think [the market saturation] will come full circle. It’s just to be determined. I’d like to grow.”
“You can be grandma or you can be Dolly Parton, so you have two choices in life,” Brentney Blair