Auli Socials, a community of women, by women and for women, which flagged off in November last year is celebrating its one-year anniversary by expanding the community with ‘School of Skin’ (click on https://chat.whatsapp.com/H7xWJEvCnMhCPwJXZ4DvL5, to join the group), whose ‘primary goal is to unite people, bring them under one roof and talk about... skin’. Powered by Auli, the ‘community’ will also encompass mental health, fitness and fashion too. The Telegraph got chatting with Aishwarya Biswas, founder and MD of wellness brand Auli, and friends of the community — Ushoshi Sengupta, Tina Mukherjee, Upahar Biswas and Pauline Laravoire — on the initiative, being comfortable in your skin and more. Excerpts.
What comes to mind when we say ‘School of Skin’?
Aishwarya Biswas: I have been struggling to make people realise that what they know about their skin in spite of so much information is suboptimal at best. When I say ‘School of Skin’, I immediately think of a place where we all come together as a community to share information with each other and really get to the root of all skin problems through our experiences and natural remedies.
Ushoshi Sengupta, Miss Universe India 2010, model and entrepreneur: A community.
Tina Mukherjee, founder, Alt-Space: ‘School of Skin’ for me is about taking care of yourself, putting yourself first and feeling no shame in doing so. Unapologetic, unabashedly taking care of your physical and mental well-being.
Upahar Biswas, solopreneur, photographer: Quite literally, a collection of women who prioritise their profession and self-worth.
Pauline Laravoire, educationist, impact entrepreneur: To me, ‘School of Skin’ resonates with the idea of a community whose members unapologetically take care of themselves because they know that it is the key to individual well-being as well as our capacity to support and empower others in turn.
To me, the purpose of ‘School of Skin’ goes beyond skincare, which is what arouses my interest for it. It’s about a community of individuals that are ready to skin up — not dress up — their best, most self-confident yet humble selves to make the world a better place on a daily basis.
What does the word ‘skin’ mean to you?
Aishwarya: It doesn’t only mean something superficial. To me, skin means a barrier for anything bad on the outside to enter and also a reflector of anything bad going inside your body.
Ushoshi: Health and beauty.
Tina: Well, my skin is who I am, it’s my identity, it’s my confidence, it’s what makes me unique.
Upahar: Identity. Even before a conversation begins, we are long judged by how we present ourselves.
Pauline: I overall do not give much importance to physical, appearance-related matters. To me, what makes an individual beautiful lies deep inside, in the way our personalities shine to the world. However, our skin is our biggest organ and so essential to our overall physical and mental health.
How do you take care of it?
Aishwarya: I love my skin but I am also inherently a lazy person. I have formulated these products so that I can spend minimal time and get the best results. In my life, I want to maximise my time. I try to understand what my skin needs that particular day and season and then I work backwards to take care of my skin. Auli stands for a six-step skincare ritual and I do that every single day. It takes five minutes in the morning and evening and makes me feel super good because it’s an ultimate form of self-love for me. It’s just like going to a gym or doing a high-intensity workout.
Ushoshi: I don’t engage in anything over the top, just the regular cleansing, toning and moisturising and catching up on some sleep. I think a good night’s sleep is very underrated.
Tina: I am an extremely impatient person, going through a skincare regimen till a few years back for me would honestly be impossible, but with age and time I have realised that just like I spend all those hours at the gym taking care of my body, taking care of my skin was as important. I religiously use sunscreen, a night cream and I am a big big fan of facial oils.
Upahar: By taking out 30 minutes in a day and maintaining a self-care routine, which also includes meditation and workout.
Pauline: I usually apply a hydrating lotion once in the morning every alternate day, and matte it further with a tiny bit of powder to start the day. That’s it. I think we overall should let our skin breath and evolve on its own, as naturally as possible. Actually, the best way to take care of our skin lies in our dietary choices (I know, for example, that chocolate is very bad for mine!) and stress control (I get psoriasis in very stressful times). I try to adopt a healthy balance between personal and professional activities, to regulate my stress levels and to practise physical exercise every day, even if it’s just 15 minutes, which I think supports our overall skin health.
How comfortable are you in your skin? Has the process been challenging?
Aishwarya: I have always been comfortable and with age and experience, I started getting more confident about myself. I am at a place now where my outward appearance and internal feelings match.
Ushoshi: Growing up I was always very shy and under-confident about my brown skin. Most of my teenage years I have been an introvert and tried to fit in. I am grateful for the opportunities that I got professionally to travel, explore a different culture and meet new people across the globe that opened up my perception and made me very confident. Honestly, if it was not for the mentorship (of mostly women) I met in my journey, I wouldn’t be where I am today!
Tina: I started modelling when I was 17. As much as I am indebted to all that I have achieved in life as a model, it unfortunately merits you only on your physical appearance. At 17 being constantly judged for the kind of body you have can be extremely emotionally challenging.
There were shows when I would be kept out of sequences because, well my hips were too big or my thighs were big or in general my body was ‘too strong and athletic’.
To say it never affected me would be wrong, but at a very young age I understood that what I bring to the table as a human being is way more important than the size of jeans that fits me.
Upahar: Readers who haven’t seen me, I am a tiny, dusky, unassuming-looking person, mostly found carrying a big camera with a lot of energy and confidence in the eyes. Being a woman in the profession of photography, it took me time to be taken seriously. I have lesser room of making mistakes hence every opportunity that comes my way is a battle of proving my efficiency.
This hasn’t only made me very comfortable in my skin but has made me a powerful person too.
People in the public eye are almost always told to develop thick skin. Do the hurts go away? Over the years, how have you channelised those into something positive?
Aishwarya: If you worry about the public, you will never get anywhere. There was a time when everyone wrote me off and that’s fine.... The same people have now come around and changed their opinion. Thick skin is not the right word, but self-actualisation and belief in one’s own ability is most important. The hurts never go away. Rising from the ashes is my thing.
Ushoshi: I have faced a lot of trolling in my growing-up days, from being an under-confident person with brown skin to not having the best diction or grammar. But in most cases, I have seen that people who troll you have rarely achieved anything in life. So I have learned to channelise the bad into positive.
Tina: I think it’s important to know when to walk away from something that’s bothering you and when to fight it out, so yeah I don’t know if it’s been thick-skinned or not, but I choose my battle wisely. I think age and experience has a huge part to play in it... if anything, all of this hurt and pain has made me a patient person.
Upahar: Nothing ever goes anywhere, it stays right here, skin deep. How we channelise it makes a world of difference.
Pauline: Paradoxically, I think I have thick skin because I have always allowed myself to be vulnerable when needed. If you agree to show vulnerability from time to time, if you find ways to voice out your negative concerns and emotions... over time, you also learn how to better control and regulate these emotions within you....