Beauty for the Wild Child

The conversation around beauty in India is as old as time. Long before botox shots, chemical peels and red light therapy, there existed rituals built on elements found in nature. While today’s market offers concern-focused scientific treatments and products, the lack of clean and unadulterated ingredients is undeniable. Diipa Büller-Khosla’s brainchild, co-founded with her husband Oleg Büller-Khosla, indē wild, caters to this gap in the global beauty landscape. At the heart of indē wild lies the secret of ancient Indian beauty, aka Ayurvedic practices, along with science – what the brand terms as Ayurvedistry.

The global beauty brand that made it to the shelves of Sephora USA, not only modernises ancient practices but also targets pigmented skin that the South Asian diaspora frantically needed. “One of the biggest concerns I personally struggled with was hyperpigmentation because I grew up with a lot of acne. It’s incredibly common among South Asians, but for a long time I felt like there weren’t enough products designed with that in mind. That’s actually why our very first launches were the Sunrise Glow Serum and Sunset Restore Serum,” shares Diipa. She also recalls travelling to India and watching her Vitamin C oxidise due to the extreme heat. What was the result of that experience? Creating sixty-four samples of it before perfecting the formula. “This isn’t the kind of thing you think of when you’re sitting in a boardroom in France because it’s not a problem you’ve encountered,” she further adds.

The biggest inspiration for the creator-and-entrepreneur has been her mother. She shares, “I grew up in a house where Ayurveda and dermatology existed side by side. My mother is a dermatologist-turned-Ayurvedic practitioner. Naturally, I grew up with the best of both worlds, where my mom spoke in kashayams one minute and clinical studies the next. That’s India to me. It’s so layered, and constantly evolving. There’s such harmony between tradition and innovation. I think Indian culture has been presented through a very narrow lens internationally. Either it’s hyper-traditional or, it’s stripped of all context entirely; nuance is important. We wanted to sit somewhere in the middle.”

In a span of four-and-a-half years, indē wild’s growth has been exponential. Their curation of products carefully aims at universal problems. “Whether someone grew up in Mumbai, London or New York, they’re looking for solutions to the same things. Culture isn’t confined by borders and that is such a huge opportunity to connect. We always say indē wild was co-founded by you, because some of our best ideas and most important lessons have come directly from our community.”

It is this inclusive philosophy that has created a network of individuals for the brand across the globe and cultures. Indē Wild has always been a people-powered brand; through meet-and-greet events, pop-ups and product launches, Diipa has successfully established a community built on trust and human emotions. She shares, “From day zero, we’ve been incredibly community-led. We actually even named the brand through a community event. I think we’re so lucky to have this community that rallies behind us in such a supportive way because it’s so exciting to build with them. We’ve held over seventy focus groups across three continents. Even before launching anything we spend hours speaking directly to our community about everything from ingredients and packaging to their biggest pain points and unmet needs. It’s even just a place to ideate together, brainstorm the future of beauty for ourselves. And thanks to the internet, community isn’t really about geography anymore.”

“indē wild was co-founded by You. Some of our best ideas and most important lessons have come directly from our community.”

Appealing to the new-age, global Indian consumer is not an easy task. Unlike previous generations who were quickly influenced by advertising, today’s buyers make much more informed choices, which makes it that much more difficult for any new brand to anchor its presence in the long run. So how did indē wild crack the code? By following the rule of ‘quality over quality’. Unlike other brands, indē wild does not offer an exhaustive range of products, and their ingredient lists are rather uncomplicated.

The best example of this is their bestseller, Champi Hair Oil, in which the Ayurvedic hero elements that shine through include castor oil, hibiscus flower, bhringraj, brahmi, amla, tulsi leaf, marigold, licorice root, fenugreek, neem leaf and rosemary extracts. It also includes the most powerful carrier oils, namely, coconut, almond, sesame, argon and vitamin E. For generations, these concoctions have been a part of many Indian households but got lost somewhere in the crowd of chemical alternatives. indē wild brings back the ancient kitchen secrets or nuskhas, backed by scientific research and formulation for the new audience. “The ritual of champi massage itself is centuries old, but the experience still feels very modern. The bottle itself is this sleek glass that plays into that idea, while the formula is rooted in ingredients and practices that have stood the test of time,” shares Diipa.

In fact, for someone who wants to build a low-effort, high-result beauty ritual, she suggests beginning with a good champi with this hair oil – something that even her daughter Dua enjoys. She adds, “I’ve never met anyone who didn’t enjoy a good champi. It’s a 100% natural formula so it’s super safe to use. You don’t need to understand actives, build a complicated routine or even know your skin type to benefit from it. In our house it’s core to our routine with Oleg, Dua and I all doing our Sunday champi together, and I couldn’t tell you who loves it more!” And perhaps, this has been the secret to her and her mother’s long luscious hair all this while.

Another stellar crowd-favourite is the Dewy Lip Treatment that was inspired by Diipa’s early growing years, “I grew up using ghee on my chapped lips during dry Delhi winters and now years later, that memory helped me create one of our bestselling products, which is formulated using a vegan ghee base.”

At its core, indē wild is a product-first brand, which is evident through its range of few yet effective offerings. However, it is their storytelling and sense of community that makes the brand stand out. The founder proudly says, “If the products aren’t exceptional, nothing else matters. But having said that, it’s interesting how people already engage with indē wild as more than a beauty brand. They connect with the philosophy, the community, the stories and the culture around it, and in a lot of ways, they’ve given us permission to exist beyond just products. We’re so proud to be building a brand that represents a new generation of India on a global stage. One that is rooted in culture but also forward-looking; whether that evolves into a larger lifestyle ecosystem over time, we’ll see. But for me, the goal has always been bigger than beauty. It’s about building something people genuinely want to be part of.”

At a time when dialogues around beauty can feel aspirational to the point of intimidation, indē Wild evokes feelings of familiarity; that of having conversations with an older sister, best friend or your mother. But Diipa sternly stands her ground on the fact: “Nostalgia isn’t there to romanticise the past. People today are coming back to age-old rituals with a completely different perspective and understanding. What we are doing is making that rediscovery easier. You don’t need a backyard full of Ayurvedic herbs to embrace it because we are taking all the guesswork out for you.”
In the foreseeable future, Büller-Khosla hints at expanding beyond just beauty and adding more products to her hair care line – “I can’t give too much away just yet, but I can say, hair has always been such an important part of our story and our roots, so it’s a space we’re incredibly excited about. Let’s just say there are some very exciting things in the pipeline.”

Reflecting on shaping the global beauty narrative, and the lessons she is passing down to her daughter, she shares, “More than anything, I want Dua to know that beauty is something she gets to define for herself. She’s growing up in a world with more opinions and pressure than any generation before her, so I think that’s incredibly important. I want her to see beauty as a form of self-expression and creativity, not something she has to earn.”