Palak Sehgal, Founder, Kasaya

Meet Palak Sehgal, the brilliant mind behind Kasaya, a new-age skincare brand born at the intersection of Copenhagen minimalism and Indian Ayurvedic wisdom. With a formidable background as a bioengineer and plant geneticist, and expertise in precision agriculture and sustainable biotech, Palak brings a rare scientific lens to beauty.

After co-founding Nordetect, a globally adopted agri-tech venture, she turned her focus inward… towards the human skin barrier. In 2024, Kasaya emerged as her deeply personal, science-forward body and skincare brand.

With its barrier-first philosophy, Kasaya is changing the way we think about healthy skin, from face serums to full-body rituals. Its formulations are powered by plant-derived ceramides, cold-pressed lipids, and magnesium-rich oils, crafted for deep transdermal efficacy.

Designed to heal, soothe, and strengthen, Kasaya’s range, especially its body care line, goes far beyond hydration, targeting muscle recovery, stretch marks, and skin resilience with a level of bio-intelligence that’s quietly radical.

Palak’s approach is both rooted and revolutionary. By seamlessly blending Ayurvedic heritage with Scandinavian clean-beauty standards, she has built a skincare brand that prioritizes the whole body, respects the barrier, and celebrates the synergy of science and tradition.

Here, in an exclusive interview, Palak Sehgal talks to Sumita Chakraborty, Editor-in-Chief, TheGlitz, about Kasaya, and merging nature, science, and skincare in a way the industry hasn’t seen before.

Over To Palak Sehgal, Founder, Kasaya

You’ve transitioned from agri-tech to skincare, what inspired the leap from nutrient testing in soil to nurturing skin health?

At Nordetect, I spent years working with chemical assays and portable hardware so that environmentalists and growers could test nutrient levels right where water samples were taken instead of waiting for the lab results which take 5+ days. That experience taught me many lessons, one being – chemistry becomes more useful and adaptable when you package it in a format people can use easily without prior training.

Apart from my main work, I was always passionate about skincare – especially Ayurveda, blending my own concoctions in the kitchen, and completing courses in Ayurvedic herbology “just for fun.” However, when I got pregnant in 2022, my skin flared with break-outs and redness, something I had not experienced before and suddenly my casual interest turned urgent.

I wanted formulas that were clinically sound and felt unquestionably safe. When I couldn’t find that combination on the shelf, the plant scientist in me had to make it myself and prove it works. Kasaya was born from bringing the same test-relentlessly, dose-precisely philosophy I followed in the tech world to skin health, and from a strong belief that plants are the host to all the chemistry we need. 

Kasaya sits at the intersection of Ayurveda and Nordic clean beauty. How do you balance these two philosophies in your formulations?

I see the two traditions as complementary. Ayurveda offers a pharmacopoeia of time-honoured actives – saffron for glow and luminosity, mahua for deep nourishment, red sandalwood for toning and soothing, blue and white lotus for antioxidant calm, ashwagandha for anti-inflammatory action, etc.

Nordic “clean” culture, on the other hand, demands purity of ingredients, upcycling, sustainable and regenerative farming, radical transparency: COSMOS compliance, traceable supply chains, low-allergen fragrance profiles, and formulations gentle enough for the most reactive Scandinavian skin.

In practice, we balance each formula with an Ayurvedic baseline, then reconsider the concentrations of each raw material and finally fuse it all inside a modern chassis. We keep essential oil levels at or below Nordic allergy thresholds, balance pH for microbiome harmony, and stabilise the whole system with low-dose chelators and vacuum packaging rather than aggressive preservatives. Moreover, all products are freshly blended in small batches to ensure high active ingredient potency and purity.

What does “barrier-first skincare” mean in practical terms, and why is it central to your brand’s ethos?

Think of the skin barrier as a wall: corneocytes are the bricks, intercellular lipids the mortar, and a living microbiome lives on the surface like security guards. When any one of those elements weakens, i.e lipid gaps, pH drift, microbial imbalance – you see the everyday symptoms of tightness, redness, break outs, dullness, etc. Barrier-first means we address that wall before we chase anything else.

Our formulas deliver:

Microbiome nutrition with prebiotics (like innulin, amaranth, etc) which are the ‘food’ for the good bacteria, enabling the skin to function at an optimal level, while inhibiting the bad bacteria, Probiotics and post biotics which are the lysates or ferment filtrates of the beneficial bacteria that support our skin.

Our bioferments break down huge compounds into smaller, more bioavailable forms, which enhances the absorptivity of plant actives into skin, hence promoting a healthy microbiome. 

Fresh lipids like squalene and phytoceramides from cold-pressed rosehip, flaxseed, watermelon seed, sesame and jojoba oils, etc to help replenish lipid gaps

Magnesium and other trace elements from chia seed, moringa seed, pumpkin seed extracts, red-algae ferment, etc to buffer pH and reduce pro-inflammatory signals.

