Having grown up in Salem in a tiny village, 29-year-old Ramya Jothiskumar never thought that one day she would be using her grandmother’s age-old home beauty regimen to start a business of her own. Ramya left her lucrative job in an IT company to start Grandma’s Love, an online brand with their base in GN Chetty Road, along with her husband Jothiskumar after she happened to check the labels on beauty products while shopping and realising how many chemicals they had in them. “In Salem, following a traditional beauty regimen was a part of my upbringing. My grandmother always used to pamper me with them, be it for my skin or for my hair.” Ramya adds that her products are made from Indian herbs which she sources directly from farms in Banrutti and Salem, while at Attur and Koli hills she has her own farms.
Along with hair and skin products, they also have feet care, nose care (charcoal scrubs, a hot seller!), eye care (organic kajal with badam and eranda taila/castor oil) and lip care. Lip care comes with lip scrubs in interesting flavours like beetroot, lemon and cinnamon. If you’re looking to unwind, there are bath salts like calming lavender, healing rose and lemon fresh.
Ramya has used coffee as a 100 per cent organic and natural scrub that she assures works wonders for cellulite removal. Herbs like kasamarda (kasundi) and thwak (cinnamon) help with smooth skin as well. For the unforgiving summer, there’s a detan mask that is the perfect mix of varida, parijatha (night jasmine), ahulya and raktamaci (tomato leaves) which reduces skin discolouration. The products are handmade by Ramya and her team, and she ensures that they make fresh batches against every order. What truly motivates her? Ramya shares, “We don’t really market our products and it’s just word-of-mouth that helps us. The positive responses and signs of improvement after use are what keep us going.”
Available on their Instagram page Grandmaslove4u. Starting at Rs 350.