What’s true love? For some, it’s a depiction of extraordinary gestures like when Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal, an epitome of love, in memory of his wife.

For others, it’s going out of the way to do things that make their partner’s life easier and happier like Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman).

He made a low-cost sanitary-pad for his wife and thus changed the lives of many women across India, with his sanitary-pad-making machine.

Now what if I told you that I recently came across a similar story where a wife’s issues inspired a husband to solve a problem and build India’s first organic beauty brand out of it?

Failure - A Blessing in Disguise

Life surprises us in the most unexpected ways and Pritesh Asher faced this too when his family’s petrochemicals business went under due to bad management decisions.

His father’s deteriorating health and loss put Pritesh through unimaginable tough times across both his personal and professional life.

But Pritesh wasn’t going to give us easily and saw his failure as a learning opportunity to become a wiser and better entrepreneur.

“Failure is inevitable, what matters most is how you rise from it.”

With his better half, Megha Asher helping him through her boutique business and Pritesh himself selling off properties, both could finally see the sun of good days shine upon them.

However, even though their clothing business picked up and started doing well, both Pritesh had no idea that life had something special planned for them.

Yes, he was soon going to learn that one day his failed petrochemical business learnings will help him build another business.

Meet Pritesh and Megha, A Power Couple

A couple that studies together and faces setbacks together comes out stronger, together.

School sweethearts Pritesh and Megha met at the Chinmaya International Residential School in Coimbatore and later went to Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.

They got married in 2009 and 4 years later started a brand that today has a GMV of INR 3.5 to 4 crores a month.

One fine day in the year 2014, this husband-wife duo went shopping for organic skincare products.

Megha Asher had suffered from hyper-sensitive and acne-prone skin for over a decade due to PCOD.

After failing to see long-term results from numerous treatments and consultations with top dermatologists in the country, she decided to take the organic route.

“We came across a salesperson selling ‘organic’ products. Glancing at a product, I noticed while its packaging made it seem ‘organic’ and ‘natural’, the ingredients didn’t.”

Thanks to Pritesh’s knowledge of such products’ ingredients and processes because of his family’s petrochemical business, he could see that most of the ingredients were synthetic.

This discovery made both Pitesh and Megha wonder if purely organic or natural products even existed out there.

The couple decided to strike while the iron was hot and began to research online and speak to friends and family.

“We realized that no one really questioned brands; no one wondered what ‘organic’ really meant.”

After putting countless hours into understanding the market gap, Pritesh and Megha realized that consumers needed products made from simple organic ingredients that were efficacious.

Thus, Juicy Chemistry was born!

,,Juicy Chemistry: Promise is Efficacy, DNA is Organic

Pritesh and Megha started Juicy Chemistry right from their home kitchen. In fact, that’s where the brand name came into existence.

“In our early days, we were making a product in our Juicy kitchen when I commented that it really was some Juicy Chemistry at play, and the name stuck!”

The brand at its core is all about wholesome skin, hair, and personal care made with organic ingredients that address specific concerns without long-term collateral damage.

And no, unlike other brands, Juicy Chemistry doesn’t say this for the sake of it. For them, the word organic is more than a label.

That’s why they directly work with small-scale certified farmers across 20 countries to bring raw organic ingredients to their state-of-the-art in-house manufacturing unit.

As a brand that strongly believes that nature’s lap has everything we need for healthy and beautiful skin, Juicy Chemistry directly supplies the customer with products that retain their freshness, bioactivity, and nutrient profile.

“We’ve essentially disrupted a 150-year-old industry and have actively chosen to not rely on third-party suppliers to source our ingredients.”

The brand primarily focuses on women between the ages 18 and 40, residing in Tier-1 or Metro cities.

Organic Way Is the Only Way

Speaking of their commitment to organic, Pritesh says that a product is only as good as its ingredients and for them, organic is the way to go.

To ensure this, Juicy Chemistry put in great effort to give consumers the best that organic skincare and personal care has to offer.

This is why they are the first Indian brand to have their entire product range certified organic by a body as reputed as ECOCERT.

