Staying beautiful the herbal way

Here are excerpts from the interview with Ms Suparna Trikha who runs Suparna's Aaveda, a herbal beauty clinic offering treatments like facials, hair pack, pedicure, manicure, etc.

When and how did you conceive of "SUPARNA'S AAVEDA" and what is its background?
We basically started on this concept way back in 1994, when the herbal market in India was warming up and everybody seemed to be talking about these herbal packs and herbal facial products. The woman who emerged in that period was very conscious of what she was applying to her skin and hair.So we decided to start a centre which was completely "pure and natural" in thought. That's how Aaveda was conceived, and all my lifetime savings went into it at that point in time.

Saloon Aaveda is basically a combination of two words in Sanskrit 'Ayur' which means the science of life and 'Veda' on which all our therapies are based. That is how we came up with Aaveda, now called Suparna's Aaveda. I completed my research from Gurukul Kangri where my grandfather was first the Vice Chancellor and then the Chancellor. There a lot of vaids there were consulted and this went a long way in helping us to get an insight and indepth knowledge about the herbs and their invaluable properties.

If we look back, most of our ancestors have been using these natural products in the form of homemade, facials or uptans etc. But today's generation does not know what inherent properties these natural herbs and ingredients hold for each skin type. Having spent a considerable time on research and confident about the results we started making our products in-house for use at our centre here in Delhi. I wanted women to feel 'pampered' because I personally feel a woman never seems to find time for herself. Here at Aaveda, every experience, be it a facial, a hair pack, a pedicure, a manicure or a body massage is as smooth as silk. That's for the body and for the soul? The ambience inside the parlour is calm and soothing-there are no harried attendants rushing from one client to another or making one client get up with a still-to-dry pack on her face to make space for another client. I want to offer women an experience that is ultimate in pampering.

Herbs I believe do not always smell good, how do ladies react to it?
Smell is very important to women I admit, but unfortunately herbs do not always smell good. So when we put bananas with 17 herbs on their gorgeous heads they crib. It is only at the end of the session after the wash that they feel the difference. The same holds true for skin, we have scrubs made out of walnut and almonds, fresh cream and limejuice, mint and margosa (neem leaves) and the list goes on...

Having left with a beautiful skin, did people come back to you for packs to carry home?
Yes! We had people coming to us for packs to take home and that's where the actual problem lies because we cannot mass produce our products, simply because we don't use chemicals. We then started making products with a limited shelf life using natural preservatives like honey, oil, salt and wax and giving them a shelf life of 1 to 6 months when refrigerated. Soon we had clients telling us that was not very long, so we told them that if they were really concerned about their skin they had to use up the products within the stipulated time to make the best of the natural ingredients. Because anything that is purely herbal cannot be preserved for long.

How do you advertise for your parlour and your products?
Today we are treating third generation clients, we had our first celebrities like Shabana Azmi, coming in four years back and now we have same celebrites vouching for us by word of mouth. Aaveda for me is like a baby, it was not a commercial venture when it was started. It was intended to be more like a faith following.

With so many face packs available off the shelf in the market today, how does the younger generation react to your solutions and products?
We sometimes land up having aggressive arguments with the younger generation who refuse to bring changes in their lifestyles but want to have perfect skins. So we try to explain to them that you cannot have perfect skins without having a healthy lifestyle and for that one has to drink the right amount of water, exercise regularly, use the right moisturizers and go to bed on time etc.

Do you plan more centres in other part of the country?
Yes, we plan to open a new centre in Ranikhet. We are picking up lots of fruits from Kumaon and are making them into natural chutneys and flavoured drinks to market them in Delhi.

Is the resort at Ranikhet going to be on the lines of Kerali in Kerala?
No, Kerali is based more on the Panchkarma and Dhara types of treatment. We would strictly be following more of what we are doing at Aaveda in Delhi, with an in-house facility for people to come in and and relax for say a week or 10 days. This resort will be more of a holiday treatment centre, because I personally believe people in India usually like to go out on a holiday with their families and are rarely alone. There is going to be something for everyone, fishing picnics by the river, cultural program by the people of Kumaon, etc.

Do you plan to go international?
Yes, we do plan to have centres in many cities all over the world where we are going to have a combination of pampering as well as selling from the outlet itself. But I don't want to sell my products like a cream, shampoo, or a soap that is available at every shop or chemist. You can't expect to build up a faith simply by selling it packed in a jar. The whole concept of Aaveda revolves around "pampering" and unless we can pamper you there is no point using our products. "Pampering cannot be bottled".

Do you plan to tap the locally available products all over the world as and when you set up your centres in those cities across the globe as in Kumaon?
Yes of course, we have a team of doctors accompanying us for we do realize that every area in any country has its own set of skin and hair problems. In fact, the letters I get from say, Abu Dhabi would have problems pertaining to sun-burn and oily skins, perhaps because of their diet and climatic conditions. Similarly herbs and natural ingredients all over the world have their own specific potential.

Have you ever thought of writing a book on skin care?
Yes! Harper Collin's has published a book by me called Harper Collin's Book on Natural Skin Care, available all over India. Now I am rolling up my sleeves for my next uphill task - a beauty guide for men. Men, like women have every right to look after their skin and hair. It is women who snigger at them, not realizing that men aim to look good to be appreciated by them. I was motivated to write this book after seeing the number of letters I get from them in my columns. Most of them are misguided and have to make do with neck-twisting massages, hot harmful facials, and bad hair dyes from barbers. I am sure my next book will go a long way in clearing some of their doubts.

I am also working on a book called the Intensive Book on Skin Care. It deals with properties of natural ingredients, the book is about various things like sex and how it affects your skin, it is about different age groups, about specific skin problems like pigmentation, pimples, wrinkles and it is also about skin years and skin seasons.

These health packages and health resorts are turning out to be more of an expensive hobby, affordable only by the elite, whereas it is the middle class which needs them the most. So how economically viable are your packages?
We have a clientele in the age group of eight to ninety one. Some of them are school going children, who save their pocket money and come to us once a week for their pimple problems. The skin treatments start at Rs 200 and that to a middle class person is fairly affordable. Our most expensive facials are priced at Rs 650 because it is made of crushed rose petals. We also have a higher slot of Rs 5000 for the designer facials. Designer facials will offer them a remedy in one single treatment. In these Designer Facials a secret recipe is coded and a number is given to you according to your skin type and problem. You are the only person who has access to that skin recipe and that recipe is then filed and kept forever.

-Archana Dev