Face Time: L.Raphael in Geneva
No trip to the Peace Capital is complete without a stop at L. Raphael, the world’s leading clinic—especially, these days, for men.
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The buildings on the banks of Lake Geneva are topped with signage for the world’s most exalted brands. At night, the lighted logos of Hermès, Patek Philippe, Chopard et al. serve as beacons for the one percent. It’s no accident that financial powerhouses like UBS also form part of the skyline. This is where real money resides. On the left bank, nestled between Société Générale and Boucheron, is the orange-coloured sign for L.Raphael—a name that, to skincare devotees, is as lofty as its neighbours on this illustrious strip.
For over 20 years, owner Ronit Raphael, a perfumed steamroller of a woman who divides her time between Geneva, New York and the world’s chicest parties, has tended to the faces, bodies and vanities of the rich and famous. Her six-storey salon on Geneva’s swank Rue du Rhône offers a multi-dimensional, personalised approach to beauty and wellness for those as serious about skincare and anti-ageing as most Swiss are about chocolates and watches.
“Switzerland is also about advanced pharma, healthcare and new technologies,” Israel-born Ronit avers, on an early-spring afternoon. “They’re very uncompromising when it comes to quality. They expect results.”
It’s not just the Swiss who are treading a path to her handsomely appointed clinic. Ronit’s exacting clientele includes VIPs and C-suite types from around the world. It’s not uncommon, she confides, for a time-poor billionaire to fly in for a few days and block a group of therapists to work on him, six hands at once. Or for her team to be dispatched to someone’s yacht when a trip to Geneva is not an option. “They are ready to pay for this service as they know the result.”
L.Raphael is not strictly for the ultra-rich, though. Ronit points to a recent uptick in serious skincare among those who breathe less rarefied air. “It started with women,” she explains, “but more men are investing considerable amounts of their disposable income in their appearance. We are facing a societal change as people evaluate which luxuries come first. Designer luxuries are losing ground to healthy beauty and youthful energy.”
Originally making up only 15-20 percent of her clientele, more and more men have discovered L.Raphael through their wives, partners or press. It’s not surprising, given that they are working later in life and are afraid of being aged out. Since the rise of the young tech CEO a few years back, the prevailing sentiment is that if you haven’t made it by 28 you are obsolete.
“The market has changed so much,” Ronit muses. “Especially with the demands on appearance of social media, men are under a lot of pressure to remain vital and look good. They are seeking solutions.”
A few years ago, the company launched a separate men’s section on the top floor of the building. There, men have their own waiting room and can relax in a lounge between private consultations and treatments. For those unable to attend in person, the L.Raphael website delivers its signature products internationally, including to Australia.
The company’s green-caviar-infused products and oxygen-based treatments are the stuff of beauty legend. But it has promoted holistic offerings from the outset, blending age and stress management, nutrition, physical activity, and her cutting-edge proprietary lotions and potions.
“I literally go the extra mile to ensure that my clients incorporate a healthy lifestyle into their regimen,” Ronit says, explaining how one of her off-menu extras is going on lengthy walks with regulars who need gentle coaxing. It sounds cliched, she adds, but “true beauty radiates from the inside out, when the body and mind are in perfect harmony.”
Their backgrounds may be diverse, but most of her male clientele are results- focused and prefer treatments—to borrow from Monty Python—with machines that go beep. “It makes the experience more ‘masculine’ if there is machinery involved,” says Ronit. These men gravitate towards hair loss, acne treatments and, increasingly, lifting and sculpturing for the face and body.
“At L.Raphael we stand for mostly non- invasive treatments,” Ronit says, of options such as the Combi-Treatment, a triple-action procedure in which a therapist treats the skin with a targeted jet-pressure spray application of oxygen enriched with lecithin, omega-3, antioxidants and vitamins, “but we also have a doctor on hand for more involved treatments and procedures.”
The resident medic, Dr. Gumener, administers everything from Botox (the popular muscle-relaxing neurotoxin that was originally developed to treat eye problems but is now injected directly into muscle to help with worrisome expression lines like “puppet mouth” and “the 11s” that form between the eyebrows), to threading (a minimally invasive alternative to facelift surgery performed by inserting a medical- grade thread material into your face and then “pulling” your skin up by tightening the strand) and mesotherapy (a technique that uses injections of pharmaceuticals, vitamins and plant extracts to rejuvenate and tighten skin, as well as remove excess fat).
A common denominator among men is their preference for face treatments with zero downtime so that they can return to the office afterwards. “They don’t have the luxury of covering anything with makeup,” Ronit explains, “so they want no visible side effects.”
Beyond Botox and fillers such as Juvéderm and Restylane, which are used on wrinkles and folds, as well as to plump cheeks and lips, and to build up sagging jawlines, men are drawn towards newfangled offerings such as Ultherapy. A tightening procedure, also known as “the lunchtime lift”, Ultherapy uses ultrasound to work
on the neck, under the chin and or eyebrow areas over the course of two to three months. Results can take up to a year to fully kick in, but within weeks most men see visible tightening and a healthier, collagen-rich complexion.
Frown lines, sagging necks and spare tyres aside, are there any key differences between the sexes? “In my experience,” Ronit says, choosing her words carefully, “while we don’t offer excruciating treatments, women are much better with pain.”
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