I didn't start Zema because I spotted a gap in the market.

My sister has had eczema since she was a child. As she got older, seborrheic dermatitis and scalp psoriasis came with it. Most people don't understand what that actually means day to day. The kind of itch that wakes you up at 3am. The flaking you find on your shoulders before an important day. The way you stop wearing certain colours, stop leaning back on seats, stop feeling comfortable in your own skin. She never complained. She just quietly managed it, tried everything that was recommended to her, and quietly got let down by all of it.

The products she tried either didn't suit her skin, irritated it further, or were full of fragrance and filler she never asked for. Some of them were marketed directly at people like her. They still let her down.

I couldn't accept that the best answer available was "keep trying things and hope."

So I started reading. Properly. And then I did the most sensible thing I've done in this whole process: I found a UK cosmetic chemist who knows far more than I ever will, and we built the formula together. Short ingredient list. Fragrance-free. Every ingredient there to do one of three jobs: soothe, hydrate, or support the skin barrier. Nothing there because it photographs well.

Zema is my answer to the shelves she stood in front of for years.

To be clear about what Zema is: it's a cosmetic, not a medicine. It won't treat her conditions, and we will never tell you otherwise. It's made for the skin she lives in, for scalps prone to dryness, flaking and itch, and for the days that are harder than others.

My sister is the reason this brand exists. So are the thousands of people who know exactly what her mornings feel like.

We're still at the beginning. But we're doing this properly, and we're not cutting corners.