Is India's intimate-care industry selling insecurity to Indian women?

In recent years Indiarsquos booming intimatecare industry has built a lucrative market around womenrsquos hygiene and grooming Much of this growth critics argue is driven by maleled brands where products and marketing are shaped less by lived experience and more by what sells With such brands promises cleanliness and empowerment the messaging often reflects a male gaze framing natural bodily features as flaws and ldquohygienerdquo as something to be aesthetically correctedMisbah Quadri said that she was wounded by the packaging of an eyebrow razorIn Misbah Quadrirsquos case the promise of a simple grooming solution turned into a yearlong ordeal Quadri founder of MQM News Network in Goa says she bought an eyebrow razor from a wellknown femtech brand founded by a male entrepreneur that markets a range of hygiene products targeted at women ldquoI was trying to open the razor using a towel because it was that tight When the cap finally came off the blade just popped out with a lot of force It pierced through the towel and lodged deep into my forefingerrdquo she recalls The injury which occurred in February last year affected her ability to workldquoMy entire livelihood is on my fingers It is still very painful for merdquo she says ldquoNo one pays attention to femtech brandsrdquo Doctors warned that deeper damage could have required surgery What troubled her further were the claims printed on the product packaging The razor advertised ldquoantislip grips no nicks or cuts rustfree bladesrdquo ldquoTwo days later the razor had already started to rustrdquo Quadri alleges ldquoTheir rustfree claims are absolutely falserdquoTania Boler PICELVIECOMIn 1999 Elvie founder Tania Boler helped pioneer connected pelvicfloor trainers later turning them into one of the first mainstream smart Kegel devicesQuadri says she has since filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Council of India and commissioned independent testing which she claims suggested the product did not meet norms set by the Bureau of Indian Standards The case is now part of a larger fight she says she is unwilling to drop ldquoI am waging a war against injustice by big brands who want to profit at our expenserdquo she says ldquoEven for damage control no one came and said they were sorry In fact the founder blocked me when I addressed the issue to him directly on InstagramrdquolsquoWomen are already judged for everythingrsquoAditi Raghuram a medical student who runs a social media page focused on skincare and mental health says women are just trying to fit the mould of an ldquoidealrdquo womanAmong the creators who have been questioning such messaging is Aditi Raghuram a medical student who runs a social media page focused on skincare and mental health ldquoThe page started on a whimrdquo she says ldquoI realised that because I come from a medical background I could explain why products work the way they do So I decided I would share my honest thoughts about products and brandsrdquoAditi RaghuramThat shift led her to publicly criticise a popular intimatecare brand whose marketing around body hair and pigmentation has recently drawn scrutiny online ldquoInitially the brand seemed very progressive It was created by men who pretended to give a sht for womenrdquo she says bluntly Her curiosity deepened after seeing products such as nipple depigmentation serums and intimatearea lightening creamsFurther digging she claims raised additional concerns ldquoOther creators reached out to me and told me that the brand in question had photoshopped their own products into the creatorrsquos alreadyexisting campaigns One of the founders of the brand had said that their product was FDA approved When they were called out on it they said it was a miscommunication and that it was approved by the Ayush Ministry which also could be falserdquoMisbah QuadriThe larger issue is the narrative these products promote ldquoThey create problems and insecurities that never existed before and then launch products to fix themrdquo Raghuram says ldquoWomen are already judged for everything This just adds another unrealistic standard of what the lsquoperfectrsquo or lsquohygienicrsquo woman should look likerdquolsquoInsecurities about womenrsquos bodies sells wellrsquoContent creator Nainika says the easiest way to judge whether a product is genuinely useful is to ask a simple question does it solve a real problemContent creator Nainika who speaks frequently about ethical beauty marketing online says she has developed strict rules about which brands she agrees to work with particularly in the fastgrowing intimatecare category ldquoI have a hard no rule for any products meant to lighten the skin anywhere but especially the intimate areardquo she says ldquoBesides the obviously misogynistic undertones of these products the skin there is particularly sensitive and should be left alonerdquoNainika has a no rule for products that lighten the intimate area PICATUL KAMBLEShe is equally sceptical about products such as intimate washes that are often marketed as essential hygiene tools ldquoThe external genital area can be cleaned with gentle soap and water and the vagina itself is a selfcleaning organ that doesnrsquot require external cleansersrdquo she explainsFor Nainika the easiest way to judge whether a product is genuinely useful is to ask a simple question does it solve a real problem ldquoAn antiperspirant addresses body odour which is a common concern But an intimate lightening serum tries to manufacture insecurity around something that is completely normalrdquo She believes the