How Thai beauty brand Sudtana’s founder took family herbal remedies to Asia’s luxury hotels and resorts
Inspired by the herbal wisdom passed down from her grandfather, Mew Leelahongjudha built a brand whose products are now used by prestigious hospitality names including Four Seasons, Six Senses and Soneva.
Inspired by childhood herbal remedies passed down by her grandfather, Mew Leelahongjudha co-founded Thai beauty brand Sudtana. (Photos: Sudtana)
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Thai beauty brand Sudtana’s founder Manusanun “Mew” Leelahongjudha grew up reluctantly submitting to homemade Thai herbal treatments.
Whenever she and her brothers came home with insect bites or skin irritation from playing outdoors, their mother would head to the family garden and prepare a botanical blend that includes yanang leaves (a traditional Southeast Asian herb known for its cooling properties) and turmeric – a remedy passed down by Leelahongjudha’s late grandfather, who used to be a village herbalist.
“We complained about the smell and the texture. As children, we did not fully appreciate it. We just wondered why we had to put this green herbal mixture on our skin when there were easier options,” the 38-year-old told CNA Lifestyle in an email interview.
It would take years, plus a journey halfway across the world, before she fully understood what she had inherited. Today, Sudtana offers a range of hair, skin and body care products inspired by Thai herbal traditions, with prices starting from US$14 (S$18). The brand is used at some of Asia’s most prestigious hospitality destinations, including Four Seasons Bangkok and Six Senses Samui, but Leelahongjudha insisted Sudtana’s heart remains unchanged from those childhood afternoons in the garden.
“What felt like a simple family ritual was actually my first lesson in the connection between nature, well-being and self-care,” she said.
The wisdom came from my family. Research and formulation helped give it a form that people beyond our home could use and trust.
TRADITION MEETS MODERN FORMULATION
Founded in 2019, shortly after Leelahongjudha completed an MBA at MIT Sloan School of Management on a Fulbright Scholarship, Sudtana was established together with her two brothers, who continue to advise the business today. Leelahongjudha now leads the 20-person company, overseeing product development, brand strategy and international expansion.
It was during her time in the United States that she first recognised the potential of what she had grown up with. Watching global consumers reconnect with traditional wellness practices – and noticing how little of that conversation included Southeast Asia – made her see her family’s remedies differently.
“I saw so many beautiful products from different parts of the world, each carrying its own heritage and story,” she recalled. “But there was very little representation from Southeast Asia.”
What she brought back from MIT was as much a mindset as a business plan. “The environment taught me to build, break and learn rapidly. Failure is not the opposite of success. It is part of the process of discovering what truly creates value.”
That philosophy now shapes how every Sudtana product is made. The brand draws inspiration from traditional remedies, but Leelahongjudha is careful to distinguish between heritage and blind faith. “The team first studies peer-reviewed scientific research to understand whether the herbs in our family’s original remedies are supported by evidence for the benefits they are believed to offer,” she explained.
Preserving tradition, for her, means understanding what made a remedy effective in the first place – then adapting them to modern standards of safety, consistency and usability.
The clearest example is a childhood hair and scalp remedy that eventually became Sudtana’s Scalp Revival Treatment. The original was made fresh by hand, deeply personal but impossible to standardise – the strength of the herbs, the texture, even the scent could shift from one batch to the next.
Creating a commercial product meant examining everything from ingredient ratios and oil bases to absorption rates and user experience. Each ingredient – bergamot, turmeric, peppermint, sesame oil – was chosen to serve the remedy’s original purpose: to cleanse and nourish the scalp while supporting stronger, healthier hair, validated through consumer-use testing.
“The wisdom came from my family,” she said. “Research and formulation helped give it a form that people beyond our home could use and trust.”
We never wanted to create just another beauty product. We wanted to share Thai herbal wisdom in a modern way.
THE FARMERS BEHIND THE FORMULA
One of the brand’s longest-standing partnerships is with Aunt Somsri, a farmer in Kalasin, northeastern Thailand, who grows organic turmeric, lemongrass and jasmine rice used in Sudtana’s products like herbal masks and body scrubs. Their relationship traces back to the brand’s early years.
