Spa manager interview: Charme d'Orient founder

Founded in Paris in 1998 by Yasmina Zerroug, Charme d’Orient is a brand of spa products inspired by the customs of oriental women.

Zerroug developed the products based upon the memories of the scents, flavours and beauty rituals of women that filled her childhood and since then, has grown the company to around 150 products advocated by 1500 spa and beauty professionals worldwide.

She exports 20% of the products from France through exclusive distributors in Italy, Russia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Greece, Indian Ocean, the West Indies and the GCC, where Charme d’Orient has been represented by Beauty Leaders LLC for the past nine years.

In the GCC, Charme d’Orient supplies a selection of top spas, including Anantara at Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi, Anantara at Kempinski Hotel Ishtar Dead Sea in Jordan, and Jumeirah at Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi.

Most recently, Zerroug has teamed up with b/attitude Spa at Grosvenor House Dubai, where one of the signature treatments is the 75-minute Honey Paradise Hammam Ritual. Here, Zerroug tells Leisure Manager how she created the treatment and offers top tips to spas looking to incorporate hamman treatments.

How did you come up with the Honey Paradise Hamman Ritual? What does it involve? What are its benefits?
The hammam ritual is the wonderful treatment that eliminates toxins, relieves tension and leaves the skin feeling re-born. The texture of the skin will be visibly improved and a person will feel revitalised.

Some hammams use only black soap and ghassoul for the treatments, which are the basics of it.

We have enhanced our Honey Paradise Hammam Ritual with the application of luxurious and nourishing White Honey Mask which consists of natural honey and royal jelly. The nourishing and anti-ageing benefits of the two products are well known — the skin will be left smooth, nourished and firmer.

Hammam treatments are obviously popular in this region – what are your top tips for offering a quality hammam treatment range?
It is important to propose alternative treatments to clients. For instance, some clients who have very sensitive skin prefer to have the Berber Cereal Exfoliating treatment or Alum Stone scrub to the traditional black soap peeling.

Offering a rich array of traditional Arabian beauty treatments to your guests is the secret to a unique and comprehensive hammam experience.

Article continues on next page ...

What are the most common mistakes you see in hammam design / treatments?
The most common mistake I see is when the ghassoul room or scrubbing room is located too far from the steam room for the design. The temperature in the hammam room is not always rightly set. The quality of the floor and hammam beds should also be of a certain kind.

These elements should be carefully taken into consideration at the stage of designing a Hammam section of your spa.

As far as treatment protocols are concerned, some hammams use only black soap and ghassoul for the treatments which leaves the skin feeling too tight and dry. This is why we recommend adding nourishing face and body masks to a treatment, or follow it with a relaxing massage using natural oils.

A hammam is an expensive investment, which can be profitable with many traditional, exclusive and authentic treatments that can be offered to guests.

How important is it that hammam products are natural?
Our products and treatments are inspired from traditional rituals and therefore have to be the most natural possible. Among our products, most of them are either 100% natural or at least 95% natural.

In 2011, we also launched a 'certified organic by Ecocert' range of products because there was a strong demand from clients for a label certifying that the products are organic.

Why are the Charme d’Orient and b/attitude brands a good fit?
Charme d’Orient invites you to discover the magic of oriental beauty care. In our range we implement only the time-honoured oriental skin care products for hammams, which were made from the noblest natural ingredients.

The whole concept of our brand is based on the centuries-old, most popular traditions of oriental hammam rituals. All of our products used are natural, chemical-free and eco-friendly. They are produced in France and comply with all of the latest European standards for cosmetic products.

The concept of b/attitude Spa was born out of a life-long passion for inner and outer wellbeing, taking inspiration from ancient healing traditions which focus on balancing mind and body.

B/attitude Spas across the world are very exclusive with a unique sense of atmosphere and a specially created spa music collection.

I believe that both brands blend and complement each other very well and it was with this thought in mind that our collaboration with b/attitude Spa Dubai started.