Facial Feast
Spa combines new, old treatment methods
By Lory Reyes
A 5,000-year-old Indian principle for skin treatment is proving to be a surprise relief for acne sufferers and a multimillion-dollar business for local spa owners performing the technique.
Originating in
Central Asia’s most populous country, ayurveda is an approach that uses herbal blends and other techniques-instead of drugs- to balance the body and restore or maintain health. Ayurveda means “knowledge” or “science of life.”
For teenagers, ayurveda is an alternative way to alleviate acne without a prescription, at least one physician said.
For Ani Miryala and her three sisters, the procedure translates into a profitable opportunity at their 13 herbal day spas and a way of sharing the ancient approach with clients. Opened in 1999, Anoo’s Skin Retreat in
Boca Raton – the sisters’ first spa in the
United States – is similar to the dozen spas and sisters operate in
India.
The sisters designed skin treatments such as facials, massages and pedicures in conjunction with principles taught to them by their uncle, an ayurvedic doctor.
Combined, the spas generate $6 million in revenues annually.
But the overhead is high. Ayurveda is based on the concept of using freshly grown herbs instead of chemicals.
Besides rent, the sisters spend a sizable amount of money transporting the herbs necessary for the procedures from the family’s nine-acre organic farm in
India.
“It’s expensive to fly them in, but it’s worth it,” Miryala said. “We work so hard to make them fresh and good. The value of the herbs is more important than the money.”
Miryala said she thinks anything used on the skin should be edible. Every Sunday when the spa is closed, Miryala personally blends the herbs used for the treatments.
“I think it’s very beneficial if you don’t use chemicals,” said Christina Carlin, ayurvedic therapist and teacher at the Ayurveda and Yoga Research Institute in
Pompano Beach, who has been involved with the herbal theory for about 15 years.
“You want to use natural products only.”
One pediatrician thinks that philosophy can be beneficial for acne patients.
Two years ago, Dr. Angel Cadiz, a pediatrician in
Coral Springs, had a few patients who came in for unrelated problems. He noticed over time that their “severe acne” had “significantly improved.”
Cadiz was concerned that the teenagers were taking Accutane, a serious medication that needs regular follow-up, and that he was unaware of it.
The teenagers were not taking Accutane, so he asked what had caused the improvement.
“They said, ‘Anoo’s facial wash,’ and I said, ‘what?”
Cadiz said.
He decided to visit Miryala at the day spa to see what the product was all about.
“I’m a scientist and I believe in doubt-blind, placebo-control tests,”
Cadiz said, “But I also got it for my grown children and I actually tried it myself.”
He estimated that he has recommended the facial wash to 100 patients during the last two years.
Cadiz gives patients the spa’s contact information and receives no financial gain from the recommendation.
He does not know which patients have actually tried it, but 20 have come back with significant improvements.
“You have to be professionally naïve to believe that modern medicine has all the solutions,”
Cadiz said.
BUILDING A REPUTATION
Beauty schools in
India only touch on herbology as a viable treatment, so Miryala and her sisters researched and learned on their own for five years. They had a spa at the time so they could conduct their own research and development, trying different treatments using a variety of herbal blends and collecting client feedback.
When Miryala came to the
United States she went to Christine Valmy International School of Esthetics in
New York to get her esthetician’s license.
Licensing in
New York usually requires 6,000 hours of study, at a cost of approximately $8,000, but Miryala, thanks to her experience, completed the course in approximately 130 hours.
“A great part of this country is that they recognize your abilities,” Miryala said.
But when Miryala moved to South Florida in 1996, she had to return to school again to even make up some of those hours she had avoided in
New York.
Miryala finally opened the
Boca Raton spa three years ago using some of the revenue from the spas located in
India.
Instead of the three years it customarily takes to reach profitability, the spa was profitable after just one year.
Miryala pumped money into the spa during the first six months, but the winter tourist season came and “everything was OK,” said Miryala who noted that holiday gift certificate.
