Exploring Beauty Rituals, the Old School Way

BeejLiving discovers multi-hyphenate Indian pop and playback singer and actor turned entrepreneur, Smita Vallurupalli’s journey towards creating an inclusive skincare brand Old School Rituals on a whirlwind trip to Hyderabad

“Slow living to me is not being part of a rat race. It is doing what we truly believe in. It is living the way we choose to, at our own comfortable pace, enjoying every moment and doing everything mindfully,” she says, whose Old School is a thoughtful seven-year deliberation. “Creating a line of skincare products has been a dream for me since I was 24. I always had my eyes open to products and designs from around the world and what would work from a customer standpoint. I kept exploring this interest subconsciously, so when I had my baby, I was looking for the right things to put on her skin.” The curation started from her kitchen. Vallurupalli’s friends started reaching out to her for products, giving her the confidence to create a safe, clean skincare brand for the world. 

Smita Vallurupalli – Co-founder of Old School and Founder of Bubbles Salon

The aesthete

Old School beautifully blends spirituality, ancient traditions, and aesthetics, evoking a sense of nostalgia that resonates with all. During a whirlwind trip to Hyderabad, I stepped into Vallurupalli’s world as she graciously opened her home and hearth to us. Having moved out from the heart of the city to a gleaming skyscraper in the Financial District, her home and her office are adjacent to each other, a seamless connection.

Our warm welcome began with a delightful local thali at her beautiful home, a glimpse of the many rituals that define the Old School experience. Seated at my place on the table marked with a handwritten name tag perched on cinnamon sticks, I gorged on the culinary offerings including appam paired with vegetarian stew, Ulavacharu—a traditional Andhra lentil soup crafted from horse gram, luxuriously served with cream, Gutti Vankaya masala—a spiced brinjal curry, and a delectable dessert, an addictive apricot delight. Our culinary journey concluded on a flavorful note with paan, providing the perfect ending.

Glimpse of the traditional Andhra thali meal

Her home is a perfect reflection of her sensibility. The brand’s essence permeates through her personal space, an extension of her life. Old School is an ingredient-driven brand. Its repertoire of 32 products are sulphate and paraben-free, crafted using certified organic or wild-crafted resources, backed with scientific knowledge. Drawing inspiration from nature, she infuses the products with ingredients like red sandalwood, saffron, rice arrack (rice wine), banana, and an array of Indian spices. “I personally love our Red Sandalwood & Saffron face wash powder, Kumkumadi Essentials face elixir and a serum that is releasing in a few months. I keep my routine simple and these products do everything my skin needs. I almost can’t do without them now,” says Vallurupalli, as we take a tour of the store room at the Old School office.

A visit to the Old School office where the products are stored

Traditional treatments, modern thinking

Post lunch, we head towards Bubbles Hair & Beauty Salon in Jubilee Hills, a chain of high-end beauty chains present in key locations in the city and other locations in South India, run by Vallurupalli. Spread over a couple of floors, we are here to try the Old School treatments. I have picked the Arrack of Rice & Bananas facial which was refreshing and nourishing. It was a 7-step ritual beginning with a pre-cleanse, followed by a cleanser, scrub, serum, massage cream and a peel off mask, ending with a slather of sunscreen.

At night, to get acquainted with the brand and the team, we were whisked off to a private location overlooking one of Hyderabad’s many lakes, and the glittering skyscrapers yonder, for a gala dinner. What sets Old School apart is not only the products but the narratives that accompany them. The tales revolve around Apsaras, celestial nymphs, and are narrated by the founder, her daughter and her mother, bridging generations through storytelling. “Our childhood was filled with stories. We learnt everything through those narratives. I also believe a brand has to have a story,” she reminisces. “At Old School, the stories flow organically and nothing was forced. We tell our stories through our beautiful Apsaras. The detailing of these apsaras, what they draped, the jewellery they decked up with was very personal and each of them represents some part of all of us while they bring back memories,” she muses.

Story telling wrapped up in the packaging of Old School

The Old School Factory Visit

On the outskirts of the city, in a new eco-industrial park, the Old School factory is located. The ground floor is a veritable studio for shoots. It has a traditional kitchen with cookware sourced from Karaikudi in Chettinad, a dressing table, a writing desk and a small living room, amongst other pretty corners. The upstairs serve as the laboratory and storage where the raw materials are stored, R&D is conducted, and products are formulated, created, packaged and shipped. Donning masks and protective caps, we are led by Vallurupalli to see where the magic is made. “It was definitely my obsession about products, processes, results, texture, feel, smell, packaging and design that we keep focusing and improving on to make the overall experience for a consumer better,” she says. “I can still never be satisfied, so the journey is tough and ongoing,” she muses. It’s my first visit to a beauty factory, and it’s a fascinating experience of how from seed to bottle, beauty elixirs and powders are formulated.

The best-selling 63-herb elixir being bottled

But how interested is the consumer in traditional beauty practices when cutting-edge procedures are so easily accessible? “I have to say that no matter how fast the world is going towards cosmetic surgeries and other methods, going back to our roots has become part of everyone’s lives be it with food, lifestyle, skincare, design etc. I also believe that this culture will help many artisans and their art forms to survive,” she avers.

A day at the Old School factory

Post our visit to the factory, we settle down to paint beautiful Pichwai paintings on a wooden plate. As Vallurupalli skillfully applies brushstrokes, she shares her vision for the future. Her passion towards clean and healthy beauty led her to start Old School, originally as a skincare brand. “My creative side will help us expand Old School into a lifestyle brand. You will hopefully see us in a lot of segments. Like I said, ideas flow, flow and flow.”

(We travelled to Hyderabad on the invite of Old School Rituals on a press trip)