A global shift of consciousness regarding the environment, lifestyle choices, sustainable living has helped spike the market for organic products and brands. In Nepal, the use of organic products, natural oils, and handmade soaps goes way back since it’s a country rich in various herbs with medicinal properties.
However, their use and the significance of their use are certainly being reintroduced by up and coming businesses in the recent days. Naturo Earth, an organic brand, is one of them. Their mission statement, “Simple. Natural. Organic”, applies to their production, research, development, and marketing.
“We believing in keeping our products simple, natural, and organic. The same goes with our production and development. Our goal is to be ethical with our ways and keep everything as simple as possible,” says co-founder Ankit Agrawal.
Naturo Earth sells a selection of skin care products (soaps, face washes, scrubs, lip balms), tea blends, essential oils, salt lamps, soap nuts, all with the intent of tapping into the natural benefits of nature-provided substances. These products are entirely made (often handmade) and packaged in Nepal. Lavender, several varieties of peppermint, marigold, sunflower, Himalayan salts are the most commonly used ingredients. Besides these, they also have an entire range of purpose-tea leaves and salt lamps. They are also in plans of introducing hemp-based products very soon.
Post-Earthquake Livestock Management
Founded by Agrawal and Sushmita Saria and board member Bhawana Agrawal, Naturo Earth was registered two years back but formally began operations from December 2018. Naturo Earth, however, was a long time in making. The co-founders were personally invested in researching about organic products and it’s also how they came to meet one another. Because they shared the same sentiments for natural things and agreed that one of Nepal’s key strengths lies in its natural produces (herbs, plants), they decided to do a more thorough investigation into the cultivation of medicinal plants and launch a company to source out these plants. All the research took four years.
This is when they visited a great number of farms and held discussions with farmers and agricultural experts. Here they learnt to distinguish the quality levels of produces and learnt of their benefits. Saria especially devoted herself in understanding the compositions and experimenting with various combinations. Later she took charge of product development and research at Naturo Earth.
“Another reason we wanted to open Naturo Earth was to help with the branding,” says Agrawal. According to him, Nepali produces have been rerouted and rebranded under Chinese/Indian manufacturers. Despite the chief ingredients being produced in Nepal, there is scant acknowledgement of their origins. Bulk trading has massively contributed to this. “If we actively work and focus on this, we can bring about change,” he adds.
For Naturo Earth, it has been about recognizing the need for organic alternatives and proposing substitutes for them so far. Their latest addition is soap nut, a non-toxic, waste free organic laundry detergent. The soap nut is a substitute for commercially marketed detergents and is, obviously, chemical free. Some of their skin care products are pure plant extracts (especially face washes) without any additives. They are also working on incorporating Mullein herbs into their products. Mullein is known to help with clearing mucus from the body.
From using paper bags to eliminating the use of plastic in their packaging, Naturo Earth is all about sustainability. For the few products they have used plastics for, they have ensured that they are BPA free. They soon plan to go with naked packaging with their soaps in order to avoid wastage.
Agrawal is of the thought that what one consumes is what he becomes. “The diseases we get are mostly tied to our lifestyles. It’s important to pay mind to what we consume, what we wear and what we expose ourselves to,” he says. Eliminating the use of chemicals is definitely the key here and choosing organic products is one way to do that.
The Week’s top three picks
Tea blends
Naturo Earth has over twenty varieties of tea blends and Saria is solely responsible for this. By infusing herbs and with her understanding of composition, some of the blends include Restful Sleep (a blend of chamomile, lavender, and hibiscus), Immunity Tea, Lemon Hibiscus Green Tea and Antioxidant Tea. Improved digestion, anti-inflammatory, and palate cleansing are some of its medicinal benefits. Brew some leaves in a teapot for a few minutes and serve. Saria suggests not adding anything else to it.
Handmade Soaps
At Naturo Earth there are four beauty soaps to choose from. Especially for those with sensitive skin, Rose Mud Pie soaps are good for exfoliating and moisturizing the skin. Marigold has anti-inflammatory properties and can work as good natural moisturizer. Like Rose Mud, Cinnamon too is a strong exfoliator. Mint and Charcoal would work better for those with acne problems. This will work as a good cleanser and reduce inflammation from pimples.
Salt Lamp
Himalayan Salt Lamps are in demand worldwide. Mined from the Himalayan regions, salt lamps essentially eliminate irritants, allergens and all the negative energy from the environment. We are surrounded by electromagnetic radiation everywhere. Using salt lamps will dispel negative ions and retain just the positive ions. Considering that these lamps are Naturo’s bestsellers, perhaps the benefits are quite obvious?
