Lydia Sarfati

Early life

Lydia Sarfati was born in Poland. She is the daughter of Polish Jews Szloma and Sofia Mops, both of whom were survivors of the Holocaust. Lydia 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 i n 1970, the family got the opportunity to leave for the United States, and settled in New York City, 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 and, in the evenings, received private customers at the makeshift beauty salon she had improvised at her home.

Founding of Klisar and Repêchage

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, Mademoiselle, Harper's Bazaar, and the New York Times Magazine wrote about Sarfati's advanced esthetic services.

In 1983, she gave up on her successful salon business, and sold her share to her partner. Her goal was to produce and market a facial product that could be easily applied even by beginners, and still provide excellent results. The result of her efforts was the four-layer facial produced by the Repêchage company, which she founded together with her husband. the firm also manufactured cleaners, lotions, moisturizers 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. Besides seaweed, Repêchage and Lydia Sarfati also popularized other ingredients used in thalassotherapy, such as sea water and salts.

Today, Repêchage has established an international presence, with treatments and cosmetic products marketed in 30 countries. The company's headquarters are located in Secaucus, New Jersey, where Repêchage runs a 50,000 ft production facility, as wells as research laboratories and an esthetics school.

Awards and recognitions

Sarfati is the President of the Estethics Manufacturer and Distributor Alliance (EMDA) and the honorary chair of EstheticsAmerica/CIDESCO USA. She is a member of several other professional associations of the cosmetics and wellness industries. She has received several awards, including the DERMASCOPE Legend Award and the National Cosmetics Association's Pillar Award for Education Leadership.

Other activities

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