Tapur Gupta Is Making Skincare Simpler With Root Labs: Why the 24-Year-Old Founder Is Rethinking Beauty for Indian Skin

At 24, entrepreneur Tapur Gupta is building a skincare company around an idea that runs counter to one of beauty’s most persistent messages: that better skin requires more products, more active ingredients and increasingly complicated routines.

As the founder of Root Labs, Gupta is taking a barrier-first approach to skincare, with a focus on what she describes as hormone-considerate formulations designed for Indian consumers. Her philosophy is straightforward: healthy skin does not constantly need to be “fixed”. It needs appropriate support, consistency and time.

“I believe our skin already knows how to heal itself. It doesn’t need to be constantly corrected or overwhelmed with stronger actives and complicated routines,” Gupta says.

That philosophy is rooted in personal experience. A skincare routine that had worked well for her while living in Singapore began causing problems after she returned to India. The experience eventually led her to strip her routine down to the basics—and ultimately became the starting point for Root Labs.

How Tapur Gupta’s own skincare experience led to Root Labs

Before returning to India, Gupta had built an elaborate, ingredient-heavy skincare routine in Singapore.

Her mornings included a gentle cleanser, exfoliating toner, hyaluronic acid serum, niacinamide, moisturiser and sunscreen, along with a rotating active and gua sha. At night, she used peptides and retinol.

At the time, the routine appeared to be working.

Her skin was clear and smooth, and the results reinforced the idea that an extensive routine was the right approach.

But after moving back to India, things changed gradually.

The same products and steps that had worked for her began to leave her skin increasingly sensitive. She started experiencing irritation and breakouts—something she had not previously dealt with in the same way.

Her first response was to add more products.

Instead of stepping back, she intensified her routine with a 30% AHA and 2% BHA peel, salicylic acid toner, masks and additional actives. The attempt to correct the problem ultimately made it worse.

“I was actually making it worse and eventually broke my skin barrier,” Gupta recalls.

The turning point came when she stopped trying to outsmart her skin.

She abandoned the elaborate routine and returned to three fundamentals: a gentle cleanser, a simple moisturiser and sunscreen.

There was no dramatic intervention. She simply gave her skin time.

Slowly, it recovered.

The lesson behind a simpler skincare routine

For Gupta, the experience changed the way she thought about skincare.

She did not suddenly discover a miracle ingredient or a more powerful treatment. Instead, she realised that removing products could sometimes be just as important as adding them.

“I realised I didn’t need to keep interfering. Sometimes, your skin just needs the right support and the space to do its job,” she says.

That principle now sits at the centre of Root Labs.

The brand is designed around uncomplicated routines and formulations that aim to support the skin barrier rather than constantly push it through aggressive treatment cycles.

It is an approach that also challenges a familiar beauty marketing model, where stronger ingredients and faster results often become the headline.

Gupta’s proposition is quieter: understand the skin, avoid unnecessary disruption and create products that fit realistically into everyday life.

Why Root Labs is focusing on hormonal life stages

One of the brand’s distinguishing ideas is its focus on what Gupta calls hormone-considerate skincare.

Rather than viewing skin only through categories such as oily, dry, combination or sensitive, Root Labs considers the possibility that skin needs can change throughout different stages of life.

Puberty, menstrual cycles, pregnancy, postpartum changes and menopause can all coincide with changes in the way skin behaves.

Gupta says she did not initially think about skincare through that lens herself.

The idea became clearer during the product-sampling stage for Root Labs.

Around Bhai Dooj, she created skincare kits for women and girls in her extended social circle, including aunts, cousins and friends at different ages and life stages.

When she returned for feedback, she noticed something unexpected.

The concern was not simply whether the products would work.

People wanted to know whether the products were appropriate for them at that particular point in their lives.

One aunt was pregnant and wanted to consult her doctor before using a new product. Someone with highly sensitive skin was reluctant to experiment. Another person had a young daughter and was unsure what skincare would be suitable for her.

That experience helped Gupta identify what she saw as a gap in the market.

“People weren’t asking, ‘Will this work for my skin?’ They were asking, ‘Is this right for me, at this stage of my life?’” she says.

Making the science easier to understand

Terms such as “hormone-safe” and “hormone-considerate” can sound technical to consumers who are unfamiliar with the conversation around hormonal changes and skincare.

Gupta says Root Labs tries to approach the subject through everyday experiences rather than overwhelming customers with scientific terminology.

The brand’s educational approach focuses on explaining that hormonal fluctuations can influence the skin during different periods of life.

Instead of presenting consumers with lengthy scientific explanations, Root Labs aims to break subjects such as ingredients, hormones and the skin barrier into smaller, easier-to-understand pieces.

For Gupta, education is part of the product experience.

The objective is not simply to tell consumers what to buy, but to help them understand why a formulation exists and what role it is intended to play.

Building skincare specifically for Indian conditions

Root Labs also positions itself around the idea that skincare developed for one environment cannot automatically be assumed to perform identically in another.

