Shailja Kashyap did not set out to build a skincare brand. She set out to understand her own skin, which had stopped behaving in ways she recognised and refused to respond to anything the market was offering. What she found, after years of searching, was that the answer was not in a new serum or a trending ingredient. It was in her own lineage. A four-generation Ayurvedic heritage, combined with a clear-eyed reading of what modern women with hormonal skin actually need, became Mamash Organics. We sat down with her to understand the brand, the category, and why this conversation is only just beginning.

You have spoken about starting Mamash from personal confusion rather than a business idea. What does that mean?

I didn’t start with a brand idea. I started with confusion. There was a phase where my body didn’t feel predictable anymore. My skin was constantly breaking out, reacting, and not responding to anything I was using. I tried everything a regular consumer would: trending products, routines, recommendations. But nothing addressed what I was actually experiencing.

What I slowly realised was that this wasn’t just a skin concern. It was hormonal. And that was the missing piece. Everything in the market was focused on surface-level correction, but no one was really acknowledging what was happening internally. That gap is what Mamash was born out of.

You carry a four-generation Ayurvedic legacy. Does that feel like a responsibility or a superpower?

It feels like both. Growing up around Ayurveda, I never saw it as alternative. It was just the way we understood the body. But when I stepped into the modern skincare world, I realised how disconnected we have become from that wisdom.

As a founder, it feels like a responsibility to carry that forward in the right way. Not blindly, not traditionally for the sake of it, but with context, clarity, and integrity. At the same time, it is a superpower. Because I am not building from trends. I am building from something that has already stood the test of time.

How do you explain hormone-conscious skincare to someone hearing it for the first time?

I usually say this: if your skin changes with your cycle, your stress, your lifestyle, then your hormones are already a part of your skincare story. Hormone-conscious skincare is simply about acknowledging that reality. It is about choosing products that do not add more stress to your system, that work with your body instead of forcing results, and that support your skin even when it is going through changes.

Why do you think the beauty industry ignored hormonal skin conditions like PCOS and thyroid-related skin for so long?

Because it is not easy to solve. Hormonal skin is not linear. It does not respond to one hero ingredient or one quick fix. It requires patience, understanding, and a more holistic approach, which does not always fit into how the beauty industry operates. It is easier to sell clear skin in 7 days than to talk about balance, cycles, and internal factors.

For me, this was not a market gap. It was a personal reality. And that is why I could not ignore it.

Ayurveda and modern clean beauty can seem like very different worlds. How do you hold both?

By not treating them as opposites. Ayurveda gives you the why: the understanding of the body, the patterns, the root causes. Modern science helps you with the how: stability, safety, consistency. The real work is in respecting both. Not diluting Ayurveda into a trend, and not overcomplicating it with unnecessary science. Every formulation is a balance of intention, sourcing, and restraint.

Hormonal skin is unpredictable by nature. How do you design products for something that changes constantly?

By accepting that it is unpredictable. We do not try to control the skin. We create products that can support it through different phases, whether that is sensitivity, breakouts, dryness, or recovery. The idea is not perfection. The idea is resilience.

What do your conversations with customers about PCOS and hormonal health actually look like?

They have become more honest. Women open up about things they usually do not talk about: irregular cycles, sudden skin changes, feeling out of control in their own body. What I have realised is that most women are not just looking for products. They are looking for understanding. And sometimes, just being heard is the starting point.

If Mamash were an Ayurvedic ingredient, which one would it be?

Gotu Kola. Quiet, grounding, deeply restorative. It does not give you instant, dramatic results, but over time it strengthens the skin, improves resilience, and brings balance. That is exactly what Mamash stands for.

What is the piece of customer feedback that has stayed with you most?

A customer once told me: after years, I finally feel like my skin is mine again. That stayed with me. Because it was not about looking better. It was about feeling like herself again.

Where does Mamash go from here, and where do you see the category heading?

We are just getting started. Hormone-conscious skincare is still a very early conversation in India, but it is a necessary one. I see this evolving into a much larger movement where skincare is not just about appearance but about overall well-being.

For Mamash, the focus is to keep building thoughtfully. We are expanding into haircare, wellness, and rituals that support women through different phases of life. We are also very consciously formulating our products to be safe for younger skin and for pregnancy, so that women do not have to keep switching their skincare as their life evolves.

The vision is simple: to make safe, intelligent, Ayurveda-rooted care a default choice, not an alternative.

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