Some businesses begin with market research. Others begin with a spreadsheet, a pitch deck or an investor presentation.

By Priya Lalwani

Bathelements & More began with a bar of soap.

Not the kind displayed under bright retail lights or wrapped in carefully curated branding, but a simple handmade soap picked up during a holiday in Himachal Pradesh. There was nothing extraordinary about its packaging, nor was there anyone trying to sell its story. Yet after using it, Pallavi Kolhapure Shah noticed something that lingered far longer than the fragrance itself.

“My skin simply didn’t feel dry afterwards.”

It wasn’t a dramatic revelation. It was quieter than that. But sometimes, the smallest observations become the beginning of the biggest journeys.

That experience stayed with her long after the trip had ended. Curious, she began recreating soaps in her own kitchen, experimenting with ingredients, textures and formulations—not because she intended to start a company, but because she wanted to understand why that one bar had felt so different.

One experiment became another.

Then another.

Within weeks, she had created nearly a dozen variations.

It was her daughter who unknowingly transformed curiosity into entrepreneurship.

“Why don’t we put this online?” she asked.

An Instagram page was created, followed by the brand’s first corporate gifting orders. What began as a personal pursuit gradually found its audience, not through aggressive marketing, but through genuine experience.

Yet unlike many emerging beauty brands eager to launch quickly, Pallavi chose patience over speed.

Nearly three years passed before Bathelements & More introduced products she truly believed were ready.

Those years were filled with constant reformulations, endless testing and brutally honest conversations with family, friends and colleagues, who willingly became her first users. They laughed about being her unofficial testing panel—“tested on humans, not animals,” as they often joked—but their feedback became the foundation upon which every formulation evolved.

That willingness to listen still defines the brand today.

Every new product continues to pass through the same process of real-world testing before it reaches customers. Pallavi herself refuses to release anything she hasn’t personally used.

That philosophy extends beyond product development and into the way she views the skincare industry itself.

One misconception she particularly enjoys challenging is the industry’s casual use of the word “natural.”

For her, labels have become less meaningful than lived experience.

“The real test isn’t whether something calls itself natural. It’s whether your skin actually feels different after you use it.”

It is a refreshing perspective in an industry increasingly driven by marketing language rather than measurable outcomes.

Bathelements & More was never created to sell a trend. It was built to recreate a feeling.

Every ingredient, every botanical extract and every formulation exists for one reason—to leave skin genuinely healthier, nourished and noticeably different after every use. Even the generous use of virgin coconut oil and carefully selected packaging serve that larger purpose rather than becoming standalone selling points.

“I don’t consciously think of it as a value proposition,” Pallavi says. “I simply want every bar to make someone’s skin feel different—in the best possible way.”

That clarity has influenced the pace at which the company has chosen to grow.

While many brands chase rapid expansion through large retail chains, Bathelements & More has expanded deliberately, only recently entering cafés, boutique resorts and curated hospitality spaces.

Growth, for Pallavi, has never been about becoming bigger as quickly as possible.

“We’ve never tried to grow faster than the product could keep up with.”

It is an approach that feels increasingly rare in today’s startup ecosystem, where scale often receives greater attention than substance.

Interestingly, she doesn’t define her customers through conventional demographics either.

Age, profession or income rarely determine whether someone connects with the brand.

Instead, she believes her audience consists of individuals who appreciate handcrafted products, value India’s centuries-old skincare traditions and seek authenticity over mass production. They’re people who care less about trends and more about how something genuinely feels.

Sometimes, the most important business decisions don’t emerge from analytics dashboards or consumer reports.

One of Bathelements & More’s defining moments came from a simple conversation.

After years of refining formulations, someone Pallavi deeply trusted finally told her she had achieved exactly what she had been trying to create from the beginning.

That single piece of honest feedback did something numbers never could.

It gave her permission to stop endlessly chasing perfection.

It also reinforced one of the company’s strongest beliefs—that genuine customer experience matters far more than any marketing metric.

That philosophy naturally shapes how the brand approaches community building.

While many skincare companies compete for digital attention, Pallavi believes loyalty isn’t created through likes, algorithms or viral campaigns.

It happens much more quietly.

Someone discovers a soap at a café.

They use it.

Their skin feels different.

They return because of the experience—not because another advertisement appeared on their screen.

Looking ahead, she believes consumer awareness will continue transforming the beauty industry. Ingredient transparency will become increasingly important, and brands relying solely on attractive packaging or loosely defined terminology will find it difficult to sustain trust.

Customers, she believes, are becoming better informed than ever before.

And that is a positive change.

When asked how she measures success beyond revenue, her answer is remarkably simple.

A repeat order.

Not from an individual customer alone, but from cafés, boutique hotels and hospitality partners who choose to reorder without persuasion.

“That tells me the product is actually doing something for them—not that we simply sold it well once.”

Leadership, too, has evolved alongside the business.

Where she once involved herself in every decision—from packaging details to business development—today she has consciously stepped back. Her daughter and a younger team now lead retail outreach, while her husband oversees the financial direction of the company.

Yet one responsibility remains entirely her own.

Every formulation.

Every batch.

Every product still passes through her hands before reaching a customer.

That deliberate balance between delegation and craftsmanship perhaps captures Bathelements & More more accurately than any business strategy ever could.

When asked about the biggest lesson from professional setbacks, Pallavi offers an unexpectedly honest answer.

She doesn’t believe she has encountered that defining failure yet.

“It’s still early in the journey,” she reflects. “Some of the biggest learnings come with time.”

It is a response that perfectly mirrors the company she has built.

Patient.

Measured.

Unhurried.

In an industry that often celebrates speed, Bathelements & More reminds us that some of the finest things are never rushed.

Like a thoughtfully crafted soap.

Like trust.

And like a founder who chose to build a brand around how something truly feels—long after the fragrance has faded.