Gupta says the brand considers factors relevant to Indian consumers, including melanin levels, humidity, pollution, sun exposure, hard water and skin sensitivity.

That can affect decisions around ingredients, textures, stability and everyday usability.

The brand also pays attention to how easily consumers can use and store a product correctly.

Gupta cites vitamin C as an example of an ingredient that can be challenging because of its stability requirements. Rather than relying on consumers to manage complicated storage conditions, she says Root Labs prefers formulations that are comparatively stable and forgiving.

The company also approaches strong actives cautiously.

For melanin-rich skin, irritation and inflammation can be particularly relevant because post-inflammatory pigmentation can become a visible concern. Gupta therefore says the brand is careful about harsh actives and excessive exfoliation.

Consumer feedback is part of Root Labs’ development process

For Gupta, formulation is not something that ends when a product reaches the market.

Root Labs has built a brand ambassador community that tests products across different skin types and conditions. Feedback from those users is then incorporated into research and development.

This creates an iterative product-development model rather than treating the first formulation as the final answer.

Gupta says the company also manufactures in-house, allowing it to respond to consumer feedback and make formulation changes more directly.

That flexibility has influenced even decisions outside the formula itself.

Packaging provides one example.

The company initially wanted to avoid monocartons as part of an effort to reduce packaging waste. However, feedback from customers suggested that the packaging served a useful purpose, prompting the company to reconsider its original decision.

For Gupta, being willing to change is part of building the brand.

But there is one area where she says Root Labs will not compromise: the formulation.

“Every ingredient, percentage, texture and claim has to have a reason behind it,” she says.

The philosophy is deliberately selective: launch fewer products if necessary, but continue improving them rather than adding new SKUs simply to expand the catalogue.

What being a young founder has taught Gupta

Gupta began building Root Labs at 23 and is now 24, making her one of the younger founders operating in India’s beauty and skincare space.

Age, she says, can sometimes influence how suppliers and manufacturers initially perceive her.

There have been situations where people assumed she was working on a hobby rather than building a serious business.

But she has found that perception changes once conversations move from age to product development.

Gupta says she focuses on understanding the details behind every formulation decision, from the choice and concentration of an ingredient to texture and overall product design.

“I don’t try to prove myself based on my age. I let the work and how deeply I understand the product speak for me,” she says.

It is a practical approach to credibility: rather than attempting to appear older or more experienced, she relies on product knowledge.

Can a slower skincare message compete with the promise of instant results?

The beauty industry has trained consumers to expect visible transformation.

Products often promise brighter skin, smoother texture or dramatic results within short periods, while social media can reinforce the idea that an increasingly complicated routine is evidence of serious skincare.

Root Labs is taking a different position.

The brand tells consumers what its products are designed to do and sets expectations around realistic outcomes.

Gupta acknowledges that the company is still relatively young and continues to learn what resonates most strongly with consumers.

Its offline interactions have provided some of the clearest feedback.

At pop-ups and events, Gupta says customers often ask questions about individual products, their formulation and the reasons behind specific ingredients.

Those conversations, she says, have frequently translated into strong consumer responses.

For Gupta, the interaction matters because trust can be difficult to establish through a product label alone.

When customers understand why a product was created and what it is intended to achieve, they can make a more informed decision about whether it belongs in their routine.

Root Labs has changed Gupta’s own beauty habits

Building the company has also influenced Gupta’s personal relationship with beauty.

She describes herself as someone who was once much more invested in makeup but has gradually become more comfortable with minimalism.

Today, she prefers the feeling of almost bare skin.

Even when she experiences a breakout, her instinct is no longer necessarily to cover it with heavier makeup. Instead, she prefers to minimise additional irritation and allow her skin time to recover.

That personal shift closely mirrors Root Labs’ broader philosophy.

For Gupta, skincare is no longer about constantly pursuing a flawless appearance. It is about understanding what the skin needs and resisting the urge to intervene unnecessarily.

Being comfortable without heavy makeup has also given her another reason to remain transparent about her own skin.

“Being comfortable going bare-faced has also meant I get to actually show what Root Labs has done for my skin,” she says.

The bigger idea behind Tapur Gupta’s skincare venture

Root Labs is still a young company, but its proposition reflects a larger shift taking place in beauty: consumers are becoming increasingly interested in routines that are simpler, more understandable and suited to their actual lifestyles.

Gupta’s approach combines her academic background in consumer psychology with experience across beauty and fashion businesses, including Coco Veda, Coco & Eve and Nykaa Fashion.

Her psychology background influences how she thinks about trust and communication, while her industry experience has shown her how easily skincare can become intimidating.

The result is a brand that attempts to make the conversation less complicated.

Rather than asking consumers to chase every new active or follow an elaborate routine, Root Labs starts with a more fundamental question: what does your skin actually need?

For Gupta, the answer is not always another product.

Sometimes, it is simply better support, a stronger barrier and enough time for the skin to do what it is naturally equipped to do.