Glistening Visages: Komal Balani

Given that my skin is a sensitive one, I always needed to take extra care of it. Commercial soaps were not working out for my skin. So I decided to visit a flea market which was held in Bangalore annually. I bought a few handmade soaps according to my skin type. Seeing how well it treated my skin, I got hooked instantly.
After using it a couple of times, I had this urge to create my own soaps. Naturally doing it the first time left me with a huge quantity of them due to trial and error. Therefore, I gifted some to my family and friends, and to my amazement, I received a very good response from them. Ever since that, I started working a lot more on the cold process soaps to create different aromas. In the following year of 2017, I took part in the flea again, not as a customer but as a seller. I got lucky there as well because I received another wave of good response from the customers.

This led me to a cross-road on whether I start a new career with soaps or stick with my previous employment. My job suited me since I was an MBA graduate working in a digital advertising company, and quite frankly, I enjoyed it. It was although hard for me to manage the time between my profession and passion. I decided to take my brand Arrkkā a step ahead in the lockdown and focus full time on it.

The biggest USP of my brand is that we use all-natural products, from the sustainable packaging to the ingredients of the soap. Our soaps are sulphate free and do not use palm oil in the making, and therefore the price is slightly higher. Also we donate one soap for each soap bought from us. I want to educate the masses on why my product is expensive and what are its benefits. With this thought lingering in my mind, I started working full time on this, and now I take part in flea markets and other exhibitions.

My transition wasn’t exactly a cakewalk either. There were a lot of doubts and people
questioning me regarding my decision of quitting the corporate to make soaps. But if I can put an arc of a smile on another person’s face, it makes an effort worth it. My biggest goal would be to make Arrkkā the Lush of India, and I will carry on this journey of nourishing Indian skin types with my products.