Two years ago, three siblings Vivek, Manita and Ankush Agarwal chalked out a mission: create a slow skincare line, inspired by the Himalayas and based on the ancient science of Ayurveda. They wanted a sustainable, whole plant approach, as Manita could not find the kind of quality, natural skincare products that she was looking for.
In 2020, together they launched the slowskin care company, Aroha Oils. The siblings embarked on a journey to the Himalayas in search of pure and rare Himalayan superherbs which would be the heart of Aroha Oils. In Sanskrit, Aroha means ‘mountain’.
There they partnered with local growers to ethically source rare, unadulterated and fresh ingredients that are the foundation of the authentic Ayurveda skincare products the company produces.
Vivek recalls, “Aroha Oils was created with our great belief in Ayurveda, using only quality, ethically sourced ingredients. Our products are a creation of our passion, and we make them using only plant-based ingredients from the Himalayas and ensure the freshest and most efficacious products for the skin. At Aroha Oils, we are deeply committed in providing clean, sustainable, and deep-rooted skincare to our customers.”
Slow beauty
Aroha Oils was born out of a sheer need for clean and pure skincare. The Aroha team noticed that many “natural” skincare brands were not natural. “We believe that authentic Ayurveda has immense goodness, and we want to spread this goodness to the world,” says Vivek.
One of the objectives of Aroha Oils, other than sustainable & Clean beauty, is to send girls from vulnerable communities in the Himalayas to school. The company pledges 10% of its business profits to provide tuition for girls in the Indian state of Uttarakhand.
Vivek shares, “At Aroha, our focus is on long-term skincare, and we believe there are no quick fixes. We consider the beauty that is sustainable and eternal, and whole plant-based slow beauty is the only way forward for all our skin issues.”
One of the missions at Aroha Oils is to make people understand the sheer goodness Ayurveda skincare has to offer. An authentic Ayurveda skincare, by default, is organic – as for centuries, it has used wildcrafted ingredients. Vivek adds, “We are currently serving the US market, and we see so many brands offering organic skincare products. The understanding and benefits of using organic products are high in America. You will find that many other niches like wellness and even activewear use the term ‘organic’ to differentiate the brand.”
Aroha Oils is a relatively new brand. The brand finds the US market extremely competitive and has been focusing more on product authenticity and delivering quality & efficacious products to its customers. One of the challenges the team faces is that people are not aware of Ayurveda. So one of the jobs is to make people understand the goodness of Ayurveda skincare. Aroha has even done some Ayurveda skincare sessions by calling Ayurveda experts and answering customers’ queries.
Aroha Oils has four broad categories – Face Care, Body Care, Hair care, and Wellness. Currently, there are 14 products across all the categories, and the brand will be launching 5-6 new products in the current year.
Vivek clarifies, “Though all products are organic, we have not gone for organic certification. We work with our partner cultivators to ensure they practice all organic practices and are 100% natural. But, becoming “Certified Organic” is a costly and arduous process, and some of the farms we procure our ingredients from are small operations. Some ingredients that are not certified organic can be of higher quality, such as wildcrafted and biodynamic. Also, the various bodies that issue these “Organic” certifications require a low of 15% to 20% of Organic whole plant material to be classified as organic. We find the entire system to get a product certified as “organic” misleading. We seek certified organic ingredients, but we only purchase ingredients from suppliers that use environmentally friendly practices free of pesticides and fertilisers. We are actively working with partner farms for better farm practices.”
Partnering for purity
Aroha sources 70-80% of its ingredients from the serene mountains of the Himalayas. The brand has partnered with cultivators, who organically grow high-quality herbs and plants following sustainable practices. “Some of our partnered cultivators are using Biodynamic farming to provide pristine and pure ingredients for our products. We constantly monitor the farm materials that are so critical for us as these ingredients will be the stuff that provides the nutrient value in our products,” informs Vivek.
Every ingredient in Aroha’s products comes from partner farms to ensure that these ingredients meet the quality, environmental, ethical, and business integrity standards. This approach looks to protect precious natural ingredients and also helps and support the livelihoods of our partner farm.
Aroha Oils is primarily a DTC company. And most of the sales come via the website. But the products are also available with 3rd party beauty aggregators, few of the very prestigious beauty and makeup parlors in LA and New York. The company is also working to be available with retailers that sell ‘organic’ products.
Outlining future plans, Vivek says, “We are just getting started. Our future plans include expanding our product line and moving into Ayurveda-based wellness products. Currently, we are only serving the US market, we will soon launch in Canada, and then we also plan to expand to Australia. We are also seeing how we can bring our authentic Ayurveda skincare to India.”
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