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Samantha Dench

Samantha Dench

Licensed esthetician, functional medicine practitioner, and host of The Functional Aesthetician podcast, focused on the intersection of skin health, gut health, and hormones.

Jul 16, 2026

KatieHOST
3:07
But before we do, I know I just read your bio, but can you tell us a little bit more about why you got into this specific type of work when it comes to skincare?
3:16
Yeah, absolutely.
3:18
So I've been an esthetician for 23 years and I got into aesthetics kind of by accident.
3:23
You know, I wanted I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up and I was 23 years old and I was like, oh, esthetician school sounds fun.
3:31
I like doing makeup, but I realized how much I hate putting makeup on people.
3:35
I ended up falling in love with the science of the skin.
3:38
And then throughout the beginning of my career, I ended up dealing with adult acne when I went off birth control to start my family.

7 MINS LATER

KatieHOST
10:15
Well, first off, maybe my first question is like, oh, with a counter versus medical grade, like Do you have an opinion on that first alone? And then I just want to get the products that we really should be using to have beautiful aging skin.
3:37
So how did you get into that? Where did you start? Let's tell your story of how you ended up here.
3:45
Yeah.
3:46
So I fell into aesthetics by accident.
3:49
I was 23 years old.
3:50
I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up and I love doing makeup.
3:54
So my mom suggested I try aesthetic school to become a makeup artist and understand the skin.
3:59
And I hated putting makeup on people, but I fell in love with the science of the skin.

10 MINS LATER

14:12
So

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