“It’s very important to know your skin type, it will enable you know the best product for you’

Freda Francis is the founder of the luxury Oasis Medspa on high-brow Lekki in Lagos. Recently, she introduced new treatments into the Nigeria market. In this interview with KEHINDE OLATUNJI, she spoke on her journey into the Spa industry and how Nigerians can take care of their skin and maintain it.

What is the importance of treating the skin?
Everything starts with you cleaning your skin. You have to wash your face, minimum two times a day- morning and night. The washing of the face at night is the most important. When you don’t wash your face it’s like having an unwashed plate. Skincare starts with cleansing of the skin and there are so many things you can use to cleanse your skin.

Every skin has different issues, in your case, you might be dealing with Melasma, in another person’s case, it could be oily skin, while another person is dealing with acne, and lots more. As experts, we tailor it to your particular need, so when it comes to skin there is no one particular thing that you are dealing with and that is where we come in, being able to help you achieve your flawless skin.

What inspired you to start Oasis MedSpa?
It started 15 years ago when I was suffering from acne. I went to many of the Spas in Nigeria, spent lots of money but nothing cured the acne; there were no changes. It was so bad that I slept with makeup because I was very uncomfortable with my skin and I had insecurities. But the story changed when I travelled to the United Kingdom and met a good dermatologist who gave me a product to help clear my skin. Although I was doing my research before seeing the dermatologist, this was what inspired me. I wondered to myself how many people would be passing through this same problem without getting the right medication or products for their skin.

How important is it to know one’s skin type?
It’s very important because it will help you enhance your skin. You will know the right time to exfoliate. For my skin type I have oily skin, I cannot use tap water to wash my face, I use bottled water and it has to be cold or room temperature. It’s very important to know your skin type, as this will enable you to know which product is good for you. And I also recommend that for any product you use, you must check the ingredients to see which one you react to.

Many are of the opinion that Oasis products are majorly for the elite, how affordable are your products?
Oasis is for everybody. People have this myth that Oasis is expensive, because we are not on the side of the road. But one thing is that we are very much aware that we have competitors. When you bring the price menu, actually we are cheaper; I don’t know where this myth came from, oftentimes we are more affordable. Before we set our price, we do our market survey. For instance, our facial might be N5 while our competitors’ is N4 but in other products, theirs might be N6 while ours is just N4. Every week we examine the prices of our products. We visit at least two of our competitors in a week; this is to make sure that we stay within the competition. Here, we give a lot of free treatment, there is no way you are going to come here and we let you go without treating you. Money has never been the issue.

Considering the competition in the industry, how have you been able to stay in market?
When we started some years ago, we had so many people that had been in business for over 20 years, we must have been doing something really good for us to have excelled and surpassed a lot of spas in Nigeria.

However, one thing that has made us to be ahead is that our products are of high standard. The products are imported from Los Angeles and California. Our manufacturers are based in Los Angeles and they specialise in products for black skin, they have been in Business for 45 years and their products are tested. It’s not like we are trying to experiment to see whether it will work. If we give you a product, we can actually guarantee you that the product will work or you get your money back. For instance, let’s say you have acne, the product that we are going to give you is acne control cream with benzoyl parasite. Now you might be allergic to benzoyl parasite so we give you another acne control cream without benzoyl parasite. So, all our products are tailor-made, when you come in, we do a full consultation, and try to find out if there is anything you are allergic to, what you have used in the past and what you are using now, based on these facts we can now narrow it down to what we believe will work for your skin. Our products are very effective that within one week, the result is clear.

Kindly tell us about Dermalux treatment?
Dermalux is the latest generation of LED Phototherapy, a non-invasive skin treatment which accelerates the body’s natural repair processes to deliver overall glowing skin health. It is effective as a stand-alone treatment and will bring an instant radiance to your skin.

Dermalux is very effective. It has three functions, the blue light treatment, which operates from 400 to 430 nanometer of rays, then the red light treatment this operates in 600 hundred range of rays and the 800, which is the infra ray. Each of them has a particular benefit to the skin, so for somebody who has acne, the blue light is preferable as this will help cure those bacteria and when the bacteria are gone, the skin will rejuvenate and you will have a brighter, better looking skin. The red light treats wrinkles and ageing skin; it helps to stimulate your collagen thereby making you look younger.

Why do women need Thermiva?
Thermiva is a non-surgical procedure for labia and vaginal tightening and rejuvenation. It is the first non-surgical and thermal-controlled radio frequency procedure to relieve symptoms associated with female gynecological conditions. Thermiva is also for women who have bladder leakage and issues. It is the number one process of its kind in the world and it has no side effects. It tightens the internal and external parts of the structure.

A lot of women suffer and do not want to talk about it. After having a baby and talking to other mothers, I understand that virginal leakage and dryness after having a baby is very common. With my knowledge of Thermiva I met a doctor in the USA and we discussed on how to buy the equipment and bring it to Nigeria, to introduce the service. A lot of gynecologists are currently working with us because they are happy that the machine is finally in the country. It helps to shrink the lips of the female organ. It stimulates the collagen in the virginal wall. It helps women to stop faking organism and achieve it. I have a client who has never reached orgasm but now the story has changed.

How many awards has Oasis Medspa won?
We were nominated and won the Most Innovative Spa of the Year 2019, it’s a travel and hospitality award and the second one is the World Luxury Spa award.

How has the journey been in the industry?
It’s been amazing; the spa has grown from a small facial spa to having the most updated equipment in Nigeria. Also, we have a few equipment that I will say it’s the first in Africa. We have grown from being a small spa to an International standard spa. We work with international plastic surgeons, dermatologists and international brands.

Would you agree that Nigerians take good care of their skin?
The awareness is growing because everybody wants to look good and take care of his or her skin. People come in every week to do different treatments. I would advise everyone to know their skin types and not to use any quack products on their skin, because you skin is your passport.