When Erim Kaur launched her haircare brand in 2019, she wasn’t just building a business — she was honoring a legacy. The Indian-origin entrepreneur and influencer based in London has since turned her personal story and cultural heritage into a fast-growing beauty empire.
Kaur, who boasts more than 7 lakh followers across Instagram and TikTok, is the founder of ByErim, a luxury haircare label centered around traditional Indian ingredients. Its flagship product — a hair growth oil made from a blend of eight pure oils including amla, coconut, castor, and amla — has become a bestseller, helping the brand generate over $4 million (about Rs 34 crore) in revenue since its inception, CNBC Make It reported.
The 30-year-old attributes her brand’s rapid growth to her strong digital presence and a clear sense of purpose. She says her content resonates with a core audience of young Indian men and women who seek not just beauty products, but also guidance and representation.
“I think one of the strongest messages I’ve always had has been that I want to do it for girls or boys that have grown up without a mum and sisters,” Kaur told CNBC Make It.
Her mission is deeply personal. Kaur was just eight years old when her mother died from breast cancer. Among her most vivid memories is her mother’s long hair, which she recalls as a defining feature — one that embodied beauty and strength.
“I really wanted to emulate the way that my mother looked,” she said. “It was scary to see her lose the identifying part of what people saw as something that contributes so heavily to her beauty.”
After her mother’s death, seeking connection and comfort, Kaur turned to her paternal grandmother. It was during those formative years that her grandmother began treating her hair with various oils. Six years later, they eventually arrived at a blend that Kaur would continue to use well into adulthood. That same formula now forms the foundation of ByErim’s signature hair oil. “We spent countless hours together in her kitchen, surrounded by the scent of herbs and oils, experimenting with unconventional and quirky concoctions,” Kaur wrote in her website.
She added that she wanted to “create a shortcut for any girls or boys that had grown up without a mum, which is why I started to speak about that experience on my page.”
After gaining 100,000 followers in 2019, Kaur decided to monetise her social media and build ByErim as a brand a brand that speaks to identity, memory, and empowerment while paying homage to both her mother and grandmother — one bottle at a time.