He’s changing the notion of lotion.
A Long Island man with cerebral palsy has unveiled a unique line of products using remedies he learned from his grandmother, mom and aunt in India as a little boy.
“They would take yogurt and add spices like turmeric, saffron, cinnamon, and they would throw it on our faces as a mask,” Hicksville’s Atul Bhatara, founder of Atul Skincare, told The Post.
He said that his posh amber-colored products are rooted in those same simple ingredients. On top of that, the mildly pungent line of creams, clays, and cleansers also contain blue light blocker protection.
“Your pores really open up, your skin feels clean from the inside… that’s what I mimic in these products, the colors, the home remedies, they’re much different than what’s already out there,” Bhatara, 45, added.
Bhatara, who was born in Queens and moved across the globe from age 5 through 9, said he uncovered his unexpected passion for cosmetics in 2020.
“I’ve always been underestimated my whole life,” Bhatara said. “The first response I usually get from people is ‘can’t figure you out, can’t place you, don’t know where you belong’ … it makes [people like me] be stronger. It also helps us to be a voice.”
A huge stride forward
Bhatara, who was born prematurely by almost four months, has endured 14 operations all over his body related to mobility issues caused by his condition.
It began when Bhatara returned to Woodside as a young boy, and teachers spent two years successfully “fighting” for him to be moved out of special education as he tried to readjust to life in the US.
“Thank God somebody believed in me,” he said.
“I was able to focus on the other positive stuff. I still went to the gym, saw my friends, and finished my education,” he proudly said.
Bhatara graduated from St. John’s University in 2003 with a degree in finance –and soon after ran the business end of his family’s restaurant and catering hall, the World’s Fair Marina Banquet adjacent to Citi Field.
After over a decade of success in his administrative role, Bhatara had a sudden change of heart when the pandemic struck and forced his business to close temporarily.
“My cousin and I went to visit one of his clients on Long Island, and they happened to be a private label skincare line,” he said.
After that chance meeting, some quick networking turned into “the beginning of Atul skincare.”
Exfoliation with an exclamation
With no industry experience beyond seeing his family’s homestyle work, starting the LI-based company was a leap of faith — but a rewarding one.
“What is liberating is when people react to the product, when people see the bottles,” he said. “When I say ‘I don’t have a skincare background,’ they respond like, ‘no way! It’s not possible.’”
As a way of saying thank you for local community support, Bhatara will be giving away 200 of his products at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park on March 26.
“My mom was a nurse,” he said. “They spend so much time taking care of others that they don’t take care of themselves.”
Now settling into the home-based, online business and seeing success, Bhatara realizes it stands for something more significant than a sweet childhood connection.
“[People with long-term disabilities] have no financial power at all…everybody is just in survival mode,” Bhatara said.
“When you’re in survival mode, you don’t get a chance to thrive…So for me, the way you give back is when you go through a door, you leave that a little open for people to follow behind you.”
He’s become a voice encouraging disabled individuals to find and pursue a passion they can monetize in one way or another, especially using the internet to draw attention to their causes.
“Dream big. Dream bigger than everybody around you,” he said. “And protect that dream.”
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