The Palma backstory
Palma was born in Dubai in March 2020, just as the pandemic started. My ritual on weekend Fridays (back when Friday was still a weekend in Dubai) was to go to a morning workout class with friends and then grab brunch with those same friends to celebrate that we just burned 600+ calories in near pitch dark at 9am.
This particular Saturday – March 13, 2020 to be exact – I went to a brunch spot called Eggspectation, with my business school friends. While there, we started playing with an ugly hand sanitizer on the table.
As business school friends do, we started discussing the hand sanitizer business and we quickly concluded that most hand sanitizers suck. With rare exceptions, most hand sanitizers that I still try today are runny, sticky, drying, and often smell like cheap tequila. It’s rarely a pleasant experience. We thought it was worth a shot to make a far better version of an everyday essential.
We took a conscious decision to dissect every aspect of a hand sanitizer and make it 10x better than anything out there. We built and obsessed over every detail from custom packaging, custom bottling, and custom formulation. Everything was consciously chosen by one of us after many, many, many iterations. Back in March 2020, we thought we could launch this by the end of 2020 (hello over-optimism). What a journey it’s been.
Starting a business is never easy but starting a business during a pandemic is particularly challenging. We managed the most absurd unexpected delays along the way, everything from Covid related factory shutdowns to global freight delays and everything in between. It gave me a ridiculously high appreciation of every single item that I see on a shelf at Sephora or Bloomingdales.
Thankfully, we kept moving forward and launched earlier this year. We’ve expanded our initial thinking and now see ourselves as creating healthcare products that are medically effective, have a great customer experience, and have beautiful packaging. Our sanitizer is not only FDA registered, and 99.99% effective against germs, it’s also ridiculously moisturizing and smells like the beaches of the Mediterranean, thanks to our Neroli fragrance. In every drop of our 325mL bottle, you’ll be treated to some of the most moisturizing natural ingredients – avocado oil, jojoba oil, hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, and centella asiatica. We hope that when you try Palma you will feel the difference and hopefully agree that it’s the finest hand sanitizer ever made.
I’m excited for you to experience the Palma difference. As a new brand, I would love your feedback! Also, if there is anyone that you think we should get in touch with to stock us (we already have orders to be in offices spaces and restaurants in the US, UK and UAE), or would generally be interested in helping us grow, please do let me know. I’d love to get in touch! ❤️
In health and prosperity,
Zina
- I’m sure you’re probably wondering where our brand name comes from. Palma translates to Palm, which is a symbol of protection in many Middle Eastern cultures and Salus is the Roman Goddess of Health and Prosperity