Miryala is not taking any money out of the business yet. It is customary in
India for owners not to take money from a business for two years. Instead, that money is reinvested back into the business.
Miryala said that is the reason the sisters were able to open a new spa every two years in
India.
“We try to think of the business,” she said. Business practices tend to differ in
India and the
United States, Miryala said.
In
India, their spas charge less for treatments, but still bring in more revenues because the client base is larger.
Indians also have a different attitude toward massages. They enjoy weekly scalp massages.
In fact, Indian mothers massage their infants before every bath. Miryala said she thinks this practice leads to calmer babies.
Another difference, Miryala said, is that Indians are taught that “the face is the first impression.”
U.S. women, however, tend to get a haircut more often then they get a facial.
Unlike Indians,
U.S. clients must be educated in the ancient techniques, such as threading.
Threading is a way of shaping the eyebrow using common sewing thread. The spool is held in one hand and the other end of the thread is held between the teeth. The other hand twists the thread around wayward hairs from the eyebrow, easily plucking them.
Miryala said threading produces less ingrown hairs than tweezing or waxing.
Miryala’s spa also treats migraine patients with weekly scalp massages and other treatments that promote relaxation.
In some cases, migraine sufferers say they are able to reduce their medication, she said.
Anoo’s Skin Retreat has a staff of 1-. Two are Americans and the other eight represent different countries around the world, including, of course,
India.
Miryala personally trains all new employees for two to three weeks.
Even though a new staff member will have an esthetician’s license, he or she will be unfamiliar with the techniques and ayurvedic herbs used at Anoo’s, Miryala said.
Even the massage therapists need to be taught about the various oils that are used for different body types and conditions, Miryala said.
The low lighting, herbal aroma and relaxing music at Anoo’s combine to promote relaxation.
“We try to treat the inside, too,” Miryala said.
IMAGE BY A THREAD
By Marjuree Abao-Larin
You’d never think that a simple piece of thread could be turned into a tool to create shapely, defined eyebrows that last for four weeks, but it’s true. A basic beauty regimen for Indian women for ages has been creating beautiful eyebrows all over the country. Threading eyebrows is the current fashion craze. Consumers spend millions each year on products and services to remove unwanted hair on the face, legs and body for smooth, silky skin. Through the manipulation of a simple thread, you can offer a cost-effective treatment and produce the clean look client’s desire for areas like the upper lip, chin and cheeks including sideburns as well as brows.
Threading is an inexpensive and precise procedure. Its popularity has grown so much that clients ask for it by name. According to Ani Miryala of Anoo’s Herbal Day Spa in
Boca Raton, FL, the art of threading is simple. Miryala, founder of Anoo’s Organic Spa treatments, was recently featured on “
Deco Drive
,” (a half-hour TV spot on
South Florida’s local Fox channel) for her innovative and unique beauty techniques such as threading. Miryala’s threading technique for brows? Simple:
- Cut the suitable length of thread from spool. Hold on end between your teeth and the other end in your right hand.
- Make a “V” with the index and ring fingers of your left hand and roll the thread over five or six times.
- Insert your right thumb into the loop formed by the twisted thread while holding the spool thread firmly with your left thumb.
- Use the thread straight—not at angles. All the hair that comes into the thread naturally is the hair that needs to be taken off.
- Practice on yourself. Try grabbing the hair on your legs. Less hair is easier to handle when you are practicing.
- Once you have learned to tackle hair in different areas, work on facial hair like the chin and upper lip and then use the upper edge of the eyebrow.
- Once you have perfected your brow technique, move to the center of the brows.
- Finally, move to the area under the eyebrow. Ask your client to hold his or her eyebrow up to tighten the skin. When working on the right eyebrow, the client’s right hand should hold it from below and the let hand from above. Advise your client to take care not to push hard on his or her eyeball. Reverse the process for the left eyebrow.
