History

Sarah working with one of the Arghand women on the 'first polish'

Arghand was founded in May 2005 by Sarah Chayes, a former National Public Radio reporter who stayed behind in Afghanistan to help rebuild the war-torn country. She and a handful of loyal and daring Kandaharis decided to explore a notion for how to add value to celebrated local fruit crops, long the fame of the region. Given the explosion in international demand for fine natural skin-care products, and the abundance of raw materials in the orchards of southern Afghanistan – almonds, apricots, pomegranates, the precious blossoms of Rosa damascena – Arghand members decided to try to carve out a place for Afghanistan in this young market.

The road, they all agree, has been a voyage of discovery as they have distilled the blossoms and leaves of wild plants they have gathered on the rock-strewn hillsides overlooking Kandahar, as they have discovered abundant indigenous root-crops such as licorice root and madder, whose cultivation they can now encourage, and as they have found, through their own experimentation, unexpected properties of pomegranate juice. (Please see Ingredients and Processes.)

The result is a unique line of soaps and oils, whose aesthetic beauty and skin-nourishing virtues are truly unparalleled.