Perfora co-founder Jatan Bawa has called Colgate’s entry into the purple teeth serum format a major validation for a category that did not exist in India when Perfora first introduced its Purple Magic Serum three years ago.

In a post reflecting on the market shift, Bawa said his first reaction to Colgate launching its Purple Serum around 12 months ago was disbelief. Not simply because the product was similar to Perfora’s Purple Magic Serum, but because Colgate had chosen to price it at a premium level in a category that has traditionally been built around everyday hygiene and affordability.

Bawa pointed out that a regular whitening toothpaste is priced at approximately ₹1 per gram, while Colgate’s purple serum is priced at around ₹12 per ml. In his view, that 12x price difference signals a larger change in how teeth care products can be positioned.

For years, oral care in India has largely been seen as a hygiene-led category. Consumers buy toothpaste because it is necessary, routine and functional. Bawa said one of the biggest challenges for a teeth care brand like Perfora has been to move consumer perception from basic hygiene to self-care.

That is where the serum format becomes important.

Unlike toothpaste, a teeth serum is not positioned as a substitute. It is an additional product in the routine, much like serums in skincare. This makes the product format more premium, more beauty-led and more intentional. For Perfora, the bet was clear: teeth care would eventually follow the path of skincare, where consumers moved from simple cleansing to layered routines built around specific benefits.

Bawa described this shift as the “skinification of teeth.”

When Perfora launched its Purple Magic Serum three years ago, Bawa said the market for such a product format did not exist. The brand was advised that a new format at a super premium price point was unlikely to work in teeth care. But Perfora took the opposite view. It believed that if the category had to evolve, someone needed to take the first step.

Colgate’s entry into the same format now gives that early bet a new context. For Perfora, the launch by the country’s largest oral care player is not being seen as a threat, but as category validation.

Bawa said he is glad Perfora introduced the format, scaled it and helped create a space where a large legacy brand has now entered. He added that the teeth serum category is likely to grow faster because of Colgate’s presence.

The broader message is clear: teeth care may be moving beyond the low-involvement toothpaste shelf. With premium formats like serums entering the market, brands are trying to make oral care feel more like personal care, beauty and self-care.

For Perfora, Colgate’s move appears to confirm what the brand believed three years ago: consumers may be ready to think about teeth care differently.

Bawa ended his post by thanking Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd for introducing the product and said he would now return to thinking about new product innovation.

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