Miryala is licensed esthetician in
New York and
Florida and an alumnus of
New York’s
Christine Valmy Beauty School. Her spa’s philosophy combines ancient Indian beauty secrets and modern solutions to produce health and beauty products grounded in Ayurveda.
Anoo’s Organic Spa Treatments offers certified classes in organic facials, massages, and threading.
Founded in the early 1980s by Miryala and her three sisters, Anoo’s Organic Spa Treatments has more then 12 spa locations in
India. Anoo’s Herbal Day Spa is “the first totally organic health spa in
Boca Raton.” In addition to threading, the day spa offers other unique services such as the fruit pedicures, oatmeal facials, and stone massages.
FACE TO FACE
By Katie Hamilton
As the owner of one of the largest female operated companies in
Southern India, Ani Miryala comes from a long line of skin care professionals. With her three sisters, she has bought the Indian principles of ayurveda and herbal treatments to the
United States. Anoo’s Skin Retreat Herbal Day Spa in
Boca Raton,
Florida, specializes in all-natural products and treatments, and is the 10
th spa opened by her family and the first in the
United States.
Following in the footsteps of family tradition—her uncles are ayurvedic doctors—Miryala began helping at the family beauty school in
India, learning the healing secrets and native skin care therapies. Shortly afterward she received her license at age 13, “I got my license when I was very young—
India has no age limit on licenses for skin care,” Miryala notes.
In 1984, after five years of intense research into
India’s ancient beauty practices, the sisters launched their first spa that featured unique herbal treatments. The facility’s appeal and popularity escalated throughout the years, and the concept chain was expanded to nine locations and a manufacturing plant in
India—substantial growth for a company with modest backyard beginnings where the family would harvest the herbs themselves.
In 1995, Miryala left
India and followed her physician husband, Vinod, to the
United States, where she earned her esthetic license in
New York and then
Florida. She then spent a year working at a spa before deciding to open her own in 2000. Now, Anoo’s 2,000 square foot facility services 60 clients a day with body massage and wraps, facials, manicures and pedicures, ancient scalp treatments, and laser services. The treatments utilize 22 specially selected Indian herbs, all grown organically, and harvested and processed without pesticides for the purest form of product available. “From the beginning, our company has specialized in organic treatments,” says Miryala.
Mint, sandalwood and orange peel powder are only a few of the herbs in Anoo’s self-formulated product line. Lemon peel powder makes a great exfoliation method, and Tulsi—a native Indian plant—contains antibacterial properties and is believed to help ward off infection sand colds. Miryala’s family also capitalized on the ingredients that Indian kinds and queens applied to the skin, and incorporated fruits and vegetables known for their healthful qualities.
Anoo’s Indian philosophy offers a unique perspective for Miryala’s clientele. Treatments are all natural and organic and don’t involve abrasive machines, creating a very relaxing results-oriented menu. Miryala notes that many clients will travel a distance to get to the spa. “It’s really nice to have that appeal,” she says, “You will be successful if you do something different then your competition.”
Miryala believes that organic treatments can dramatically boost the profit margin of a spa. “Spa owners could increase their revenue by 20-30% by introducing and marketing organic ayurvedic skin and body spa treatments,” she says, “Ayurvedic treatments can help prevent skin problems and infections by removing body heat created by age and stress.”
Miryala continues to remain active in the industry, teaching facial, body treatment and massage seminars. She also has developed step by step videos on facial and massage techniques. In the future, she hopes to continue educating estheticians on the benefits of natural organic skin care by opening a school and carrying on her family’s tradition. “Without my sisters support in
India, I wouldn’t be able to do all that I do,” she concludes.
Holistic Solution
Anoo’s Organic Spa Treatments brings holistic solutions to the industry with its Herbal Microdermabrasion Pouch (used in its signature Organic Body massages) with nine herbs, stems and bark packed into a muslin pouch for Microdermabrasion. The pouch uses milk and lime juice as a cream base. Anoo’s says the pouch allows professionals to offer natural Microdermabrasion without a machine, and the treatment can be performed once every week on the face and body.
