The clinic of the Bar Tov Foundation in London (Photo: Tom Marshak)
With 62.5 thousand followers, interviews in magazines, items in the right sections, a high presence in stories of well-known stars and an exploding treatment diary for the next few months - the success story of Keren Bar Tov is the kind that many dream of.
A success that grew by word of mouth and attracted (mainly) women of all ages, some of them famous as mentioned, who fell in love with the innovative treatment methods she developed with the help of advanced technological equipment alongside the use of active preparations that are concocted exclusively for her in selected laboratories.
Bar Tov Foundation (Photo: Shay Yehezkel)
These days she is launching a clinic overseas for the first time, in the Notting Hill neighborhood of London, right in front of another Israeli institution that is being flown outside the country's borders - the cafeteria.
The new branch is stylish with modern lines that present a design translation of the idea of the bright glow that is so associated with Keren, and it includes five treatment rooms.
In the center of each room stands a pampering water bed on which the treatment is performed, and of course the therapeutic protocol that combines the selection of technologies (about 50 different devices), with the creams and the best active acids that have become identified with it.
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You have a thriving clinic in Israel, why did you want to start from scratch in London?
"By and large, and this may sound like a departure from reality, my vision is to be an international name recognized everywhere in the world. The idea at first was to open a place in LA, I was there in the process for 7 months and then I realized that being on the line with three children at home makes less sense, what that in California only doctors are authorized to have the lasers and devices that I work with, so that means bringing in a partner. I felt that it was not right for me. Here in London it felt more right to me, I operate a lot from intuitions."
The clinic of the Bar Tov Foundation in London (Photo: Tom Marshak)
And beyond intuitions, London is waiting for a beautician from Israel?
"It turns out yes, I wouldn't have opened if I hadn't realized that I had news to bring to this place. Before I started the process here, I did a market survey. First of all, I made an appointment for a treatment with the four most powerful beauticians here, one of them treats Kate Middleton, the other Kate Moss. It's treatments of 45 minutes and these beauticians are really amazing and impressive women with insanely pleasant hands, but I didn't find anything really innovative beyond a very pampering treatment. The local journalists and editors who came to experience my treatments told me at the end of the treatment, each in turn, "You brought us the future." I told them that in Israel it is the past.
In London I am allowed everything and I can bring my method to the fullest.
Meanwhile, the responses I receive show me that I was right, women here tell me that there are amazing beauticians here in terms of the pleasantness of the treatment, but in the end it's a mask, cream and home.
The encounter with the technologies and the combination of them is something new for them."
Evidence that Bartov herself has become a recognized person among the Israeli audience I received in the El Al queue at Heathrow Airport in London. There we met quite by chance, when it turned out that we were returning to Israel on the same flight. The excitement among the girls who work on the team El Al's security left no room for doubt, this is a coveted star, and they have already announced their intention to get to one of her treatment beds in the near future.
Bar Tov Foundation (Photo: Shay Yehezkel)
When I google your name in English two names immediately come to mind: Bar Refaeli and Gal Gadot.
Is that enough to fill the diary?
"I am excited and fascinated by the support of each of my clients. The term 'word of mouth' is not a cliché. A client will not come back to me or recommend me if she is not satisfied. Since it was announced that I was opening a clinic in London, there is a waiting list of many women, mostly Israelis who live here, But not only that. The local PR woman I work with brought several senior journalists and editors from the beauty field to the clinic, and really? I didn't expect to reach these people so quickly.
They get excited, cheer on their Instagram and then an article is also published.
I didn't believe it would turn out like this, it excites me to the fullest."
How do you impress such an audience?
"There is no special magic, they were exposed to exactly what my clients in Israel know. Each one received an introductory treatment according to her skin condition, which is roughly between three and five different devices, in addition to the creams and substances I use. They did not understand where I came to them from. 'What else ?'
And it's women who know everything, including some of the devices, but usually it's found in doctors, and the price is 1,500 pounds for ten minutes of treatment."
And what are your prices?
"Between 250 pounds and 600/700 pounds, more or less like in Israel. But it's a treatment, not a device."
The clinic of the Bar Tov Foundation in London (Photo: Tom Marshak)
What do you actually do for them?
"First of all, they don't know the concept that there is no treatment menu. Everyone has their own skin and it needs something different. I make a diagnosis and build a personal treatment protocol for her according to her skin's needs. They are used to being able to choose: facial cleansing, massage, laser, like In a hotel spa. The laser is ten minutes. I don't have such a thing as ten minutes. Each one has what she needs, sometimes four different lasers will be combined in one treatment. And that's exactly what brought me to open the clinic here. By the way, after I decided where my next branch would be , I moved to the stage of starting a business and I realized that I need to get a professional certificate of cosmetology studies here. That is, an internship, a practical test and a theoretical test. Like you will be told to take a test and a theory to get a license in another country."
Wow, not easy.
"I came like the last of the female students. I worked for a week from morning until night at a local beautician. I did facial treatments for women according to the local methods here and the owner of the place looks at me to make sure I know how to work. Every day from 9 in the morning to 9 in the evening, a quarter of an hour break at noon. It's all things As I know, old treatment methods.
At some point I started telling her how the treatments could be upgraded.
It was a tough two weeks, a few tests and that's it.
I see the goal and look ahead."
Bar Tov Foundation (Photo: Tom Marshak)
Why Notting Hill?
"I don't really know London, I got here and walked around, I heard about Notting Hill like everyone else from the movie by Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. Like that. I went to see places in Chelsea, in Soho, I saw all kinds of options, but when I got here - boom. I saw this small building and I fell in love."
6 treatment rooms in Israel and five more in Notting Hill, doesn't that keep you away from the faces of the patients?
From the personal relationship?
"True, I can't do all the treatments myself. That's why it's very important for me to know how to choose the people who work with me and who can pass on my method. I wouldn't have been able to get far without an envelope of amazing people around me who I can trust. I train beauticians to be Mini Me , I have a team that has been with me for years. I relocated two girls who have been working with me in Israel for years and I recruited another girls here who have undergone rigorous training. And of course my dear husband who accompanies me through the bureaucracy and basically everything. Without him this would not have happened."
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