Where it started.

We've lived abroad for years now. But home is still India. Our parents are there. So are the friends we grew up with.

Over here, we found a sunscreen we loved. It went on invisible. No white cast. No grease. We wore it every morning without thinking.

So every trip home, half our suitcase was sunscreen. Tubes for our parents. For cousins. For the friend who asked last time.

And every trip, we looked for an Indian one that felt the same, so they wouldn't have to wait for us. We never found it. Some left a grey layer on the skin. Some felt heavy and greasy. The good ones were imported and cost far too much.

Then one evening in November, the phone rang again. A cousin back home: was anyone flying in soon, and could they bring "that sunscreen"? We said yes, like always. Then we put the phone down and finally said it out loud. Why is the good one so hard to get back home? And why can't we find one this good, made for the skin and sun we grew up with?

Neither of us came from beauty. But you can't supply a whole family out of a suitcase. And the people we love shouldn't have to go without — or overpay.

So we wrote down what we wanted. Not a brand yet — a list. One honest sunscreen. Broad-spectrum. Invisible on every skin tone — because every skin tone is Indian skin. Tested in a lab. Priced for every day, not saved for a holiday.

We called the project 78 Labs. And we made one rule we still follow: prove everything, hype nothing.

That's how it started. Two people tired of carrying sunscreen home in a suitcase, deciding to make it in India instead. From here, we'll share what we learn — the samples, the lab, the tube.

If someone has ever brought sunscreen back from abroad for you, we're making this one for you. Follow along.

— Aashish & Rishitha, 78 Labs