Parudeesa's Maheen Khan Wants Your Deodorant to Smell Like Perfume
Deodorant is the one product in the routine nobody buys for the scent. The London founder is betting that changes, with silver as the hero ingredient and claims that have to hold in both the EU and the UAE. She spoke at Beautyworld Dubai on 6 October and answered our questions in writing.
Maheen Khan grew up in Saudi Arabia in a house where her parents wore attars. Years later, in London, she took the most forgettable product in the bathroom and built a brand on the idea that it should smell like something you would choose to wear.
Parudeesa is a fragrance-led body care brand. According to the brand, its scents are developed with the Grasse house Robertet, and its formulas combine silver with zinc PCA and probiotics. The pitch is a natural deodorant that is kind to skin, works, and layers with your perfume rather than fighting it.
Khan spoke at Beautyworld Dubai on 6 October in the session "Beauty Experts' Insights: Facts to Know, Challenges to Conquer". We sent her four questions.
Why reinvent something so everyday
"Because deodorant is something we use every single day, and yet it's traditionally been treated as such a functional, almost forgettable product," Khan says. Talking to customers, she kept hearing the same complaint: conventional deodorants have an obvious synthetic smell, and natural ones often smell grassy, herbal or medicinal.
"Why couldn't you have a natural deodorant that's good for the skin, performs well, but also smells like a fine fragrance?" The idea is to make it part of the fragrance ritual, "something you can layer with your perfume rather than something that competes with it."
When you smell good, you feel good. And I think even the most everyday products can create a small moment of pleasure.
How the attar story travels between the UK and the Gulf
For Khan it is personal. Parudeesa draws on ancient Indo-Persian culture and her South Asian heritage, and she describes herself as a third-culture kid who grew up in Saudi Arabia. "My parents wore attars and ittars, so I grew up around that idea of scent being something rich, layered and ritualistic."
She built the brand in London, home to a strong Gulf and Middle Eastern community. "In the Gulf, people already understand attars, oils and fragrance layering. In the UK, I think there's an opportunity to bring some of that sensibility into a very everyday category like deodorant."
Keeping silver, zinc PCA and probiotic claims right in two markets
"There can be a lot of misinformation around cosmetic ingredients, so we've always taken a very stringent approach." Parudeesa stays within EU requirements and adapts to the UAE's own framework. "Silver is our hero ingredient, but we also use zinc PCA and probiotics, and we have evidence and technical documentation behind all three. So if we're ever asked to substantiate a claim, we can."
Where she wants Parudeesa on shelf first
The UK stays home. The Middle East is next. "There's such a deep appreciation for fine fragrance and scent in the region, which fits naturally with Parudeesa and the way we've approached deodorant as part of a fragrance ritual." She also sees "a real appreciation for British brands and products that have established themselves in the UK."
"I'd really like the Middle East to become one of our first major international markets."
Four written questions leave no room for the hard one: what the brand has cost her so far. We will ask it when we meet.
Why it matters
Fragrance keeps moving into steps of the routine that used to sell on function alone. If a deodorant can sell on scent, the line between personal care and perfume gets thinner, and the Gulf, where layering is already a habit, is the obvious place to test it.
The harder part is the one Khan names herself. A silver claim has to survive an EU product file and a UAE registration at the same time, and most small brands only budget for one.
About Maheen Khan
Maheen Khan is the founder of Parudeesa, a London-based, fragrance-led body care brand. She spoke at Beautyworld Dubai on 6 October 2026.