“Working with farmers is not only about sourcing ingredients,” said Leelahongjudha. “It’s about building long-term relationships, supporting local knowledge and creating sustainable opportunities for communities.”
During the pandemic, when many communities were struggling, Sudtana continued purchasing organic jasmine rice from Aunt Somsri and other farming partners, and donated supplies to 500 lower-income families in Bangkok.
Leelahongjudha has also worked with government agencies to support organic agriculture initiatives in the region, speaking to farmers about opportunities within the global wellness industry.
Visits to farms continue to shape how she thinks about sustainability. “It’s easy to look at a finished product and see only the bottle, the scent or the result,” she said. “But when you stand on the farm, you realise the product began much earlier.”
She recalled visiting Aunt Koi, whose organically grown sesame is cold-pressed for use in Sudtana’s hair and body oils. Her farm avoids chemical inputs and even repurposes by-products as fertiliser or animal feed. “It wasn’t just a certification or a claim. It was something she practised every day.”
A REALISED DREAM
Sudtana’s name is inspired by a Thai phrase meaning “dreams come true”, which would prove prophetic sooner than Leelahongjudha expected.
The first sign came during the pandemic, when Sudtana was still finding its footing. Amid lockdowns and global shipping disruptions, Soneva – the ultra-luxury hospitality brand renowned for its sustainability-led resorts in the Maldives – reached out. What made it meaningful was how it had happened: Soneva had discovered Sudtana independently, purchasing and testing the products for several months before making contact.
“It truly felt like a light appearing at the end of a very uncertain tunnel,” Leelahongjudha said. “It was a reminder that when something is created with sincerity and purpose, it can connect with people naturally.”
Four Seasons and other luxury names followed. For Leelahongjudha, what mattered most was not the recognition itself, but the sense that these partners understood what Sudtana stood for. “We never wanted to create just another beauty product. We wanted to share Thai herbal wisdom in a modern way while preserving the same care, respect for nature and connection to community that inspired us from the beginning.”
In those moments, she finds herself thinking of her grandfather. “I wish he could see how far his knowledge has travelled,” she said. “I believe he would be very proud.”
Being kind and authentic means letting go of beauty standards that don’t belong (to me).
THE CASE FOR SLOWER BEAUTY
At a time when beauty brands routinely promise overnight transformations, Sudtana takes a different position. Leelahongjudha describes her philosophy as “slow beauty” – not lower performance, but an acknowledgement that meaningful results often take time.
She is sympathetic to the pressures modern consumers face – social media, an endless churn of trends, and the constant messaging that every concern requires an immediate fix. Instead of focusing solely on visible concerns, the beauty entrepreneur encourages people to think more holistically about their skin, scalp and overall wellbeing. “Our skin, scalp and hair are living systems. They need time to restore their natural balance,” she said.
The same wisdom extends to how she leads. As Sudtana expands internationally, the pressure to move faster is constant. “I’ve learned that rushing can create the illusion of progress,” she shared. “You may be moving quickly, but that doesn’t always mean you’re building in the right direction.”
Small rituals keep her grounded – a few deep breaths during a hectic day, a reminder that not everything demands an immediate response. “As a founder and also as a mother, there are many moments when emotions can feel very big,” she said. “I’ve learned that not every emotion needs to become a decision.”
BEAUTY AS SELF-ACCEPTANCE
Perhaps the deepest shift has been in how Leelahongjudha understands beauty itself. When she was younger, she said, it felt like exploration – trying different things while figuring out what felt like her. “It taught me that beauty is not one fixed standard, and there is no single version of beauty that fits everyone.”
Today, it feels more like alignment. Rather than chasing trends, she focuses on feeling at ease in her own skin. In an age saturated with filters and shifting ideals, she returns to a simple question: Does this make her feel more like herself, or further away?
“Being kind and authentic means letting go of beauty standards that don’t belong to me,” she said.
That same sentiment is, she hopes, what people experience when they use Sudtana. “If someone finishes their shower or self-care routine feeling a little more present, a little more peaceful and a little more connected to themselves and to nature,” she said, “then I feel we have done what we set out to do.”
Source: CNA/yy
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