Sunayana Walia’s entrepreneurial journey started with a homemade toothpowder!
Today, her brand Raw Beauty Wellness, has more than 60 personal care products that use the best natural ingredients.
Family wisdom for all
“It wasn’t uncommon for my family to mix a couple of staple pantry ingredients to create a simple but effective face mask or simply put together rock salt, turmeric, clove and cinnamon to use as a toothpowder,” Walia shares this little detail that was enough for her to take the baby steps towards success. She continues, “In 2017, when my friends started to notice this about me and my family, they were beyond intrigued. They pushed me to make big batches of my homemade blends and share within my small but lovely community of like-minded people. Encouraged yet nervous, I packed a big mason jar with my tooth powder and carried it to a local farmer’s market where I used to volunteer every Sunday.” The response she received was overwhelming. An instant hit in the market, people were filling the containers they carried with her tooth powder and taking it home along with the fresh organic vegetables.
The impact of it was clearing her path to her finding her passion; “Over the next few days, I was swamped with messages praising the tooth powder and received numerous requests to start selling it– and I did. In a few weeks, we also added homemade rose- and neem-based face wash powders to our tiny yet growing list of natural personal care products. And just like that, Raw Beauty was born.”
Less is enough!
The creator wishes to build a community of people that are on an on-going quest for minimal, honest, mindful and slow living. Walia says, “On our social media, we are always urging our followers to be mindful of their consumption and only buy as much as they truly need.” She prioritises a balanced, rested lifestyle with kinder and conscious choices, the only way to move forward. Practising what she preaches, she does not want to “fix” every small skin “problem” that exists but rather feels that being kinder to our mind and body will make our skin thrive more.
“With Raw Beauty, we envision to give everyone the confidence to embrace their raw self and try not to morph it to match absurd beauty standards. We love when people share their unfiltered pictures of themselves and say #IamRaw. Trust me, it’s the most surreal feeling and our team feels so complete!” Walia shares.
Rocky paths
Having the right plan is not the only requirement for a brand to flourish. She needed farmers to exercise their rights fully, but it was a challenging task.
Sunayana says, “Most farmers in India are small landowners. To get certifications for organic farming practices, farmers in India need to own a certain size of land. Due to this clash, a majority of farmers despite using organic and healthy farming practices are not able to legally claim so. This was one of the biggest setbacks when I was in the initial years of setting a base for Raw Beauty.”
Moreover, starting small was difficult due to the minimum order quantity for ingredients that they were importing. “There are hardly any support policies for small brands in our country and to source a minimum of 100 kgs per ingredient and let that go to waste does not align with Raw Beauty’s philosophy,” the entrepreneur shares.
Wellness for the whole body
Currently, Raw Beauty Wellness offers various products used for face care, hair care, body care, dental care, mineral makeup and zero waste tools. One can choose from around 65 products for various needs.
“All our products are made using organic, wild harvested, Ecocert certified and USDA certified ingredients. We source all our ingredients ethically and sustainably from all over the world,, Walia shares. In India, Raw Beauty Wellness is associated with a close network of farmers and NGOs working in all parts of the country. From the foothills of the Himalayas to the spice plantations in Kerala and from the forests of Uttarakhand to the rose fields in Rajasthan. “All our high grade plant derived and bio available ingredients and actives are imported. It’s a fine balance that we are striking in celebrating our local superfoods as well as global ingredients only and only to improve the efficacy of skincare products in India,” she informs.
Walia has no intention of sitting on her laurels. She envisions talking more and more about minimalism and mindful consumption. She says, “Our dream truly is to make sustainable living an extension of everyone’s lifestyle and motivate everyone to introspect and indulge in self-care. We also want people to understand that skincare is gender neutral and taking care of one’s well-being is only soulful and deeply nourishing.”
With the cooperation of her team, she wishes to create improved versions of effective yet simple formulations by bringing together farmers and their age old wisdom of growing things ethically. Sunayana hopes to take this conversation global and encourage everyone to be comfortable in their skin, to embrace ageing gracefully and at last to #BeRawBeauty.
Read More: Three siblings + the search for slow skincare = Aroha Oils
Admire.
when we have food shortages, I have concern when edible commodities go in cosmetics . typical example is lime,
we should use natural ingredient . it would add up to savings for family