Haircare is increasingly moving beyond basic cleansing and conditioning, with consumers looking for solutions that address damage at a deeper level. It is in this evolving space that Hyderabad-based haircare brand Xtovia is making its mark, securing INCI names for two of its synthesised molecules — Arginine Thioctate and Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine Thioctate. According to Xtovia founder Navneet Misra, the company founded in 2025 is the first Indian beauty and personal-care brand to secure INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) names for two of its own synthesised molecules.
Speaking at an event, Experience I-Beauty, held at Broadway, he said, “Real independence isn’t only about making products in India. It’s about inventing in India, developing original science here and creating intellectual property that the world recognises.”
For Navneet, developing new actives in India was central to Xtovia’s vision from the beginning. “Globally, most innovation in hair care and beauty happens outside India. In India, we have largely focused on product formulations, while the best actives and technologies have traditionally remained with leading global brands. We wanted to challenge that. When we decided to enter the space, we were clear that we would do so with our own actives and our own technology,” he shared.
The newly registered molecules are part of TriLayerX™ HairTech, Xtovia’s patent-pending multi-layer hair repair platform powered by three Alpha Lipoic Acid-based actives. The technology is designed to address three key structural layers of the hair — the cortex, cuticle and lipid layer — rather than relying on a single repair mechanism.
At the core of the platform is the understanding that healthy-looking hair depends on more than its outer appearance. The cortex provides much of the hair fibre’s strength, while the cuticle acts as its protective outer layer. Above the cuticle, the lipid layer helps maintain the hair’s protective barrier. Damage to any of these layers can affect the hair’s strength, texture, manageability and overall appearance.
TriLayerX™ brings together three technologies to address these different areas. NanoEncapX™ is designed for deep cortex repair, while CutiCloneX™, powered by the INCI-registered Arginine Thioctate, focuses on precision cuticle repair. LipidMimicX™, featuring the INCI-registered Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine Thioctate, is designed to recreate the protective lipid layer on the surface of the hair.
“We want to put an Indian beauty company on a level with global innovators. We often talk about J-beauty and K-beauty; our small and humble effort is to put an ‘I’ before J and K in the beauty space. Launching a D2C beauty brand in India can typically take three to four months, we spent almost two years focusing purely on innovation and research,” concluded Navneet.