Herborigen

I created this brand (Herborigen) for two main reasons:

First, to resolve the financial difficulties I currently face in my life, and second, to pursue my dream of building a brand.

There is a saying I particularly admire: “Though the preparation process is laborious, we dare not skimp on labor; though the ingredients are costly, we dare not skimp on quality.” This saying originates from Tong Ren Tang, founded in 1706, and remains a time-honored principle that the company has strictly adhered to to this day. The meaning of this saying is: “No matter how laborious the process or how complex the craftsmanship, we dare not cut corners to ensure effective results; no matter how costly the herbal formula or how scarce the ingredients, we dare not skimp on materials to produce a premium product.” I truly admire this philosophy, but for my small brand right now, it feels too grand and distant. I just want to do what I want to do.

Yes, I say this with all sincerity: if I weren’t struggling financially, I wouldn’t want to do this. If I weren’t doing this, I could go hiking, go camping, or just lie on the couch watching short videos—maybe I wouldn’t have to do anything at all. But the reality is, with even putting food on the table a struggle right now, I have no choice but to do this. So I can say this without reservation: I need to sell these health supplements to earn some money so I can keep going. If I claimed I’m doing this to enrich my experiences, to make my life more fulfilling, or just to act on a whim, I’d be laughed at in the health supplement industry.

Herborigen—this brand name is the result of me researching countless health supplement brands, browsing numerous websites, searching through many domain names, and even consulting AI. It’s the name I finally settled on. I guess it’s not too bad, haha. The origin of the name is quite simple: Herb + Origen (French) = Herbs + Origin. There’s no grand philosophy behind it—it simply refers to the origins of herbal supplements themselves. I remember that as soon as I came up with the name, I rushed to register the trademark and then quickly bought the domain. Even though no one would pay attention to this word, I was still worried someone else might snatch it up. Speaking of which, from a Chinese perspective, ever since Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs, we’ve been consuming them for thousands of years. Traditional Chinese medicine has a long history, and when it comes to the use of herbs, we have unique insights and experience: for example, books like the *Huangdi Neijing* (The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon), *Shennong Bencao Jing* (Shennong’s Classic of Materia Medica), and *Bencao Gangmu* (Compendium of Materia Medica) document tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of medicinal herbs. Therefore, regarding various herbal supplements (whether for internal or external use), we have accumulated thousands of years of clinical experience. How to treat diseases before they manifest—“preventing illness before it occurs”—is a topic that has existed for many years, because we are tired of taking medicine only after falling ill, rather than doing our utmost to avoid taking medicine before we get sick.

There are many categories of health products. Health foods are just a subcategory, while herbal supplements are a further sub-subcategory, and so on—we can break them down into numerous subcategories. There are countless dosage forms, such as capsules, powders, tablets, liquids, gummies, and more. Then there are various benefits, such as multivitamins for children, hair and nail regeneration, weight loss and body sculpting, pre- and post-workout protein powders, sleep aids and calming supplements, probiotics for women, detoxification and antioxidants, sun protection and skin whitening, heart health support, stomach health support, and so on. The dosage forms corresponding to these benefits are extremely diverse. In reality, we only need the ones that are effective; the specific dosage form doesn’t matter. The key is what problem we’re trying to solve. Don’t just look at the packaging; examine the formulation, dosage, and origin. Having said all this, the real challenge I face is how to harness the full potential of the various herbs and herbal extracts from around the globe that are beneficial to human health. Otherwise, the two ideas I mentioned earlier would be meaningless if I fail to address the core issue: getting these products into the hands of those who need them worldwide. Without concrete action, all this talk is just empty rhetoric—a waste of effort.

I don’t need to boast about how great our products are or how fast they work—such claims are meaningless. If they don’t deliver results, customers will abandon them and look down on them from the bottom of their hearts. We’ve all seen businesses like this collapse one after another, so I won’t bother mentioning it. After all, good products are spread by word of mouth, and a successful business thrives on mutual trust and exchange. This is a universal truth recognized by people all over the world—it’s not something that can be dictated by the health supplement market of a single country. The path of building a brand is never smooth sailing. Countless health brands have come and gone; some have flashed across the sky like comets—briefly brilliant, only to be swallowed up by darkness in an instant. I don’t want that to happen. I want this brand to be like the rising sun—starting with just a glimmer of light, perhaps obscured by clouds at first, but eventually reaching its zenith and illuminating the entire globe. Even if Herborigen eventually sets like the sun, it will have at least brought light to the world and warmth to people’s lives, leaving no regrets behind.

If one day this brand—Herborigen—truly succeeds, I hope this blog post of mine will remain online for a long time. Though it may not be of much help, it can encourage those who come after me, allowing them to earn the money they desire, support their families, and live with relative dignity. It can also show that dreams are possible and that they can indeed come true. But if it doesn’t succeed, then let’s just pretend I never wrote this blog post, haha. I’ll accept it gracefully—after all, success isn’t reserved for just anyone. Of course, I’ve enjoyed the journey, and perhaps that alone means I’ve already succeeded.

Recorded in Baiyun District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China, Saturday, April 18, 2026. Weather: Sunny