“At Nefysi, we live and breathe our values. Our values are at the core of everything we do – it’s the reason we exist,” Helen Tsimarakis tells Neos Kosmos.
“Like our ancestors before us, we strive to serve Kállos – the harmonious connection between the beauty of physical appearance and the virtues of the soul.”
Straight to the point, true to her craft – an engineer by trade – Helen describes her new and most heart-connected venture, a passion to heal naturally that turned into a business.
The Melbourne-born engineer that hails from Mount Olympus, majored in software systems and telecommunications. Her background, so very unrelated to skin care, but having a deep understanding of concepts and problem solving.
“The principles are ingrained, design things; make things work. It’s all about efficacy and bringing key ingredients and elements together that target the problem that needs to be solved.”
Nefysi, is her brainchild, one that has been named after her twins and symbolises overcoming the hardest time of her life. Nefysi, as a word play on the Greek language also hints to a “new” approach rooted deep in “nature” (nea-fysi).
FOR NEFELI AND CHRYSI
“In 2013 I gave birth to my twins, Nefeli and Chrysi at 25 weeks and my life and perspective changed, forever,” she reminisces.
“Empowered and inspired by a mother’s primal need to nourish and protect her children, I spent years researching and testing to create remedies given to us from mother earth herself. Nefysi was born to disrupt the over complicated retail market, full of products with banned chemicals, minute amounts of beneficial ingredients and false promises. Instead, we’re inspired by the truth, quality, efficacy and sharing that information with you so you can make the right choice in what you use on your skin and that of your children.”
Back in early 2014, Neos Kosmos had published a story on the challenging birth journey Tsimarakis went through and the struggle involved in keeping her twins alive and then keeping them healthy.
“They were very premature, and their health had been so compromised. They were extremely sensitive. My journey with Nefysi has been a long one, close to a decade now.”
“As a person with a more scientific background I was researching everything as they would only respond to natural and organic baby products. At the time, this was hard to find. I slowly started making my own products, soaps, creams, lotions, butters and extracts. I started making them the way our ancestors were making them in Ancient Greece.”
Tsimarakis delved deep into her own heritage and studied the natural alchemy the women of Crete used to extract essences and oils from plants and organic sources for thousands of years.
GREEK TRADITION AT THE CORE
“I personally love Greek mythology and history so I was inspired to dive into ancient Greek remedies; they knew what they were doing. A lot of it is verified by modern medicine today. We’ve sort of come full circle now back to the natural remedies,” she stresses.
One of the main philosophies she was drawn to, was the Ancient Greek word Kállos, which essentially means beauty and is associated with both the male and female sex. Beyond that, the concept of Kállos in its ultimate dimension is not just a word that signifies beauty, it was an idea developed in Ancient Greek thought, expressed through poetry, lyrics and the texts of philosophers. They describe it as a harmonious connection of the beauty of physical appearance with the virtues of the soul.
“It’s an ancient philosophy we were taught by our ancestors and teach to our children and strive to bring to you. We celebrate Kállos in all aspects of life – from our traditional skin remedies made from natural ingredients to the connections between art, nature, science and sustainability,” Helen says.
“For many who have struggled with rashes and dermatitis cortisone or steroid creams might not work. Yet, a fully natural lotion does. I am not a doctor but have taken a scientific approach and there are many people like us. It is safe to say that fully natural ingredients will at least not harm sensitive skin.”
Tsimarakis’ decade-long journey of study and research led her to the creation of clean formulas, carefully engineered to deliver potent yet gentle results. The idea to expand what she was creating for friends and family to a wider audience came at the start of lockdowns.
ANOTHER IDEA BIRTHED DURING CHALLENGE
“I started looking at it as a business opportunity, as it took years to develop the products to a point where I could sell them. Each product is tested on at least 33 people and goes through extensive, repetitive microbial testing, over time.”
“Every single ingredient has undergone a stringent selection criteria and quality control process to ensure only the highest quality seasonal oils and extracts are used in our remedies. It’s a whole process that has taken a long time until we are satisfied and results have shown that the formula delivers its intended results.”
“I’ve only been selling now for 10 months. We officially hit the market in June last year,” she explains.
“During lockdown, most of the world came to a realisation. How little importance we were putting in self-care, presence with our needs and started listening to our bodies,” Helen shares, stressing the importance of practising healthy self-care rituals that awaken our senses through scent and feed the biggest organ of our body, the skin.
LOVING THE ENVIRONMENT IS LOVING THE BODY
Through that challenging time the world’s ecological consciousness came more to the forefront.
“Our packaging is recyclable and/or biodegradable; including recyclable glass bottles, kraft paper mailer boxes and cartons and biodegradable mailer bags. Amber glass is used for the product to block out the sunlight keeping it fresher for a longer period of time. The approach is minimal yet beautiful and we only use shipping which 100 per cent offsets carbon emissions. We are passionate about doing our part in ensuring our planet heals and we will continue to explore ways to reduce our impact.”
For Helen all the ingredients are heroes. Each remedy is a multitasker, so a person can use one or many depending on their budget and preferences. There are no ‘fillers’, she highlights, only the power of naturally produced phytonutrients sourced from Greece or countries of origin where they are harvested at their peak.
“We bottle our ingredients at maximum freshness so you can reap the best benefits – from plant to skin. Hand-blended in small batches so products don’t sit on shelves for months. I bring wildcrafted essential oils. Wildcrafted is way better than organic farming where you can still use pesticides. Wildcrafting means we use only the ingredients that grow in their natural habitat and have been growing there for thousands of years.”
PHILOTIMO, A HERO INGREDIENT
“We work closely with responsible suppliers, farmers and villagers to source, forage and harvest key ingredients based on when they are at peak potency. We extensively study the power of nature and use its treasures to make skin stronger and healthier,” she adds stressing that she is committed to continuing the search to use sustainable ingredients and in the process give back to villages and communities.
“Philótimo is the connection of our communities, it is our social glue,” Tsimarakis says, putting extra weight on the Greek word that underpins her values and is the foundation of who she and her family strive to be. A core value that encompasses “the love of being honourable and acting honourably”.
“With the Hellenic spirit at heart, we aspire to inspire by being humble, always with love and respect for ourselves and each other and choosing decent actions and decisions even when it’s hard, uncomfortable or inconvenient and even when nobody will know any better.”