Once the wall is sound, hydration levels stabilise, actives penetrate more easily and the skin looks resilient instead of reactive. Our products are not a quick fix, rather they are aimed at skin repair and rejuvenation and long term skin resilience.

Kasaya’s body care line is gaining early traction. Can you walk us through how your transdermal delivery system enhances efficacy?

We use plant-based delivery systems. A few to mention are:
-Oleic and linoleic acids gently loosen the stratum-corneum lipid layer, letting heavier actives pass through (Vitamin boost oil).
-Liquid-crystal emulsion built around cetearyl olivate + sorbitan olivate (Olivem 1000). These olive-derived phospholipids organise themselves into lamellar sheets that mimic the skin’s lipid layers. When we add the unsaturated oils like rosehip, flaxseed, sweet almond, etc, the blend spontaneously breaks into micelles measuring roughly 150–200 nanometres.

This size mimics the natural lipid channels in the stratum corneum, so the micelles can penetrate past the surface. (Squalene gel).
-We also use probiotics which break the actives into smaller chains that can pass through our corneum fenestration more easily.

Our process is patent pending and has been clinically proven to be 32% more effective in an internal 28-day test with 15 people. …Because penetration is efficient, we can formulate at the minimum effective concentration, avoiding the “more must be better” logic that often leaves heavy residues on top of skin, forming the cause for many issues like clogged pores, pimples, etc.

All batches are produced under GMP control with optimum temperature & humidity to keep that performance consistent.

Your ingredients list includes cold-pressed lipids and magnesium-rich oils. Could you share a few hero ingredients and their specific skin benefits?

Guava-leaf hydrosol – Distilled below 90 °C so vitamin C and quercetin remain intact. It offers antioxidant defense and subtle tightening.

Squalene – derived from olives and guava leaves, prevents transepidermal water loss (TEWL), hydrates without clogging pores.

Rosehip seed oil – CO₂-extracted under oxygen-free conditions, preserving natural trans-retinoic acid and beta-carotene that helps with collagen production, anti aging effects and does not pose the common retinol irritation..

Black cumin seed oil – Cold-pressed under 40 °C. Rich in thymoquinone, a molecule documented to reduce hormonal acne and scarring.

Red-algae ferment filtrate – A whole-biomass ferment, supplies bio-available magnesium and trace elements that help with overall glow. 

Vitamin F – omega 3 and omega 6 essential fatty acids help with keeping the lipid barrier intact, prevent transepidermal water loss (TEWL), anti-inflammatory and Extremely healing for dry and flaky skin.

Prebiotics like fava beans extract, amaranth, Inulin – prebiotics which promote cellular recovery and heals inflammation caused by environmental factors. 

How has your scientific background in plant genetics and sustainable biotech influenced the way you formulate skincare?

I’m trained to validate hypotheses, it’s the philosophy of testing rigorously before release. “Research – test –  pilot release – main launch”. Every product is well researched and sampled, passes all ISO grade laboratory tests for stability, microbial testing, packaging compatibility test and small group in-vivo testing before it is made available to the public.

What role does sustainability play at Kasaya; both in sourcing ingredients and in packaging decisions?

The ingredients, roughly 96% are certified organic, are wildcrafted and some come from up-cycled streams. For example, apples rescued from juice pulp, aloe vera, lotus stems and rose reclaimed from Rishikesh and Haridwar, regenerative saffron plots in Kashmir, etc.

Packaging: we opted for recyclable glass paired with BPA-free PP pumps; refill pouches roll out in Q2 2026 once our compatibility tests are concluded.

Operations: We used to manufacture half the products in Denmark and ship them to India but consolidating all production in Uttarakhand has reduced emissions by an estimated 48 percent. We avoid express air altogether and are soon to be part of 1 % for the Planet programme (membership in progress).

Community: our reusable cloth pouches are stitched by a women’s cooperative near Jaipur, and are part of Aravalli forest conservation project.

You launched Kasaya in 2024. What have been some early learnings from your first year… both challenges and standout moments?

We launched in October 2024, so we are not even 1 year old… The hard lesson came fast though – running pilot lines on two continents added cost, carbon emissions, bureaucracy and unforeseeable delays. Moving everything to one GMP site in Uttarakhand simplified documentation, tightened batch-to-batch consistency and made our production lean.

The joyful surprise was how quickly customers became repeat customers. Our magnesium rich nutrient body oil reached a 62 % repeat order rate within four months purely on word of mouth, which was great. The overarching insight is that sustainability attracts a first look, but proven results once they try it is what matters. Purity, performance and pleasure. These three values are our mantra and have been great for our customer’s experience with our products.