structure of the beauty industry also shapes how such products are marketedBrands led by women she says often reflect lived experience and tend to address practical needs In contrast companies built around market data and venture capital can lean heavily into insecurities ldquoProfitdriven systems amplify whatever sellsrdquo she says ldquoAnd historically insecurity about womenrsquos bodies sells extremely wellrdquolsquoWe think of solutions actually designed for womenrsquos bodiesrsquoDeep Bajaj founder of Sirona Hygiene says if they have to convince a woman that something is wrong with her body they simply wonrsquot build that productNot all brands in the intimatecare space agree with the criticism Some founders argue that the goal has been to address longignored hygiene challenges rather than create new insecurities Deep Bajaj founder of Sirona Hygiene says the company deliberately chose to confront taboos around womenrsquos health directly through its products and messagingDeep BajajldquoWe started by calling out the problem loudly and unapologeticallyrdquo Bajaj says One of the brandrsquos earliest products a female urination device carried the line ldquoLadies Freedom to Stand amp Peerdquo ldquoNot because we wanted to shame anyone but because naming the problem clearly was the first step to solving itrdquo he explainsSironarsquos approach he says was also shaped by the limitations women had long worked around ldquoWomen were using menrsquos razors or even detergent to remove period stains We didnrsquot just create products we replaced substitutes with solutions actually designed for womenrsquos bodiesrdquo Being male founders in a womenfocused category meant the team had to listen closely Bajaj adds ldquoThe margin for error was low so we had to try harder We spoke to women constantly and tested products extensively before launching themrdquoIda Tin PICHELLOCLUECOMThe term Femtech was only coined in 2016 by entrepreneur Ida Tin while describing the mission of her periodtracking app ClueFor him the real responsibility of brands in the fastgrowing femtech sector lies in drawing a line between innovation and exploitation ldquoBrands need to decide whether they build on womenrsquos confidence or profit from their insecuritiesrdquo he says ldquoIf we have to first convince a woman that something is wrong with her body we simply wonrsquot build that productrdquolsquoThe line between solving and manufacturing a problem is thinrsquoFemtech India founder navneet kaur says debate on intimatecare marketing is an important shift in womenrsquos health industryNavneet Kaur founder of FemTech India says ldquoWomen founders may bring lived experience around menstruation fertility or intimate health but many male founders also enter the space after witnessing gaps in care for someone close to themrdquoWhat matters most she argues is whether brands design with women rather than simply for them ldquoThe strongest companies combine lived experience clinical expertise and responsible storytelling around womenrsquos healthrdquo Kaur also warns that some products risk exploiting insecurities ldquoThe line between solving a real problem and manufacturing one is thinner than many brands admitrdquo she says pointing to intimate lightening products as a clear exampleAn ad for a bottomwhitening cream which after backlash was recently taken down by the brand in question without them addressing the issueShe also says it is nonnegotiable for such brands to follow FDA and BSI regulations ldquoHistorically womenrsquos bodies have been understudied underregulated and underprotected in healthcarerdquo Women drive nearly 80 per cent of consumer spending globally yet receive just 2 per cent of venture capital funding ldquoIt highlights one of the biggest mismatches in the innovation economyrdquo Kaur says731 millionWas raised by 57 maleled startups in total while 105 femaleled startups raised only 408 million in femtechlsquoWomen should be part of the designing processrsquoShagun Maheshwari founder of Papaya India says having women in the core team of a femtech brand is importantAt a time when many intimatecare brands are being criticised for manufacturing insecurities some womenled startups are trying to be the right change through design and intent Shagun Maheshwari founder of Papaya India comes at the problem as both engineer and user ldquoI wanted a better product for myselfrdquo she says ldquoPads are not going anywhere Theyrsquore still the most commonly used product The rash and skin irritation issues with pads remain unsolved So I wanted to make them betterrdquoInstead of competing with plastic on absorption alone she worked on using ldquobloodrsquos natural tendency to clotrdquo to create a pad that is both effective and made from natural materials ldquoEven if itrsquos sustainable it should perform as well as any plastic pad doesrdquo she says denouncing the idea that ecofriendly products must compromise on qualityEarly venture investors once dismissed period apps as ldquonicherdquo yet today platforms like Flo serve over 200 million users globallyHer perspective as a woman designing for women she believes is critical ldquoA lot of lived experience gets lost when women arenrsquot part of the design processrdquo That thinking also shapes what the brand refuses to build ldquoI would absolutely never have whitening products for intimate areasrdquo she says ldquoItrsquos a harmful narrative that gets told to womenrdquo Even in testing ldquoProducts need to be tested with real bloodrdquo she adds ldquoWater and blood behave very differentlyrdquo Papaya India started selling their pads in January this year