Tenderma wasn’t born in a boardroom or during a market research meeting. It began in a hospital, watching our newborn son fight through his very first challenge.
Like every new parent, we imagined sleepless nights, endless diaper changes and learning how to be parents. We never imagined that, just five days after he was born, we’d be standing outside a NICU wondering if he was going to be okay.
Our son developed neonatal jaundice when he was just five days old. His bilirubin levels had risen beyond the safe range, and he was admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where he spent the next two days under intensive 360° phototherapy.
Nothing prepares you for seeing your newborn inside an incubator, wearing protective eye covers, surrounded by machines. Those two days felt much longer than they really were.
Thankfully, the treatment worked. His bilirubin levels came down, and we were finally able to bring him home.
But once we were home, we noticed something we hadn’t expected. His skin looked darker than before. It felt drier. More delicate. As first-time parents, every little change made us wonder if we were doing the right thing.
One question kept coming back to us: how do we take care of his skin now?
Like most new parents, we started asking everyone around us. Every person had a suggestion. Family members shared remedies that had been passed down for generations. Friends recommended products they had used for their own children. Pharmacy shelves were filled with brands, all promising to be gentle, safe and the best choice for babies.
The more choices we had, the less certain we became.
We found ourselves standing in store aisles, turning every bottle around and reading ingredient lists we barely understood. Even the ones that looked reassuring on the front of the pack told us very little about why their ingredients had been selected, what evidence supported them, or how the formulation had been tested.
Slowly it became clear we were not simply looking for another gentle lotion or another natural oil. We were looking for something designed around the world our son was actually growing up in — the heat, the humid afternoons, mineral-heavy water from the tap, and the care routines familiar to Indian families.
That became the starting point for Tenderma. Not a general formula adjusted for India afterwards, but a formulation process that began with the conditions and worked outwards.
Just when we thought we were beginning to understand baby skincare, another challenge arrived. Our son developed a diaper rash.
Naturally, we did what every parent does. We started asking again.
One person suggested coconut oil. Another recommended a rash cream that had worked for their baby. Someone else said a different brand was better. Every recommendation came from a place of love, but every answer was different.
Standing in front of another shelf full of products, we found ourselves asking the same question all over again: how do we know what’s actually right for our baby?
That question stayed with us. It wasn’t that there weren’t enough products to choose from. There were plenty. What we couldn’t find was clarity.
Every brand promised to be gentle. Every label sounded reassuring. But very few helped us understand why a product was formulated the way it was, or what made one formulation more suitable than another. For parents trying to make the best decision for their child, that uncertainty is exhausting.
Somewhere along that journey, something changed. We stopped searching for just another product. We started asking a bigger question.
What if baby skincare didn’t have to feel this confusing? What if parents didn’t have to spend hours comparing ingredient lists, reading conflicting advice and hoping they had made the right choice?
That question became the beginning of Tenderma.
We wanted to create products that we would have felt confident using on our own son. Products built on science, thoughtfully enriched with carefully selected Ayurvedic botanicals, and explained with complete transparency. And made for the world our son was actually growing up in — Indian heat, Indian humidity, Indian water. Because a baby born here in June needs different care than a baby born in London in December.
Not because the world needed another baby skincare brand. But because we believe every parent deserves to understand what they’re putting on their baby’s skin — and to feel confident about that decision.
That’s the promise we make to every family who chooses Tenderma. Because we’ve been exactly where you are.
