How ghee went from parathas to collagen masks

The aroma is unmistakable—warm, nutty, sweet but not sickly. I don’t need to be in the kitchen to know that my mother is making another batch of ghee, to be bottled and used in all sorts of dishes until stocks are exhausted. Lately, it seems that the Indian kitchen staple is all anyone’s lathering–but not just on their parathas or podi dosas. Ghee is finding its way into moisturisers, masks, lip treatments, blushes, and even kajals, as beauty brands double down on the ingredient’s nourishing properties.

“Its standout component is butyric acid, a short-chain fatty acid known for its anti-inflammatory properties. Ghee functions primarily as a heavy occlusive to seal in moisture and prevent water loss,” explains Dr Sravya C Tipirneni, a Bengaluru-based dermatologist and cosmetologist.

Even celebrities are on board: Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan are self-confessed ghee stans, taking cues from their dadi, Krishna Raj Kapoor, whose nuskas for great skin involved a whole lot of ghee and malai. Sobhita Dhulipala’s favourite lip balm isn’t from some high-end brand but straight from her kitchen: pure ghee for a hydrated pout. Earlier this year, Rashmika Mandanna and Vijay Deverakonda’s wedding gift hampers for their guests included a ghee hand and foot cream from Ayurvedic brand Shankara’s Gheesutra collection. You get the gist.

Make some noise for A-beauty

Clock the growing buzz around Indian Ayurvedic skincare—the market is predicted to reach $5.8 billion (around ₹55,192 crores) by 2034, according to reports­—and the obsession around ghee, or ghrita, an infused, medicated form of ghee, makes sense. “It is one of the most revered Rasayana ingredients in Ayurveda, associated with rejuvenation, regeneration, and youthful skin,” says Rajni Ohri, founder of Ohria Ayurveda, which has recently debuted a ghee collagen mask. “We use pure A2 cow’s ghee, also called goghrita, to ensure the highest quality and purity, and combine it with naturally derived actives like gotu kola exosomes, sugarcane HA, and okra extract to support collagen production and skin elasticity,” she explains.

Enhancing ghee’s inherently occlusive nature with potent botanicals and modern actives is what sets today’s formulations apart from the rudimentary raw ghee that your grandmother swears by. Brands are not selling a jar of ghee for dry skin and calling it a day but adapting and refining its dense profile to fit in with today’s multi-step beauty rituals.

One way to do that is by washing ghee 100 times (yes, you read that right) in a copper vessel, a process known as shata dhauta ghrita. Shankara’s entire Gheesutra range hinges on this process to create face emulsions, exfoliators, lip, and body butters that are lightweight but also penetrate deep into the skin to repair the barrier. If you’re always bugging your NRI cousin to bring home Rhode pocket blush, Forest Essentials’ creamy cheek tints, also infused with 100-times-washed ghee, takes seconds to blend and mimics a natural flush.

Meanwhile, Truth Be Told calls its triphala-infused ghee under-eye cream an elixir that soothes any puffiness and fine lines. “The idea behind using ghee is simple: it is familiar and has been used for generations in Indian families; we’ve grown up hearing about its benefits,” says Dr Vedanti Gulhane, the brand’s R&D assistant. Some have gone out on a limb to bet on ghee entirely as opposed to introducing it as a side character every few seasons. Toronto-based Ghlee, co-founded by Varun Sharma, is dedicated to spotlighting the ingredient because “mom was right”.

Vegan ghee FTW?

“My mum was a firm believer that the solution to [surviving] harsh Delhi winters was ghee. Our lips, elbows, knees—anywhere it was dry or chapped—she would just have us cover it in ghee. It was almost like a healing salve in our home,” shares Diipa Büller-Khosla, founder of Indē Wild. Like most ideas at the brand, this core memory informs the making of its peptide-forward lip treatments.

“We need to stop treating our traditions as ‘old-fashioned’ in the first place. So, for us at Indē Wild, it’s not about taking ghee and making it ‘cool’. It’s about translating something culturally familiar into a format that feels contemporary. That’s what our Dewy Lip Treatment does; the inspiration comes from something my mum used to put on my lips in the Delhi winter, but the product itself is a modern, vegan version with that same idea of deep nourishment at its heart,” she says.

A dermat’s PSA

Dr Tipirneni cautions that culinary-grade ghee lacks cosmetic refinement: “Its heavy molecular weight means it sits on the surface, leaves a greasy, odorous residue, and poses hygiene risks if the jar becomes contaminated with bacteria from the hands.” Those with oily and acne-prone skin should be especially wary as ghee-heavy products could incite flare-ups. The takeaway: don’t turn your kitchen ghee stash into an alternative to your moisturiser.