ETCETERIST: There’s been a sighting or two of makeup artist Bobbi Brown in Washington. Do you think she is there to do Mrs. Obama’s makeup for the Inauguration?

PAT WEXLER: Maybe. She’s worked with Mrs. Obama in the past. But she and her team might also be there to do all the Hollywood people in town.

ETC: Despite the road closures and high security, I imagine Washington’s hairdressers, spas and skin doctors are not having any dull moments these days. Who are some of the best — and the busiest?

PW: Unlike anything or anyone before, this new president-elect is giving us so much hope and pride … all the more reason to look your best on Inauguration Day! I understand the Bidens are going to hairstylist Benjamin Duboeuf at Cristophe Salon on 18th Street, and Isabelle Goetz, another hairdresser at Cristophe, is doing Hillary Clinton. Anne Hathaway is going to Ted Gibson for her hair in Chevy Chase. Kerry Washington and Ellen Burstyn are getting their hair and makeup done before the Creative Coalition’s Inaugural Ball.

ETC: The Creative Coalition’s party is also meant to be a “hot ticket.” I hear Maureen Dowd is having a party everyone wants to be asked to, and then there is Arianna Huffington’s party, and the party Buffy Cafritz does at the Ritz-Carlton. She’s been doing her Inauguration parties since the Fords, I think. What about skin doctors? Plastic surgeons? Who do we need on speed dial in the capital?

PW: Tina Alster and Tina West are two of the top skin doctors in Washington — those are two separate practices by the way. People also go to Margaret and Robert Wise, husband and wife dermatologists in Maryland, just minutes away from the capital. As far as plastic surgeons, I don’t know them in Washington. My feeling is people come to New York for their work, or they have their surgery when they are home in their constituencies.

ETC: There have been many photographs in the press recently comparing how President Bush looked when he was first elected and how he looks now as he departs.

PW: Every president ages exponentially; even Barack Obama looks older since he began campaigning. His hair is grayer. But Bush? He looks like his whole mouth has degenerated, like there has been bone loss — stress can cause bone loss — and his jaw has receded. When he spoke the other day, it looked like his upper teeth were nonexistent.

ETC: Stress can do that much damage in eight years?

PW: It can. But as old as he looks, it is worth noting that presidents also manage to live well into old age, regardless of much they aged on the job.

ETC: From a purely superficial point of view, of course, it would be sad to see President Obama age prematurely. Is there anything he and his team can do to combat this?

PW: I would recommend daily exfoliation, cleaning the skin with calming botanicals like chamomile, birch and mulberry. Take vitamin D and try to get enough rest and exercise. Meditation is good. Take at least several minutes for yourself a day. Drink lots of water.

Patricia Wexler’s skin care products can be found at Bath and Body Works.