Abilene Beauty Bus
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Beauty Beginnings
For nearly a year now, a jaunty turquoise and white Argosy travel trailer has roamed Abilene as a mobile medical spa, offering beauty and cosmetic services for parties, events and small gatherings of friends.
Dr. Sara Trammell previously worked at The Medspa at Hendrick and currently serves as a physician for Hendrick Hospice Care but began working from home and taking Botox services to her friends and various events. She researched other mobile models of practice and saw many bigger cities offered traveling med-spa vans. A practice in Canada that offered services from an Airstream trailer caught her eye, and she began the hunt for a similar one.
In the meantime, Botox parties in homes had become a booming business, and she was being asked to do even more – like fillers and skin care. By the time she had purchased and refurbished her own trailer, it had become a full-time business.
Stationary Services
The bus isn’t the whole story, however. Trammell has a full service office (dubbed “The Bus Station”) adjacent to her home where she does 90 percent of her work: services like fillers, laser treatments, body contouring, medical grade micro-needling, photo facials, and more. The bus is used primarily for advertising and Botox parties.
“At first, I thought I’d have everything there and drive around town with my office on wheels,” she said. “But the volume and type of services required more time and privacy, so now it’s used more for Botox parties – two or three per month – and events.”
The trailer has recently made appearances at 201 Mesquite, Perini’s Country Market and Lone Star Dry Goods.
“The bus does consultations, Botox and retail skin care. Everything else takes place at the office,” Trammell said. “It’s also great just for fun and snacks and drinks at events.”
Driving Demand
The Beauty Bus helps Trammell reach new clients and introduce new products and services.
“It’s definitely an eye catcher. I think people are drawn to the originality; it’s something different, kind of a big-city thing,” she said “The people I’ve done Botox parties for are mostly people I wouldn’t have known other than social media and word of mouth. It’s also driven people to do to other services in the office.”
With an uptick in business, Trammell had to learn to balance in-office work with the traveling bus and her family and other commitments. And the literal driving had a learning curve as well.
“I had to learn how to drive a trailer!” she said. “Honestly, parking and driving it has been a challenge.”
Down the Road
Additional services are being added consistently, and Trammell looks to do some expansion through staff and new partnerships with local businesses.
The Beauty Bus has received several requests to visit nearby cities as well. Trammell hasn’t yet been able to find time to take the bus on those longer day trips, but she said she likes the idea of collaborating outside of Abilene.
By Wendy Kilmer
Photography by Lindsey Cotton
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