Lydia Sarfati is a Polish-born American esthetician, entrepreneur, consultant and author. She is credited with having introduced seaweed-based skin treatments in the United States. In 1980, she founded the Sarkli-Repêchage, a seaweed-based cosmetics company, together with her husband David Sarfati. She is the author of several books on cosmetology and wellness.

Early life

Lydia Sarfati was born in Poland. She is the daughter of

Polish Jew The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

s Szloma and Sofia Mops, both of whom were survivors of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. Sarfati grew up in Legnica; during her time in Poland, she took her first professional training, a medically oriented skin care course. Her family migrated to Italy, and in 1970, the family got the opportunity to leave for the United States, and settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, where she got her first job as a makeup artist in a salon on Madison Avenue. In New York, she met her future husband, David Sarfati, and the two married in 1972. The couple had two children, and to support them, Lydia worked as an esthetician in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

and, in the evenings, received private customers at the makeshift beauty salon she had improvised at her home.

Career

Together with a friend, Shoshana Kliot, she opened a salon, the Klisar Skin Care Center, in September 1977. The popularity of the salon grew when magazines such as ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', '' Mademoiselle'', '' Harper's Bazaar'', and the '' New York Times Magazine'' wrote about Sarfati's esthetic services. In 1980, she introduced the Four Layer Facial and, today, her skincare method is taught in more than 200 schools around the world.

Repêchage

In 1983, she gave up on her successful salon business, and sold her share to her partner. She developed the Four-Layer Facial produced by the Repêchage company, which she founded together with her husband. The firm also manufactured cleaners,

lotions Lotion is a low-viscosity topical preparation intended for application to the skin. By contrast, Cream (pharmaceutical), creams and gels have higher viscosity, typically due to lower water content. Lotions are applied to external skin with bare ...

moisturizer A moisturizer, or emollient, is a cosmetic preparation used for protecting, moisturizing, and lubricating the skin. These functions are normally performed by sebum produced by healthy skin. The word "emollient" is derived from the Latin verb ''m ...

s and other skin care treatments. One of the most successful products was the full body treatment based on seaweed, the use of which Sarfati pioneered in the United States. Repêchage also popularized other ingredients used in

thalassotherapy Thalassotherapy (from the Greek word ''thalassa'', meaning " sea") is the use of seawater as a form of therapy. Note: Thalasso therapy is a sub-definition under the listing for Thalasso. It also includes the systematic use of sea products and shor ...

, such as sea water and salts. Repêchage sells seaweed-based treatments and cosmetic products in over 45 countries. The company's headquarters are located in

Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, where Repêchage runs a 50,000 square foot, ISO 9001:2015 certified manufacturing, research, and development facility as well as a post-graduate esthetics academy.

Other activities

Lydia Sarfati is a speaker and consultant for the spa industry. Sarfati published ''Success at your Fingertips'', which covers all aspects involved in running a skin care business.

References

External links

LydiaSarfati.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarfati, Lydia Living people American businesspeople in retailing American business writers Women business writers American consultants American consulting businesspeople American cosmetics businesspeople American people of Polish-Jewish descent American women in business Businesspeople from Queens, New York Cosmetics people People from Queens, New York Polish emigrants to the United States People from Legnica Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women