Born of Necessity My Journey

THE STORY BEHIND BORN OF NECESSITY

Hi, I’m Hana 

Thank you for coming into my little personal space within Born of Necessity. This brand is deeply personal to me. Its name isn’t a marketing story. It really was born out of necessity.

Before Born of Necessity, my world looked very different. I used to dissect human tissue and extract human DNA. I spent almost two decades working as a Specialist Biomedical Scientist in cancer diagnostics, supporting pathologists in finding answers for patients. I loved my work. Science fascinated me ,  and it still does. I was always asking why.

Then cancer became personal.

My mum was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I had spent years handling cancer samples in a laboratory, but hearing that word attached to my own mother was completely different. Suddenly, I wasn’t the scientist looking through the microscope. I was the daughter. Within a year, she was gone.

During chemotherapy, I watched her skin become fragile, dry and compromised. I wanted to give her something more nurturing, so I created a body oil. For half an hour, I would massage her skin. It became our ritual, our time. I didn’t know it then, but that small ritual would become part of the story of Born of Necessity.

After she died, I was left with one question: Why?

My mum had always looked after herself. She ate well, lived carefully and had no known family history of pancreatic cancer. The scientist in me needed to understand more. I began reading about environmental medicine, lifestyle and the exposures we accumulate over time. Eventually, those questions brought me somewhere unexpected: skincare.

My mum loved skincare; she taught me to look after mine. But now I started turning those beautiful bottles around and reading them differently , not as a consumer, but as a scientist. Why is this ingredient here? What does it do? What evidence sits behind it? Could we formulate differently? Could skincare work with the skin rather than simply sit on it?

Then my son developed eczema.

At the time, I had stepped away from my career and was at home caring for my son, who has severe additional needs. His eczema became a turning point. I wasn’t interested in rejecting medicine or pretending plants could replace necessary treatment. I wanted to understand whether there was a kinder, evidence-informed way to support his skin barrier alongside appropriate care.

So I went back to what I knew: research, evidence and biology. I studied cosmetic formulation, skin-barrier science and botanical compounds, not simply because they were natural, but because I wanted to understand their chemistry and how they interact with skin.

And I realised something: nature and science were never opposites.

I began formulating, testing, reading and reformulating. I kept returning to one idea: don’t force the skin. Support it. Born of Necessity grew from that principle,  from the scientist in me, the daughter in me and the mother in me.

Today, I formulate skincare designed to support dry, sensitive and reactive skin while encouraging people to become more curious about what they use every day. I’m not here to make you frightened of ingredients. I want to help you understand them , to ask what they do, why they are there and whether they serve your skin.

I cannot change what happened to my mum. But I can use what her experience taught me. I can use my science to formulate differently, help people understand their skin rather than fight against it, and keep asking the question that started everything: Can there be a better way?

Nature provides the idea. I add the science.
 Hana  |  Founder & Formulator

"IN MEMORY OF MY MUM, WHO TAUGHT ME THAT TAKING CARE OF YOUR SKIN IS A NECESSITY, NOT A LUXURY"