Healing Sensitive Skin by Caring for the Whole Person with Dr. Alexes Hazen, Founder of Zen Essentials
Skin Anarchy
Ekta et al.
4.2 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 15 December 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dr. Ekta Yadav sits down with Dr. Alexes Hazen—board-certified plastic surgeon, microsurgery specialist, and founder of Zen Essentials—for a thoughtful conversation on skin health, ethical aesthetics, and why real results can never be separated from whole-body well-being. With a background that spans public health, global medicine, and some of the most technically demanding surgical training, Dr. Hazen brings a rare depth to how she thinks about beauty, healing, and care.
Her path to medicine was anything but linear. From working with the New York City Department of Health during the AIDS crisis to serving in the Peace Corps in Honduras, Dr. Hazen learned early that medicine isn’t just technical—it’s human. Those experiences shaped a philosophy she carries into every aspect of her work today: outcomes are influenced as much by mental health, sleep, nutrition, and support systems as they are by surgical skill.
Throughout the conversation, Dr. Hazen challenges the surface-level thinking that dominates skincare culture. Skin, she reminds us, is an organ—and it reflects what’s happening internally. No product can compensate for chronic stress, dehydration, or exhaustion. When those fundamentals are addressed, skincare finally has the space to work as it should.
She also speaks candidly about ethics in aesthetic medicine—why board certification matters, why saying “no” is sometimes the most responsible choice, and how listening to patients should always come before selling solutions.
That same restraint and intention led to the creation of Zen Essentials, born from Dr. Hazen’s own struggles with severe skin sensitivities. Designed to be effective yet calming, the line reflects her belief that skincare should support the body—not fight it.
Listen to the full episode to hear Dr. Alexes Hazen unpack holistic healing, ethical aesthetics, and why real skin health starts with caring for the whole person.
SHOP Zen Essentials and learn more on social media!
CHAPTERS:
(0:02) - Introduction & Guest Welcome
(0:46) - A Nonlinear Path Into Medicine
(1:26) - Public Health, AIDS Education & the Peace Corps
(2:46) - Falling in Love With Surgery & Plastic Surgery Training
(3:01) - Early Burn Injury, Scars & Coming Full Circle
(4:12) - Why Holistic Care Matters in Surgical Outcomes
(8:40) - Skin as a Reflection of Whole-Body Health
(11:22) - Ethics, Training & Responsibility in Aesthetic Surgery
(26:21) - The Origins of Zen Essentials & Sensitive Skin Science
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey guys, welcome back to Skin Anarchy. Today's episode is very special because we're going to be talking to a true expert in the space of skin health. She is truly accomplished in the, obviously, the medical field in her practice, but then also has a beautiful line called Zen Essentials, which I really, really love the whole range, and I can't wait to dive in. So without further ado, please welcome, Dr. Alexis Hazen. Welcome, Dr. Hayes. |
| 0:21.0 | I'm so excited to host you. Hi. It's so good to be here. And we've been looking forward to talking with each other for a long time. So I'm super excited to be here. Yeah. And it's been a long time in the making. And I'm glad we're doing this because I have so many questions for you. and I love the line and I can't wait to dive into all of it, |
| 0:39.6 | but I really kind of want to start with your... making and I'm glad we're doing this because I have so many questions for you and I love the line |
| 0:37.9 | and I can't wait to dive into all of it. But I really kind of want to start with your medical journey. |
| 0:42.8 | Like did you know you wanted to be a doctor like at an early age or how did you land into medicine? |
| 0:49.4 | Yeah. It's such it's kind of an interesting journey because what now when I look back and I put all the pieces together, I think I did kind of know, but I, I, on some part of me, didn't know. So I ended up going to college being a history major. When I graduated, I really didn't know what I wanted to do, but I had this vague idea that I wanted to do something in healthcare. |
| 1:11.6 | But I wasn't really thinking I wanted to be a doctor. So I, it was 87, and I worked for the New York City Department of Health doing AIDS education. |
| 1:21.6 | AIDS was a really big problem then, and we were doing prevention education for IV drug users among other things |
| 1:29.1 | and through that experience I sort of fell in love with the idea of medicine but meanwhile |
| 1:35.4 | I hadn't done pre-med so I applied to a post-bacclosate pre-med program and I also applied to the United States Peace Corps |
| 1:46.0 | and I got assigned to Honduras in the health sector. So I decided I probably wasn't something |
| 1:52.1 | I was going to do after med school. So I went to the Peace Corps and worked in the health sector |
| 1:57.8 | and then really got a lot of hands-on experience worked with local |
| 2:02.2 | health center doing everything from like giving vaccinations to doing talks in i was in honduras so it was |
| 2:08.8 | in spanish on health and disease prevention i did a latrine project water projects everything with |
| 2:16.7 | about the most basic health care. |
| 2:19.8 | And I came back, went to Brynmar for a year to get my pre-med requirements, |
| 2:25.3 | and then went to med school. |
| 2:28.1 | In med school, I sort of thought I would do something in international health, |
| 2:32.0 | because that was what my experience was. And then I fell in |
| 2:35.2 | love with surgery and specifically plastic surgery and ended up doing a residency in plastic |
| 2:42.8 | surgery and then a fellowship in microsurgery. But what brings it full circle is when I was a kid, |
... |
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