Paume is a brand that redefines hand care with a touch of luxury and a commitment to sustainability. It’s more than just a hand sanitizer; it’s a statement of self-care and environmental responsibility. Paume’s products blend nourishing ingredients with elegant design, offering a sensory experience beyond just cleanliness. 

Related: Yes, You Can Practice Sustainability as a New Parent

Each item, from their antibacterial hand gels to overnight hand hydration masks, is crafted with the modern, eco-conscious consumer in mind. Their approach to packaging, using recycled materials and offering refills, speaks to a deeper ethos of nurturing both the skin and the planet. Paume is a beacon for those who believe that taking care of your hands is a ritual, a moment of self-care in our busy lives.

And unsurprisingly to us here at Babe, the inception of PAUME is a tale of new parenthood and a quest for gentler, more sustainable hand care. When the founders welcomed their newborn daughter, the omnipresence of germs became an immediate concern. This led to many hand sanitizers at home, often harsh on the skin, poorly scented, and packaged in unattractive plastics. This sparked the creation of their flagship product: a moisturizing, antibacterial hand gel that marries effectiveness with nourishing ingredients encased in elegant, sustainable packaging. Over two years, PAUME transformed hand care into a dedicated skincare routine featuring unique formulas, a signature scent, and beautifully designed, sustainable dispensers. Garnering accolades like the Marie Claire Beauty Game Changer Award and featuring in top publications, PAUME stands as a pioneer in luxury hand care, beloved by celebrities and nail artists alike. Your hands deserve their own care routine, and PAUME is here to provide it.

Here, we speak to the founder.

When I became a mother for the first time in 2019, my awareness of hand hygiene heightened. When you bring a newborn home from the hospital, they are so vulnerable, and you want to protect them from every possible germ. My daughter was a very fussy baby, and she basically screamed on and off all day for the first four months of her life. 

Needless to say, even the act of washing my hands was a challenge, so I turned to hand sanitizer. I had it at the front door, in my kitchen, and on her changeable so I could easily clean my hands. I quickly became very disappointed with what was on the market (remember, this was before the pandemic). The scents were harsh, the formulas dried out my skin, and the packaging was unappealing and disposable. I started to imagine a more aesthetically pleasing and sustainable hand sanitizer that was good for your skin and smelled good. I asked myself – why couldn’t hand sanitizing become a moment of self-care versus something we all dreaded? The idea for PAUME was born.

As a new parent, I became more concerned with the ingredients in the products I was using. I was reading many more labels than I had in the past and was seeking more natural, plant-based, and gentle products for myself and our family. This mindset certainly inspired our formula, which is plant-based, and uses ethyl alcohol rather than chemical antibacterial agents, as I knew this was a priority for other parents as well.

I also became more aware of packaging and waste. As a parent, you consume household items rapidly, and you suddenly create more waste than ever before (think diapers, wipes, creams, soaps, sanitizer etc). This inspired me to create refillable products to cut down on plastic bottle waste – our refill bags and refillable dispensers, while not perfect, do make a difference. Our refill bags fill the travel bottle over five times and the PAUME Pump twice.

I do think there is a general lack of education about antibacterial ingredients. Typically people associate “scent-free” sanitizers with being “gentle” and “less harsh” (myself included in the early days), but in fact, any sanitizer that is scent-free means it has a chemical antibacterial agent. Alcohol is the cleanest, safest, and most natural way to kill bacteria, germs, and viruses. Unfortunately, alcohol also smells bad and dries out the skin. I was determined to eliminate these two unpleasant features of our active ingredient. To do so, we chose a unique plant-based emollient derived from the safflower plant, not found in any other sanitizer, that hydrates the skin during and after each application. We also created a signature blend of five essential oils that effectively mask the alcohol smell with a woodsy, botanical, refreshing scent.

Before I launched PAUME, I was the first employee at Knix, the women’s intimates brand. I joined the founder pre-launch at the age of 26, and I had endless energy and very little to distract me from growing the brand from the ground up for over four years. When I launched PAUME, I was 34, and I had a one-year-old. The experience was very different, needless to say. 

Balancing motherhood and starting/running a business is incredibly tough, but I surprised myself and my ability to multitask, compartmentalize, and handle the inevitable war between motherhood and professional life. Kids force you to effectively manage time – knowing I only have certain hours of the day to dedicate to work, I’m extremely focused during those hours, and I can be more productive than I was before motherhood. It has also taught me not to sweat the small stuff. Being a parent helps you put everything into perspective. No matter what fire I might be putting out at work, the health and happiness of my children is the most important thing. Work challenges can almost always be solved. It’s also taught me to lean on my team and trust they can manage things when I cannot. I don’t have the luxury of being a micromanager, rather, I depend on my team to take true ownership of their jobs and tasks, and it’s created a culture of independence and confidence, which I’m proud of.