KIGALI – When Shemsa Umulisa’s father walked into her bedroom one day, he was surprised by what he found. The room was crowded with skincare products, so many that he jokingly wondered whether his daughter had turned it into a beauty shop.
Umulisa, then a secondary school student, had an explanation for every product. To her, none was unnecessary. Each served a purpose in her growing quest to understand her skin.
While other teenagers spent their pocket money on different interests, much of hers went towards skincare. She was particularly concerned with persistent breakouts, oily skin and the frustration of never quite achieving the clear complexion she wanted.
What her father saw as an unusually large collection of beauty products was, in retrospect, an early sign of an entrepreneurial journey to help herself and others understand and care for their skin.
Today, Umulisa is the founder and managing director of Pure Beauty Spa, a beauty and wellness business in Kigali’s Kimihurura neighborhood. What simply began as a teenager’s personal struggle with acne has evolved into a professional business.
When The Search for Clear Skin Became a Passion
In 2009, when she was in senior one at Ecole des Sciences Byimana, in Ruhango district, Umulisa became increasingly conscious of her appearance, as many teenagers do. Yet her relationship with her skin was particularly frustrating.
She had oily, acne-prone combination skin, a condition that made finding the right products and treatments difficult. Something would appear to work, only for another breakout to follow.
She wanted to understand why her skin behaved differently and why treatments did not always deliver the results she expected.
“I wanted to understand why I couldn’t have normal skin like everyone else. Why couldn’t I have clear skin like anyone else?” she recalls.
She began researching skincare, learning about different skin types, products and the science behind common skin problems. Gradually, she discovered that people have different types of skins that require different types of care.
Her interest deepened as she learned more about what caused acne, how the skin produces oil and why certain treatments work for some people but not others. The experience was so personal, that it quietly began shaping her future.
Beauty, meanwhile, was becoming a familiar part of her life in other ways. While still in school, she had a deal with her parents that good academic performance would earn her a special holiday treat, including having her hair done and her nails attended to.
It eventually became a family tradition. Every holiday, she looked forward to returning home and going to the salon. She remembers sitting in salons, sometimes without money of her own, imagining that one day she would own a place like that.
“I remember when I was in senior six, I didn’t even have anything in my account, but I would sit in the salon. I’m like, one day I’m going to own something like this,” she says.
It was a dream she carried for years, even as her understanding of beauty expanded beyond hairstyles and manicures to include skincare, treatments and wellness.
Turning Personal Curiosity into Professional Expertise
As her passion grew, Umulisa realized that understanding skincare required more than experimenting with products and conducting personal research. She wanted the professional knowledge to understand skin problems and offer treatments that could address them.
She pursued training in the field of aesthetic medicine, obtaining a diploma that strengthened her understanding of skincare and equipped her with skills to provide corrective treatments.
That knowledge also helped her appreciate why some skin conditions require more than medication or a single treatment.
At Pure Beauty Spa, which she founded on December 12, 2023, clients can access a range of services, including facials, chemical peels, micro needling, hydro facials, deep cleansing, hair treatments and nail care.
Her idea was to create a place where beauty and wellness could be experienced together rather than treated as separate services.
A client might visit for a haircut and discover other treatments suited to their needs, while the environment itself offers an opportunity to relax and take a break from everyday pressures.
For Umulisa, this approach is a broader expression of her passionate about helping people struggling with skin conditions, drawing on the frustrations she experienced as a teenager.
She explains that professional treatments can help address concerns such as acne scars, but results do not necessarily appear overnight. They require patience, appropriate home care and follow-up.
Her advice to clients includes maintaining a basic skincare routine involving cleansing, toning, moisturizing and, importantly, sunscreen.
She considers sunscreen indispensable, explaining that darker skin is not immune to the effects of ultraviolet radiation, sun damage and premature ageing.
A Business Still Growing Beyond Kigali
Building the business has not been without challenges. Some clients expect immediate results from corrective treatments, while others struggle to appreciate the difference between the price of a service and the quality of products, expertise and care behind it.
Umulisa says educating clients about the time required for treatments to work has become part of running the business. She remains particularly firm on maintaining service quality, even as she navigates customers’ different expectations.
Since inception, Pure Beauty Spa has experienced growth in its services and customer engagement, a feat she describes as increasing interest in beauty and wellness treatments in Kigali.
Yet she is not content with what has been achieved so far. Her ambition is to expand beyond the capital and make professional beauty and wellness services accessible to more people across Rwanda.
For someone who once spent her pocket money trying to understand her own skin and sat in salons imagining a business she could one day own, the journey is surely a fulfilment of a precious childhood ambition.
But Umulisa sees the business as only one part of a bigger purpose of encouraging people to make self-care a meaningful part of their lives.
The girl who once filled her bedroom with skincare products in search of answers has built a place where others come looking for care, confidence and relaxation.
And, much like the passion that first took root in her teenage years, she believes the dream is still growing.
