For a soft, supple skin

Beauty is skin deep. Sometimes, however, our skin needs a little extra care from the surface to fight pollution and the harmful affects of UV rays. So, at the launch of Kama’s first flagship store in Hyderabad, the queue to consult the Ayurveda doctor and the beauty consultant was long. If someone wanted to know about the products, some came with the hope of finding a solution to the pimple scars. Acne-related queries piled up and happily no one said they were looking to become fair.

Dr Sharad Kulkarni, on the other hand, has a different approach to the queries. Instead of rushing the crowd to the line of beauty products and set the cash register ringing, he explained the reasons behind their dermatology complaints. “Everything is controlled by the three elements of dosha — vata, kapha and pitta. The first and foremost aim of Ayurveda is to protect the body from harmful elements; treatment is secondary,” he says.

He was patiently listening to a stream of complaints from young girls who wanted flawless skin to avoid using filters on their social media posts. “That can only happen if you have detoxed well from inside and then started taking care of your skin. Proper hydration and balanced diet are the keys to improve not just the look but also build a healthy immune system,” said Sharad.

Elsewhere, the in-house beauty consultant gave tips on skin care laying stress on CTM (cleansing, toning and moisturising). She also demonstrated how to make a home-made scrub using oats, lemon, unadulterated turmeric powder and rose water.

When the CEO and founder of the brand, Vivek Sahani was asked about rashes caused by using absolutely ‘pure’ ingredients, he said, “Anything pure cannot harm anyone, no matter how sensitive one’s skin is. Claims to be absolutely natural is different from being one. Sometimes an imbalance of quantities while making a product can also harm the skin. Our body is a balance of various elements; the products we use too should be a fine balance of ingredients.”