BENGALURU : When Vibha Harish was walking down an aisle in a supermarket, she found that most of the beauty and nutrition-related products were focused on telling us how our bodies should be. “Spotless skin, or skinny bodies. Imagine how impressionable that can be on a young child. It was important to me to change the narrative around beauty and strength. They come from within. And all that matters is how healthy you are. That’s what makes a difference,” says 24-year-old Harish.
The result was CosMix, a startup which focuses on natural plant-based mixes made from plants, herbs and berries which are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and addresses issues of immunity, gut, hair, energy, skin, and sleep. And Harish was diagnosed with PCOS learnt that “we weren’t getting enough nutrition in our diets and realised that beauty and strength come from within. I was also disappointed that the idea of beauty was taught to us by brands using too many stereotypical adjectives that used our insecurities against us,” she says.
Research involved months of meeting doctors and nutritionists, and a lot of study every day. “After a day of making DIY projects I would study about holistic health approaches and ancient herbs. My mom is a homoeopathic doctor, so her view on things helped a lot. Her teaching was also a preliminary to my research. After formulating our mixes to reach its most optimised state, I conducted tests with friends, family and others,” she says.
Currently CosMix offers six functional mixes made from ancient science of potent foods along with principles of modern nutrition. The six blends are healthy hair, sleep like a baby, all day energy, strong immunity, happy gut and feel-good skin. According to Harish, the products were deliberately named to focus on health and not on a certain aspect of beauty/ strength.
While she doesn’t have any specific target audience in mind, Harish says she hopes to help anyone who is looking at an affordable (products are priced approx. `500 for 50gms) and accessible means to increase their nutrition intake and take a holistic natural approach to their health. “I’ve been surprised to see that my target audience is across age groups, and genders,” she says.
Reaching people and spreading the message has been Harish’s biggest challenge so far. But despite some tough days, knowing that she is empowering people makes a big difference. “Recently, a user of CosMix – a father of a 5-year-old, told us that he’s spending more time with his family, because he’s able to sleep on time and has energy throughout the day and was thankful for that extra time. These kinds of messages keep me going every day,” she says.