Apex father turns son’s eczema struggle into growing skincare business
Apex father Sudhir Shah began mixing skincare in his kitchen for his son’s eczema; it grew into Om Botanical and about 40 products.
A father in Apex started making skincare in his kitchen after doctors recommended steroid treatments for his son’s severe eczema. That family search for relief became Om Botanical, a homegrown brand that now sells roughly 40 skincare and wellness products and has built a regional following in the Triangle.
Sudhir Shah, the company’s founder and chief scientist, said he used his background in molecular biology and Ayurvedic remedies passed down through his mother’s family to develop plant-based formulas at home in 2011. After testing and refining the products until he found one that cleared his son’s eczema, Shah turned the process into a business built around what he describes as food for the skin. His son, now finished with graduate school, has since joined the company.
Om Botanical is based at 1019 Classic Road in Apex, where the company says it makes products in small batches in its own facility and ships orders from North Carolina. The brand’s lineup has expanded well beyond the original eczema-focused effort. Its shop now highlights Daily Face Cleanser, Magnesium Body Lotion, Moisturizer, Vitamin C Serum, Bakuchiol Serum, Eye Cream with Peptides and Reef-Safe SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen.
The company’s rise fits squarely into the economic landscape around Wake County. The county says more than 1.2 million people now call it home, with more than 103,000 residents added since 2020, or about 66 people a day. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates Wake County’s population at 1,257,235 as of July 1, 2025. In a fast-growing county where new households are constantly arriving, a local consumer brand can gain traction quickly if it earns trust.
That matters in the Triangle, where science carries weight with shoppers. North Carolina has 860 life sciences companies employing 76,000 people, according to NCBiotech, part of a broader regional culture that often rewards products framed around research, testing and formulation. Om Botanical has benefited from that environment, with its science-and-Ayurveda pitch giving it a different edge in a crowded skincare market.
For Apex, the business also offers a more personal kind of success story: a father solving a problem at home, building something that lasted, and keeping the operation rooted on Classic Road rather than moving it far from where it started. In a county growing as quickly as Wake, that mix of family story, local manufacturing and specialized wellness branding has helped turn one child’s eczema into a lasting Apex business.
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