Indian 'tulsi', 'gulab', honey, 'zaffran' and 'rajnigandha' are finding a place in the clinics of cosmetic surgeons at Harley Street, the heart of western medicine in Britain. In Australia, EU, New Zealand and USA, organic skincare, especially ayurvedic, as a category is growing rapidly.

In fact, Ayurvedic beauty treatments have become an important component of cosmoseuticals - cosmetics used for treatment of some indications by doctors, says beauty expert Shahnaz Husain.

Ayurveda is becoming extremely popular in Britain, because there is a general movement towards holistic healing systems and alternative therapies, says Dr Pervin Irani, whose husband is a plastic surgeon at Harley Street.

Beauty surgery is very common in the West. In fact, there are only surgical methods available for problems like eye bags, ageing signs, scars, etc. These surgical procedures are highly priced and it is not as if the effects are instantly visible, says Dr Irani, who is here to learn about Ayurvedic beauty treatments, which she plans to go back and use there.

"Replacing cosmetic surgery, certain treatments like non surgical Ayurvedic facelift and certain Ayurvedic whole body treatments are very well accepted and popular for prolonging age and looking younger," says Joe Sambare of Ayurvedic Pura, a London based Ayurvedic beauty products company.

Also, it takes time to recover from surgery. Ayurveda can certainly be an ideal alternative to many of these surgical methods. It provides safety from the risks of surgery. The curative aspect of Ayurveda cannot be ignored and we have seen the powerful effects of Ayurveda on the skin, she says.

As awareness grows, Ayurvedic beauty products and treatments are growing in popularity. However, they have to compete within an aggressive natural skincare market. Organic skincare as a category is growing rapidly in the west, says Yasmin N Sadikot of Australia-based Omveda.

The popularity of Ayurvedic beauty products is growing as people get effective results for their skin problems and quite often when they start using these products, there is very little turning back, Sadikot told PTI in an email interview.

One of the most important global trends is the popularity of Ayurveda abroad. Students from Russia and other CIS countries are coming here in big numbers to learn about these treatments and herbs and Ayurvedic beauty schools are coming up in London and other places, says Shahnaz, adding a big revolution is happening on the beauty front.

Irani says they plan to include specialized Ayurvedic treatments for specific skin and hair problems like acne, pigmentation, scars, dehydrated skin sensitivity, premature ageing, skin rejuvenation, dandruff, alopecia and hair loss, hair damage, etc.