Himalaya Herbals

Himalaya Herbals is the consumer personal-care and cosmetics line of the Himalaya Wellness Company, an Indian multinational founded in 1930 [10]. The parent business began as a pharmaceutical maker built around Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of medicine, and the company describes itself as offering "head-to-heel" wellness products rooted in herbal ingredients backed by modern research. The personal-care range that Glowjakt lists was launched separately in 1999 under the name Himalaya Herbals, marking the company's first move into the mass consumer market [12].

The brand sits at the affordable, drugstore end of the market and is sold widely across India and more than 100 other countries. Its single most prominent product, the Purifying Neem Face Wash, is described in trade press as India's leading face-wash brand [12].

According to the company, the business traces to 1930, when M. Manal foresaw the benefits of herbal remedies while riding through the forests around Dehradun, in northern India, and afterwards devoted himself to researching Ayurveda and making herbal products. The founder is recorded on the brand site as "Mr. M. Manal"; Wikipedia gives the fuller name Mohammad (also spelled Muhammad) Manal [10] — the same person. The company's own legacy account adds that Manal observed local use of herbs and went on to identify the antihypertensive properties of the plant Rauwolfia serpentina, which led to its first notable medicine.

The original company was named The Himalaya Drug Company [10]. From this pharmaceutical foundation it expanded over the following decades into personal care and other consumer goods.

Himalaya's early identity was pharmaceutical. In 1934 it introduced Serpina, which the company calls the world's first natural antihypertensive drug, and in 1955 it launched Liv.52, a liver-support medication that became its flagship product and, by one editorial account, one of the top-selling drugs in India [12]. A manufacturing facility was established in Bangalore in 1975 under Meraj Manal, and the firm entered the United States market in 1996, opening an early office in Houston.

The pivot most relevant to the cosmetics brand came in 1999, when the company launched a personal-care range under the name Himalaya Herbals and entered the mass consumer market for the first time [12]. The Purifying Neem Face Wash followed around 2000; in 2025 the company marked the product's 25th anniversary with an influencer-led campaign and a reformulation built around what it markets as "five parts" of the neem plant.

Himalaya Herbals is part of the Himalaya Wellness Company, whose parent is Himalaya Global Holdings Ltd. [10]. The corporate structure has an offshore dimension: the holding company is registered in the Cayman Islands, where the group also established a "Himalaya House," while the operational base remains in India. Sources differ on the company's headquarters depending on what is being described — Wikipedia lists Bangalore (Bengaluru), Karnataka, as the company's base [10], whereas the brand's own legacy timeline points to Dehradun as the 1930 founding location and Bangalore as the site of its main manufacturing and research operations from 1975 onward. The founding Manal family remains associated with the business.

The company's stated proposition is that Ayurveda, when supported by modern science, can provide holistic wellness, a position it summarises in the tagline "Happiness Through Wellness." On its science pages it says its products draw on knowledge preserved in Ayurvedic texts while subjecting each to research and empirical analysis. Its declared values include opposition to cosmetic animal testing — the company states that "inflicting pain for profit is unjustifiable, especially in an era of scientific progress" and that its personal-care products do not undergo animal testing — alongside sustainable herb sourcing, community investment with small-scale and women farmers, and environmental stewardship.

The personal-care line spans face, body, eye, hair, lip, oral and baby care, as well as a dedicated men's range. Across these products the company emphasises herbal and naturally derived ingredients, including neem, turmeric, naturally sourced salicylic acid, rice-based ceramides and stevia. A sub-brand, Botanique, covers oral care, face washes, scrubs and body bars.

The Purifying Neem Face Wash is the line's signature product. An editorial brand-strategy analysis describes it as India's No. 1 face-wash brand and "practically synonymous with face cleansers in middle-class households," citing roughly 149,000 verified ratings on the retailer Nykaa [12]. The company says the 2025 reformulation is clinically tested to reduce pimples from the fifth day of use and to fade marks [11]. Beyond personal care, the wider group continues to sell the pharmaceutical products, such as Liv.52, on which its reputation was originally built.

The company has published a set of environmental targets. It aims for 99% traceability of its herb sources by 2025 and, by 2030, for 90% of its formulations to be largely biodegradable and for its farm sourcing to be free of genetically modified inputs and deforestation. It also reports having planted two million trees since 2012 and set a target of a 65% recyclable product portfolio by 2025. Herb cultivation is described as following Good Agriculture Practices that avoid chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

Coverage of the brand is concentrated in Indian trade and business media. A 2025 feature in the marketing publication afaqs! examined the Neem Face Wash anniversary and reformulation and referred to Himalaya as a market leader in face washes [11]. A separate brand-strategy analysis examined how the company built a herbal-healthcare brand from India for international markets.

In 2023, the company obtained an injunction against the doctor and online critic Cyriac Abby Philips over critical social-media posts. The Karnataka High Court ordered his account reinstated in October 2023 after the deletion of the relevant posts [10].

Himalaya Herbals is active. The parent company reports revenue of ₹37.6 billion (about US$390 million) for the 2022 financial year and around 10,000 employees [10], with products sold in more than 100 countries. Recent activity includes the 2025 reformulation and anniversary campaign for the Neem Face Wash and the construction of a manufacturing plant in Dubai Industrial City.