Everything You Got Wrong About the Saudi Sun

Saudi Arabia had no sunscreen of its own, in one of the hottest climates on earth. Ghadi Alshehri spent three years fixing that.

 

Ghadi is the founder of Borderline Beauty, the first homegrown Saudi sunscreen. She sat down with Carly and Vesna in Riyadh to talk about the gap she found, the science most of us were never taught, and what it takes to build something Saudi-made right now.

 

In this episode:

- How she found the gap on an ordinary Tuesday at work

- Chemical vs mineral sunscreen, and why it actually matters

- Why UV passes through glass, clothes, and cloudy skies

- Three years of formulation in Korea, and the "impossible" brief

- Growing up between Manchester and Riyadh

- Vision 2030, being seen, and building something local

- Her advice for the next Saudi founder

 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts: pod.link/insidesaudi

 

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Hosts: @caroverman and @vesnapetrovicx

Guest: Borderline Beauty @borderlinebeautysa

 

Chapters

00:00 The country with no sunscreen

00:35 Meet Ghadi and Raghad

02:00 The Tuesday she found the gap

05:00 Chemical vs mineral, explained

09:00 The myths: glass, clothes, cloudy days

13:00 Three years, Korea, and a formula that didn't exist

18:00 Manchester to Riyadh, and coming back

24:00 Vision 2030 and building something Saudi-made

30:00 Advice for the next founder

 

#SaudiArabia #Vision2030 #MadeInSaudi #SaudiBeauty #Riyadh