In Tamil Nadu’s Gobichettipalayam, a small town located in Erode district, Kruthika Kumaran grew up amid a lush farm, having a family background occupied with agricultural qualifications. Married at a very young age of 21, Kruthika recalls that she never had any business enterprise acumen and had never stepped foot in Tamil Nadu.
Becoming old, she watched her mother Manjula Devi struggle with severe skin ailment, for which she needed to consume a few steroids. Unluckily, these steroids eventually affected Manjula’s kidneys, and in 2016, she passed away, leaving Kruthika in severe distress. “I had been all-around 30 then and was required to divert my mind. I had spent many years caring for my mother, and losing her still left me very emotional,” Kruthika claims.
Manjula, who was allergic to most soaps and similar brands and products, would usually tell Kruthika to master the value of handmade goods. “She urged me to know how to make these products myself, but I was shedding almost all of my time caring for her and didn’t have enough time for anything else,” Kruthika says.
But soon after Manjula passed, Kruthika had free time on her hand. So she commenced experimenting with numerous elements to make normal soaps. First, she experimented with her hand at applying goat milk, procured from her native farm. “Many individuals suffer from dry skin or eczema-susceptible skin, which has increased in the last few years,” she adds.
Kruthika enrolled herself in a natural cosmetology course to learn the makings of these products and solutions much better. She engaged herself in experimenting with goat milk in different approaches and came up with a final product that she dispersed among her family and friends. The products have been a success, she states.
“It was my turning point,” she says. “I recognized what I actually wanted to do. It was not about building a business or earning revenue. I was just planning to divert my mind from enormous grief but discovered my life’s most useful lesson.”
One year later after her mother’s demise, in 2017, Kruthika launched Vilvah Retail store, named soon after her own farm. The name arises from the vilva (usually, bilva) leaf utilized to worship Lord Shiva. She wished for a name that remained loayl to Indian roots, and thus, Vilvah was born.
“I started off with a Facebook page in the beginning and utilized whatever ingredients I found in my own kitchen area,” she says. “Soon after a certain level, my kitchen slabs, dining tables, and the home, usually, were overflowing with products and goods.”
Vilvah is really a sustainable skincare model which predominantly helps make products consisting of goat milk, procured straight from Kruthika’s family farm. The items don’t have any severe chemical compounds or additives which include sulfates, silicones, parabens, synthetic fragrances, GMOs, or glycols, she notes, and rather consist of organic and natural develop, carrier oils, necessary oils, and butter. Also, they are cruelty-free.
These products cover a wide range, such as face products comprising of cleansers, toners, face masks, moisturizers, gels and lip, and eye products, and shampoos, hair oils, masks, serums, and conditioners. The variety also includes soaps, body butter, scrubs, chilly-pressed oils, and deodorant, along with men’s items.
The showstopper of Vilvah’s product line is goat milk. “My daughter has eczema, and after I was experimenting along with the components, I also ensured that I needed to use something which will help soothe her ailment,” Kruthika notes.
Vilvah has also launched a line of agro products and solutions, which supply rare forms of white, black, and brown, and red rice from all over India. They’ve opened a zero-waste store in Coimbatore to provide these, and Kruthika states they’re the first such store in the town.
Vilvah now plans to move to a bigger 20,000 sq-ft production facility, in addition, to introducing new products.