It used to be enough that a skincare product contained all the good stuff from nature—without all the bad chemicals. All-natural beauty was good for you, and good for the environment, so naturally it was good for the skin. “All natural,” “clean ingredients,” “straight from nature,” became buzz phrases used to market plant-based products and ingredients like antioxidant-rich green tea and rose, vitamin-C-laden camu camu, and herbs like rosemary, chamomile, and lavender, along with all the aromatic essences and essential oils derived from them. Spas, with their very core being about health and beauty, have—from their onset—naturally incorporated these ingredients into facials and body treatments. While demand for natural, clean beauty isn’t going away anytime soon, there’s a subtle change happening and it’s affecting the products people are are using on themselves and selling and the treatments being offered. “Organic, natural products are not enough anymore because they alone cannot deliver the results that people want,” explains EIGHT.OLD founder Shilpa Bhatia, a skincare line used by conscious people around the world. “So many things about clean, natural beauty are great but because of the composition of natural ingredients, you can’t get the results needed to transform the skin.”
The new goal is skin health—that is, clear, even-toned, smooth, radiant, and youthful skin with no redness, flaking, irritation, and inflammation—a true inner and outer beauty. There’s no question that the recent COVID-19 pandemic, which challenged the spa industry as visitors and revenue dropped dramatically, spurred this new focus on skin health and health overall. In fact, 62 percent of Indians said that their health, after the pandemic, was more important than ever before. “Skincare has become more synonymous with overall health than with a beauty ritual. “We were seeing this trend pre-2020, but it really took hold and accelerated during the pandemic.” - says Shilpa Bhatia.
People are not just thinking about ‘glowing skin,’ ‘smooth skin,’ or ‘hydrated skin,’ they are focusing on what it takes to achieve these results. “The world changed over the pandemic, when we had time to think about what was truly important to each of us. That pivot changed the way we look at wellness and self-care. This translates to skincare and the detailed results we want for our skin. People’s self-care and wellness are focused on fixing the underlying concern.”
Shilpa, like many other founders of skincare brands, consumers and spa- goers, is still committed to clean beauty. This means drawing on the benefits of natural ingredients while removing “bad” stuff from products like artificial colorants, synthetic fragrances, genetically modified ingredients (GMOs), parabens, phthalates, and formaldehyde. But at EIGHT.OLD, we do this with the help of biotechnology; that is, reformulating natural ingredients in a lab to get the results that people demand and adding in powerful additional ingredients that can achieve the healthy skin consumers are after. Powerful, clean ingredients and treatments that get clinical-level results can only go so far when it comes to healthy skin, however. At-home care and prevention, that delivers healthy skin that’s visibly smooth, even-toned, radiant, and youthful.
"We will see more and more people visiting spas once or twice a month combined with a consistent at-home regimen to maintain results,” explains Shilpa, who sees her skincare products expanding in homes all over the next three to five years. “When it comes to ‘natural’ ingredients, there is always a place for safe, efficacious, and scientifically proven ingredients, but they need to be combined with clinically backed delivery systems that deliver real results.” Shilpa Bhatia | Co-Founder EIGHT.OLD