Moms are curious about this natural handmade skincare range for kids & adults

Let’s hear from Priyanka Yagnik, founder of Phenak India a natural handmade skincare products’ line. Her products are excellent for women, men and kids being chemical and paraben free. She was born in Mumbai, lived most of her life in Ahmedabad and then post her marriage have been living in Delhi with her husband Sumant and son. She has dne B.Sc. in Biochemistry.

How did you first become interested in natural beauty products?

I had always been a fan of beauty products, specially ever since I got married. At that time I started using a lot of cosmetics but within a year or two my skin started showing all the side effects of all those chemical based cosmetics. So I went back to my old methods of keeping my skin beautiful and healthy without using any harsh chemicals. My mom always had given me a lot of gharelu tips for beautiful skin and I tried those. And my skin actually started getting better day by day. Then after that the only products that I used were the lotions and creams during winters as I had a very dry skin. This was before my son arrived. Being a biochemistry student and a tutor by profession at that time, I had a habit of reading labels on all the products that we used. So I was skeptical about using those stuff on my son. And  especially after all that news about Jhonsons baby products in the market, I desperately needed an option for him too. This made me go back to using Besan, Malai etc. This worked till he was 2 year old. After that he used to make a racket about all the mixtures. Thus my son became another motivator for me to do something about natural beauty products.

When/why did you make the leap to starting your own company? What does Phenak mean?

I love to teach and that’s what I had been doing ever since I had done my 12th. I liked to have a hands on practical approach in my teaching. In one such Chemistry class we decided to do practical of Saponification process being part of 10th Chemistry syllabus. And after going through the instructions given in the book, we made a soap. I gave a piece of soap to each of my students as they also had participated in making it. Coincidentally one of my student’s mom had some skin problems and her kid(my student) forced her to try the soap made by him. And I got a call from the the kid’s mother that she is feeling better after using the soap. She had used the entire piece of soap and her itchiness had completely gone. That phone call was the turning point for me. I realised that this is something I should get to know further. So I bought a few books related to the topics and made quite a few batches of soaps. We used them on ourselves and were happy with the results. My husband suggested that this is a very nice option for people like us who are searching for alternatives to cosmetics. And Phenak was born.

As we always wanted our roots to be associated with Ayurveda. So we started searching options for a name for my brand and came up with the word “PHENAK” . Phenak is a sanskrit word which means “Soap”.

How do you come up with each product? Which of your products do you love the most ?

Research research and research. that is what i do when i’m not making a product. first point i consider is skin types, the any ayurvedic herb or oil that can help me to make the product. my first choice is that i go local. means i rely on stuff that i can by locally. because i belive that what we find locally is best for us as we are living in that environment and every thing favourable grows in that area. human body is an amazing machine and it adapts itself to the area where it live. buying local and Indian products also stabilises our Indian economy, it supports our food producers aka Farmers. And since i made my products in India with most of my raw material of Indian origin i changed my company’s name to “Phenak India”. i cant be partial to any of my products because alot has gone into the the making of each and every product. and each product is different from other in terms of the effect that it has on the body. my customers are all praises for all of them too.

What are some beauty tips would you like to share with moms who hardly get any time to have an elaborate beauty regime?

I would suggest that kitchen is your best friend, make the most of it. I remember my mom used to apply malai and haldi on her skin before bath. I never saw her apply anything apart from that and she always had a beautiful bright skin.

How do you balance being a Mompreneur with your Tution classes, your home and family?

Time management is the key. My day starts at 4:30 in the morning with cooking. I make lunchbox for my son and my husband, then breakfast and lunch. After my son leaves for school, I try to do some exercises. Being a Thalessemia minor I can’t do much vigorous exercise as it tires me out. But yoga works for anemic people like me. From 10-2 I start working on my products. Once my son is back from school, we spend time together In the evening from from 5:30 to 7:30 its my tuition time, followed by dinner which I also make  myself. Then I sleep around 10 or 10:30.