8SHADES OF... KAVITA KHOSA OF PUREARTH

When I was approached by 8shader for an interview I was so excited. A brief discussion about a deep-rooted passion for sustainability and top beauty tips for everyday life.

Here's to know a little about me and Purearth!

I’m a women’s rights activist, sustainability advocate, and the founder and CEO of Purearth – a cruelty-free skincare and wellness brand that works with marginalized women groups in the Himalayas on fair “trade, not aid” principles.

I wanted to reconnect with the Earth and my roots in India – establishing a platform that could impact positive social change for women, offer sustainable income generation, and reduce gender bias. A trip to Tibet left me deeply inspired, so when it came to launching my brand, the Himalayas became the wellspring of my inspiration.

Purearth uses wild-harvested ingredients that are sustainably hand-foraged by our women's self-help groups in the Himalayas. Our oils are cold-pressed by hand at source using the traditional kachi ghani process or the green, clean CO2 supercritical extraction method. We support sustainable harvesting practices and pay fair trade wages to our farmer and women groups. As an initiative to move toward a zero-waste enterprise, we also launched our recycling program where we collect empty Purearth glass jars and bottles from customers’ doorsteps and repurpose them in non-commercial ways. As a conscious green business, for each jar or bottle returned, we’ll plant a tree in return. We also eschew plastic, palm oil, synthetics, and toxic chemicals in our products and are a Leaping-Bunny-approved cruelty-free brand.

My best eco habit is I don’t use plastic in my daily life; canned frozen foods and soft drinks don’t figure in my meals either. My not-so-green habit is using hair color and nail polishes, although I try to choose natural, organic, and 13-free products as much as possible.

Living in Hong Kong my favorite veggie dishes are the cauliflower florets at Soho House, the acai bowl from be-Juiced the thali at Woodlands, and the veggie dim sum from Golden Leaf at the Conrad.

Thinking about the shade of green, I've always connected to the forest so my shade of green will be lush, deep, and mysterious.

I think one thing everyone should know about sustainability is that it wasn’t a thing back in the day when I was growing up – it was inherently a way of life when the soil and air weren’t polluted and contaminated. Petroleum, plastics, and phthalates are finding their way into our systems, oceans, and marine life; coral reefs are dying because of the sunscreen we wash away; orangutans have lost their habitats and become endangered because of the palm oil in our beauty products. Climate change is real, people! And it has real, dire consequences – it’s not some woke Gen Z illusion. So, let’s pause, use our intelligence, learn the facts and make informed conscious choices with our beauty purchases.

These are the top tips for people to make their beauty routine more sustainable

• For skincare, look in your kitchen; it’s your green pharmacy! Oats, nuts, seeds, lentils, spices, fruits, and dairy are all fabulous skincare ingredients. Try buying Ayurvedic herbs like licorice and turmeric from organic grocery stores too.
• Many quick-fix methods are proven to cause long-term damage and strip, dry, and irritate the skin; trust ancient wisdom, test the efficacy of organic natural products on your skin, and judge for yourself.
• Try one of my favorite Purearth pairings – our Wild Rose Himalayan Mist, the perfect skin pick-me-up for toning and rejuvenating skin, with our Illumine Face Oil, featuring wild sea buckthorn berry and rosehip seed oils. These “beauty berries” are chock-full of essential fatty acids and omega-7, which is vital for collagen production and skin cell replenishment.
• Drink lots of clean water, sleep well, and last but not least, be kind and smile – your face will glow with an inner light!

I want to thank Rachel Reed for making me do this! This was so refreshing.