Ravissant’s Age Defying facial is a great pick to fight wrinkles, lines, dehydration and sagging	A concoction of pineapples, lemon juice and green clay is Tatha Spa’s remedy for acne;

Fancy getting your acne treated with lemon oil? Or perhaps hydrating your skin with serum made from the stonecrop plant? Better still, rejuvenate your face by slathering it with fresh strawberry or pineapple pulp. After what you eat, it’s now the turn of what you put on your skin to go organic. And yes, the effects of organic facials are reckoned to be much better than regular facials.

The facials which classify as all- organic are varied. Some like the Tatha Signature Salon at Hotel Hindustan International, Calcutta, use whole fruits, while others are all about natural products used in concentrated serum form like the ones in Blossom Kochhar’s AromaMagic. Graphiti columnist Suparna Trikha Dewan, director, Suparna Herbs India, uses chemical-free jams from Kumaon. “These give the skin a blast of alpha hydroxy acids,” she says.

Organic facials, which follow the same cleansing-scrubbing-hydrating-massage routine as regular facials, are costlier. But they are still gaining ground. Says Kochhar: “Organic facials give better and longer lasting results.” Three of AromaMagic’s organic facials —the AHA fruit facial, organic fruit facial and oxygenating fruit facials are priced between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,800.

Arpit Sharma, chief operating officer, Sansha Hospitality that owns the Seven Seas spa in Delhi and Bhubaneswar, says: “Organic facials leave the skin more supple than regular facials.”

Dewan adds: “The chemicals in regular facials penetrate the epidermis, enter the blood stream and remain there for several weeks, with dangerous side effects.” Natural facials, in the other hand, don’t have side effects. Dewan’s organic facials use ingredients like powdered almonds in face packs that leave the skin glowing. For sensitive skin she uses bergamot and orange mixed with riverbed clay, while dry, undernourished skin is treated to apricot jam. Plum jam works best for combination or oily skin. The facials are priced between Rs 1,500 and 5,000 depending on the ingredients used.

Seven Seas spa uses an assortment of fresh fruits like oranges and pomegranates for glowing skin

Says Divita Kanoria, chief wellness officer and founder of Tatha: “The natural ingredients in organic facials do not generate heat so you don’t perspire after one but feel fresh while the skin glows.”

Charu Chawla, director, Ravissant Blliis salon, Delhi, says that Ravissant’s Age Defying facial costs Rs 3,700 and targets deep lines and wrinkles, and takes care of dehydration and sagging. The Gentleman’s facial, priced at Rs 2,899, hydrates and smoothens the skin.

Sharma of Seven Seas adds that the benefits of the regular facials vary since the chemical ingredients are stored for a long time and change in character. So, Seven Seas spa offers a blueberry facial that promises a glow, a cocoa facial for fairness and grape seed and jojoba facial for anti-ageing.

The natural ingredients can go from those found easily in your kitchen to exotic ones. Says Kanoria: “Our facials use 12 different fruits, a different one each month, mixed with different organic essential oils depending on the skin type.” Pineapple mixed with lemon juice and green clay works well for acne but the same fruit mixed with honey and yoghurt does wonders for ageing skin.

Others like the Hungary-based brand Eminence, available at Lakmé salons, uses fruits and vegetables grown in an organic environment. These are handpicked in small batches to retain their natural potencies. Jacqualine Tara Herron, director Imperial Spa & Salon at The Imperial Hotel New Delhi, says: “We use the in-house natural products brand, Sufi, which contains natural oils, essential oils and flower infusions.”

Suparna Trikha Dewan lets fresh leaves, flower petals and chemical-free jams do the trick	Eminence uses organically-grown fruits and vegetables in its facial packs

Eminence uses a serum made from the stonecrop plant in its Refined Lightning facial. Sushma Khan, national trainer for skin care and make-up, Lakmé Studio, says: “The adverse rocky conditions that the stonecrop plant grows in, makes it a storehouse of moisture. So, it hydrates the skin.” Lakmé offers three organic facials from Eminence — Restored Radiance, Refined Lightening and the Revitalised Youth, priced at Rs 3,000 each.

At Lakmé, the facials are given a bit of a twist. The experts at Lakmé follow the scrubbing with a treatment specific to the client’s skin-type. So, it could be an ultrasonic treatment to zap the wrinkles (for mature skin) or an anti-acne treatment to smoothen the skin.

Most organic facials can be repeated as often as a regular facial. However, the Eminence facials can be done weekly, fortnightly or monthly depending on the skin condition.

So, multiply the benefits of going organic — zap those zits and the wrinkles not just by eating organic fruits but by using them on your face too.