Back to the formula.

The first test results are in. They're not the ones we wanted.

Some of it came back well. The protection is broad-spectrum. That means it covers both UVA and UVB — not just the rays that burn. And it holds up under strong light instead of breaking down. We keep those parts.

The strength isn't where we need it. Not by a small margin, either. So this version won't become a product. It becomes the next one.

In July we wrote that if the results came back short, we'd go back to the formula. That was easy to write when it was only a "what if." Now we're doing it.

You'll notice there's no number in this post. There won't be one until a certificate says it. Any number we shared today would be a guess dressed up as a fact. That's what we started 78 Labs to get away from. When the real number exists, you'll see it here first, whatever it says.

Here's what hasn't changed, and this isn't a brave face. The hard parts of a sunscreen are how wide the protection is, whether it survives real sunlight, and whether it disappears on the skin instead of sitting on top, grey. The lab confirmed the first two. The third, we'd checked on our own skin. What's missing is strength. And strength is the part we know how to work on.

It costs us time. It doesn't cost us conviction.

The waitlist is free and stays free. Nobody has paid us anything, and nobody will until there's something worth paying for. Your first bottle is ₹499 if you're on the list when we open.

— Aashish & Rishitha, 78 Labs