This certification is also an indication of our commitment to our consumers. We are determined to walk to the talk and want consumers to understand and appreciate the power of organic products.

Juicy Chemistry’s promise to deliver the power of organic products to its customers, origins from its formulation method.

“92% of our products are preservative-free and our formulations are designed in such a way as to ensure that the products are not contaminated easily.”

For example, their soaps and cleansers have an alkaline pH that prevents bacterial growth.

Preservatives? We Don’t Need Them.

I’m someone who always prefers freshly made juice over packaged ones, to such an extent that I never even look at the ‘cold drinks and juices’ category while ordering groceries online.

This is why I couldn’t help but relate to Pritesh's perspective of the fresh vs preservative rule applying to both juice and skincare products.

“Doesn’t a fresh glass of juice energise our mind, body, and soul in a way a packaged one doesn’t? How come the same rule doesn’t apply to skincare and personal care products?”

Thus, Juice Chemistry pledges to use natural ingredients. Of course, one has to be more careful with handling natural products but in the end, it is well worth it.

What makes this organic beauty brand stand out is that they don’t just take from the goodness of nature but also give back to it through their environment-friendly practices.

“We recently launched a plastic-neutral program with The Disposal Co. to recycle more plastic than we consume and have taken a pledge to also become Plastic Positive.”

An Endless Chemistry Between Health and Purity

Juicy Chemistry offers various organic products across the face, hair, body care, personal, and wellness care.

Throwing light on how they use Cellular Extraction™ technology for one of their product offerings Juicy Actives (a range of serums for the skin and hair), Pritesh explains how it reaches the skin layers.

“Celluar extraction delivers the full plant profile in the form of water-soluble phytoactive compounds and their derivatives in a stable yet active state to the deeper layers of the skin.”

Apart from this fact, it was extremely interesting to note how Color Chemistry, a certified organic makeup range from the house of Juicy Chemistry, proves that organic makeup can be high performing too.

Color Chemistry is a result of 24 months of hard work to launch products across 15 categories comprising a 10-member core team.

With innovation at Juicy Chemistry’s core, the team has also launched Magnesium-enriched body lotions to promote better sleep and aid muscle recovery, and tiredness after a long day at work.

The best part? Their magnesium is the purest as it’s sourced from the depths of the Zechstein Sea, a prehistoric sea that’s hidden thousands of meters deep in the earth's crust.

Championing Through Challenges

Today, Juice Chemistry gets an average of monthly 15000 orders and 3 lakh website visits but did the road till here had no bumps? Of course, it did.

Initially, no one really knew what organic products were and Juice Chemistry’s products were radically different from what was readily available in the market.

So working on consumer awareness in terms of gaining an understanding of what people were looking for and what they thought of their products was an uphill task.

“Megha headed her fashion label initially and while going to exhibitions, she’d take sample products for consumers to try.”

Being certified organic, their products are also priced higher so it was important to communicate that their customers are paying for a high-quality efficacious product.

Moreover, Juicy Chemistry also had to work on busting the existing myths associated with organic and natural products and raising awareness across all their digital platforms.

Growing Through Gratitude

It’s rare to find team members who believe in both the leaders and the brand and I’m glad to say that Juicy Chemistry has been lucky enough to have a strong JC family of 80 members.

The belief is so strong and meaningful that when Pritesh reached out to his former employees to join Juicy Chemistry who he unfortunately had to let go of when his family business went under, they agreed to join in.

In May 2023, Pritesh and Megha launched Juicy Chemistry’s 5th flagship store in Bengaluru at the Galleria Mall in Yelahanka and their journey only goes upwards and onwards from here.

As Pritesh, along with Megha, continues to experiment, learn and grow in his own Juicy Chemistry class, he wants all the entrepreneurs who are starting up to not run away from failures but to embrace and learn from them.

“Failures are truly your best teachers.”

How’d you find their story? Inspiring, right? Well, you can too inspire budding entrepreneurs and help them grow by sharing your journey with Flyy.