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Photograph by Chad Pilster
Crown Princess: Jan Skuba aims to help overworked Siliconites get thieir lives back in balance.
The Royal Treatment
At the Topiary Salon and Day Spa, Jan Skuba prepares for the new millennium with the latest in skin-care therapies
By Genevieve Roja
Jan Skuba has a fascination with crowns. Ever since she was a little girl, she felt herself drawn to the bejweled ornamentation reserved for royals. During our visit, I even notice two crowns adorned with jewels tattooed on her right arm; she hints that there are more.
At her Topiary Salon and Day Spa on White Oaks Road, Skuba has crowns painted on two drawings of cats prominently displayed on the plastered walls and niches.
"I went to England and I had a jacket with crown pins on it," says Skuba, who believes that her affinity with crowns and crosses has something to do with a past life. "The Brits loved that; they thought I was British. It blew their image when I told them I was a boring American."
Skuba, co-owner of the salon, grew up in Illinois. Not resigned to being what she calls "a uniform girl" her entire life, she set her sights on California and a keener eye on Campbell, where she had relatives. She began her career doing skin at a salon at the I. Magnin store in Stanford Shopping Center.
"I knew I wasn't going to stay there," she says. She once studied to become a makeup artist. "I decided to go there to get my sea legs under me."
Several months later, Skuba moved to a salon in Mountain View and remained there for three years. There she met her current business partner, Leilia Peak, who was her client at the time. Peak told Skuba there was an opening for an aesthetics person at a salon in Campbell, where Peak was cutting hair. Then the building on White Oaks opened up, so Peak and Skuba set up shop. Peak takes care of the hair portion, while Skuba manages the skin part of the business.
"We've worked together for the past 10 years," Skuba says. "It's been a dream of ours to open a place together. Our business grew so fast; now everything is coming into place."
In keeping with the crown motif, each room resembles a piece of Camelot, with red, ambient lighting, plenty of candles, essential oils and billowy curtains, and even decorative ivy draped across the ceiling. There's also the sound of trickling water in each room, courtesy of a miniature pebble fountain that oozes a steady flow of water.
"I want [clients] to feel like they've escaped into a magical world," says Skuba. "It's instant magic; I want it to be a complete fantasy."
Her dive into the world of aromatherapy, massage and skin care is all linked to her philosophy of a complete health and wellness experience. In her own way, she says, she hopes to guide others onto that path, especially in overworked Silicon Valley.
"This valley is so stressed out," she says. "People are in need of something spiritual in their lives. We put spirituality in what we do [at the salon]; we really want to focus on mind, body, spirit."
Skuba promises that her salon will be ready for the new millennium when it arrives. She's already trying out some of the industry's latest products, including Chromolift, an award-winning European technique that uses colored light to help improve the skin.
"We'll be teaching some advanced techniques, positive affirmation, and doing oxygen therapy," Skuba says. "What we're doing is going to be the future of all treatments. We're going to help people who want to know how to keep themselves balanced."
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Campbell, California
