Grisi

Grisi is a Mexican chemical-pharmaceutical company that makes hygiene, skincare, haircare and personal-care products from natural-origin ingredients. It traces its origin to 1863, when José Grisi, an Italian immigrant and physician, developed a medicinal plaster called the Emplasto Monopolis® in Mexico City [1]. The business that grew around that first remedy is run today as Grupo Grisi, a privately held group with corporate offices in Mexico, the United States, Spain and Costa Rica.

The company remains active. It continues to acquire brands, publishes annual sustainability reports — the most recent dated 2024 — and marked roughly 160 years of operation in 2023 [4]. Its products are sold across more than 28 countries, and its sulfur soap is the item most widely recognised outside Mexico.

According to the company's own history, José Grisi arrived in Mexico around 1860 as an Italian immigrant trained as a physician, and set about developing pharmaceutical formulas that were new to the country. In 1863 he combined several compounds into a single medicine, the Emplasto Monopolis®, and that product is treated as the starting point of the firm [1]. The first laboratory stood on Medina Street in Mexico City. The tagline the company still uses, "Salud es belleza" ("Health is beauty"), reflects that pharmaceutical beginning.

The founding remedy carried the business through its early decades and won recognition abroad. The Emplasto Monopolis® received a bronze medal at the Universal Exposition held under the French Republic in Paris in 1889, and a silver medal at the Saint Louis Universal Exposition in 1904 [5]. The family stayed closely involved across generations: in 1890 José's son Blas Grisi founded a drugstore, "El Factor," which became Droguería Grisi® in 1912. The company expanded through the years of the Mexican Revolution, and in 1915 moved its laboratory to Gabriel Hernández Street, where it produced its patented pharmaceutical and exported to the United States, Cuba and Guatemala.

Grisi's path from a single patented medicine to a broad personal-care house spans more than a century and a half. By 1950 it had moved into shampoo manufacturing with Shampoo de Manzanilla Grisi®, a chamomile shampoo, and over the following decades it widened its formulas to include ingredients such as jojoba and aloe. In 1988 it launched the Ricitos de Oro® baby shampoo together with a complete baby-care line, and added veterinary products.

From the 1990s onward the company grew largely through distribution agreements and brand purchases. International expansion followed a 1993 agreement with Helene Curtis, and through the late 1990s and early 2000s Grisi handled distribution for a series of international names, including licensed lines from Procter & Gamble. It celebrated 140 years in 2002, when it also opened a pharmaceutical plant, and received Mexico's National Export Award in 2005. In 2010 it bought the Spanish brand Maja® and added Lacer dental products; further additions included Medix in 2017 [1]. In 2020 it acquired the Hinds®, Eclipsol® and Capent® brands from GSK and was included in Forbes México the same year [5].

The Grisi business is operated as Grupo Grisi, whose legal name is Grisi Hermanos, S.A. de C.V.; over its history the company has also appeared as Grisi® Hnos and Droguería Grisi®. It appears to be the privately held parent rather than a subsidiary of any larger company — the available records identify no outside owner. The group also runs several supporting companies of its own, among them a printing business, a plastics manufacturer that makes its bottles and containers, and distribution arms for over-the-counter medicines and for imported hygiene and beauty brands [3]. Through its purchases and alliances, brands such as Maja®, Hinds®, Eclipsol®, Capent® and Medix have come under the Grisi umbrella.

Grisi presents itself as a chemical-pharmaceutical company dedicated to making and selling products of natural origin for hygiene, beauty and nutrition. The company says it is committed to improving the quality of life of its consumers through products created with the needs and interests of Mexican families in mind [2]. It lists seven core values — honesty, loyalty, fidelity, trust, respect, justice and equity, and teamwork — and frames its long history as building a "natural conscience" over more than a century and a half.

In practice the range sits at the drugstore price tier and spans seven product divisions: baby care, children's care, haircare, men's grooming, skincare, beauty and fragrances, and pet care [3]. Editorial coverage describes the typical buyer as a budget-conscious shopper looking for affordable, effective skincare, particularly for oily and acne-prone skin [8].

The company's signature products run from its founding medicine to everyday personal care. The Emplasto Monopolis® remains the historical anchor, and Grisi built its later lines around natural ingredients such as sulfur, lanolin, chamomile, jojoba and aloe vera. Among its best-known items are the Jabón Neutro Grisi® neutral soap, the Shampoo de Manzanilla chamomile shampoo, and the Ricitos de Oro® baby range. The skincare division also includes Hinds, a body-cream line, alongside the broader Grisi Piel range of creams and soaps.

The most internationally recognised product is the Grisi sulfur soap (Jabón de Azufre, also sold as Biosulfur). A third-party review describes it as "arguably their most recognizable product," noting a 10% sulfur concentration with lanolin added to offset the dryness that sulfur can cause, and used for acne and oily, acne-prone skin [8]. The neutral soap, for its part, was repeatedly cited in the company's own recognitions as a leading medicinal soap in Mexican pharmacies during the 1990s.

Beyond its 19th-century exposition medals, the company has collected a long run of quality and corporate awards. These include the Trofeo Internacional de la Calidad awarded to Grisi® Hnos in Buenos Aires in 1980, the Trofeo Iberoamericano for best brand image in Madrid in 1986, and the Trofeo Arco Europa for quality and business prestige in Madrid in 1998. The company has also held the ESR® (Empresa Socialmente Responsable) distinction for socially responsible companies over many consecutive years, from a fifth consecutive award in 2010 to an eleventh in 2021 [5].

Grisi publishes annual sustainability reports, with editions available for 2022, 2023 and 2024, and displays ESR and "Súper Empresa" recognitions on its sustainability pages [4]. The detailed environmental commitments and goals are contained within the downloadable reports rather than summarised on the site itself; the company describes natural-origin ingredients as a core feature of its products.

Grisi is an active multinational. The company maintains corporate offices in Mexico, the United States, Spain and Costa Rica, sells products in more than 28 countries, and continued to acquire and distribute brands into the early 2020s [3]. Recent annual sustainability reports through 2024 and the firm's roughly 160-year anniversary in 2023 point to ongoing operations.