Hibiscus Monkey is a first-of-its-kind body specialist brand in India that brings highly targeted solutions to niche problem areas on the skin on the body. Hibiscus Monkey was founded by a mother and her twin daughters, Mona, Naina, and Roshni.
Mona, the mom, is a Chartered Accountant and a former corporate banker, while Naina is a Harvard MBA and a former Unilever employee, and Roshni is a dual MBA-MPP from MIT & Harvard and previously worked for the Government of India.
How did you end up in the body care space? How did the Hibiscus Monkey journey start?
Naina: During our time in grad school, we incubated Hibiscus Monkey in some of the most prestigious accelerators in the world, at MIT and Harvard.
During this incubation period, we did extensive primary research, connecting with hundreds of Indian women to identify pain points and identified a critical gap in the market – products that solve for skin issues on the body.
Roshni: Hibiscus Monkey was founded on the belief that body care deserves higher standards. Over time the beauty industry has normalized bringing innovations to face care products, while putting minimal regard to formulations for body care.
As a result of this, we have accepted substandard care for our body and continue to neglect the remaining 95% of skin on our body beyond our face.
What is Hibiscus Monkey doing differently for body care? How is it pushing the envelope?
Mona: Hibiscus Monkey is challenging the status quo by bringing face-grade care to the body. We are committed to providing targeted solutions for specific body concerns such as dry skin, strawberry skin, discolouration, and ingrown hair.
All our products are dermatologically tested and we are extremely mindful about formulating without synthetic fragrances, dyes, parabens, sulfates, formaldehyde, or other harmful additives. We are here to do things differently and shake up the beauty industry by revolutionizing body care.
Roshni: Take our recently launched Probiotics Body Wash for example. We realized the genesis of many skin issues on the body is an unbalanced skin biome.
Most body wash and soaps are too harsh on the skin, as they strip off the good bacteria on the skin, disrupting the skin biome.
So we formulated a first-of-its-kind body wash with a proprietary blend of Probiotics + Prebiotics + Postbiotics that put good bacteria BACK into your skin. It is an incredible formulation that keeps the skin biome healthy and fortifies it. The product is literally food for your skin.
Can you share the process behind developing your products?
Naina: Hibiscus Monkey has a radically different approach to body care. For too long body care has been neglected and treated as an afterthought.
Given this, as founders we are extremely demanding about our formulations and fastidious about every ingredient that goes into our products.
Our formulations are plant powered and clean, without cheap filler ingredients that serve no functional purpose for the skin. We bring superior face-grade ingredients to the body that allow our products to solve skin issues on the body.
For instance, with our Probiotics Body Wash, in addition to what Roshni mentioned, we replaced synthetic surfactants commonly used in body washes with coconut-based surfactants that are effective at cleansing yet skin biome-friendly.
Additionally, while a typical body wash is 60-70% added water, which acts as a filler ingredient, we replaced water with Aloe Vera Gel and 100% Natural Himalayan Apricot Oil – ingredients that come with incredible moisturizing properties to tackle skin dryness.
How has being a mother and working alongside your twin daughters influenced the brand’s vision and values?
Mona: It is a riot! The Hibiscus Monkey workplace is boisterous, loud and filled with banter just how our dinner table conversations are. What is most wonderful is how we are two distinct generations of Indian women who have come together to build.
We get the best of both worlds, the age-old wisdom of the past and the innovations of the present. This philosophy is deeply embedded in every aspect of our brand, including our products.
What advice would you give to other mothers or family teams looking to start their own businesses?
Naina: One of the biggest advantages of being a family-run business is the inherent trust and understanding we have for each other.
We can be brutally honest without fear of offending one another. When we disagree on a matter, we argue it out and land up at the most optimal decision in the end. This has allowed us to make tough decisions and overcome obstacles together.
At the same time, one has to learn to strike a balance between being family members and business partners. As a family that works together and lives together, work never ends and this can lead to burn out. Overtime, we have learned to compartmentalize work and life.
We recognize all of us need time to decompress and unwind. As a rule, Sundays are sacred at Hibiscus Monkey! We have no-talk-of-work policy on Sundays.
What does Hibiscus Monkey mean? Where did this name come from?
Roshni: There is a wonderful story behind the name. Hibiscus is the hero ingredient of the very first product we launched – our HM Love Scalp Oil.
We use fresh hibiscus flowers in making of this Oil. This product was inspired by a potion our nani would make and put on us growing up.
The monkey is also an ode to our nani who refers to my twin and I as “bandarias” – hindi for monkeys! Hence, we coined Hibiscus Monkey!
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