Latest / Skin Anarchy / Ziad Halub, Founder of Supper Club Skincare

Transcript

Ziad Halub, Founder of Supper Club Skincare · Skin Anarchy

0:01
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SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, I have a very special episode for you guys today, and just as a treat, and we get no permissions from this.
0:39
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0:58
SPEAKER_01: I can't wait for you guys to listen to this episode because he really goes in and dives into the cultural aspects of the heritage and all the beautiful things that we often get inspiration from when it comes to skincare and the products that we create nowadays.
1:14
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1:23
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1:26
SPEAKER_01: Stay tuned, and I hope you love it.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show, Ziad.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited you're here.
1:59
SPEAKER_02: Hi, Ecta.
1:59
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me on.
2:00
SPEAKER_02: I'm excited to be here.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's such an honor to host you.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: I know that you have a phenomenal career journey and a background.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: And I would love to get started there and um just kind of have you talk us through, like, you know, just everything that's led up to um the brand and all the good stuff.
2:16
SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
2:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I know, of course.
2:18
SPEAKER_02: Um, so my career has been uh an unconventional one, as are most people that work in skincare.
2:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's it's always a bit of a twist and turn of a journey.
2:28
SPEAKER_02: Um, but really, my my my career in skincare started working for a dermatologist when I was doing my undergraduate degree.
2:36
SPEAKER_02: And I was doing it part-time, and at the moment at that time I was studying archaeology and conservation of all things.
2:43
SPEAKER_02: Um and I really quickly realized I had no interest in archaeology and formulations and skincare and skin anatomy and skin biology was just absolutely fascinating.
2:52
SPEAKER_02: And I loved the industry as well.
2:53
SPEAKER_02: You know, making someone feel good, it was it was just incredible.
2:58
SPEAKER_02: So when I when I finished my postgraduate degree, I had you know a choice to go on to do a PhD in archaeology, which I by that point had very, very little interest in, or continue my amazing learning with um with the dermatologist I was working with, who was a melanoma specialist as well.
3:15
SPEAKER_02: So I there was so much learning happening there, and it was so fascinating.
3:19
SPEAKER_02: I just I stayed in the industry and my career has grown.
3:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, and really in the skincare industry, I've done pretty much everything from formulation to account management, uh, training education and marketing, like you name it, I've done it.
3:32
SPEAKER_02: I work closely with brand founders, and in doing so, I've kind of had my hand in a bit of everything.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I've heard I actually heard that.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: And I I before we even connected, I had heard that you have such um such a vast portfolio in terms of like, you know, all the experience and all the things you've really seen, the angles you've seen this industry, you know, from.
3:55
SPEAKER_01: And I and I really like that whenever I'm I had the opportunity to talk to founders such as yourself, because I think that really is what goes behind creating a successful brand is to like really know all the angles and to know what the consumer really needs.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: So I I want to I want to talk um about that, you know.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: I want to lead up to that because obviously, you know, I'm sure you saw a white space that led you to creating your own line.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: So um can you talk us through that as well?
4:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, of course.
4:21
SPEAKER_02: No, then thank you for saying that.
4:22
SPEAKER_02: You know, I've always referred to myself as a drack of all trades.
4:25
SPEAKER_02: So I'm glad I'm glad you've seen a silver lining in there.
4:29
SPEAKER_02: Um in terms of Supper Club and launching our first product, Sabzi, really, it wasn't, you know, a lot of people will create a product to fill that white space.
4:41
SPEAKER_02: And I suppose subconsciously that's exactly what happened, but that's not really how I set out to do things.
4:47
SPEAKER_02: Um, usually when I'm working um either consulting or working directly with a brand, I am tasked to create something for an immediate effect.
4:57
SPEAKER_02: So, for example, make a cream that's good for quote-unquote anti-aging, whatever that might mean, um or for pigmentation or for acne.
5:07
SPEAKER_02: And really, SAMSY uh was not created from that necessity.
5:12
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't created to treat a skin condition, it was created purely to see if I could do it.
5:20
SPEAKER_02: And you know, that was like, what would I do if I were to make my own product?
5:24
SPEAKER_02: And it was created well why while I'm at Cold Supper Club, actually, is I was I was hosting dinner, um, and 10 people ended up at my house.
5:33
SPEAKER_02: It was never meant, it was never meant to be that big.
5:36
SPEAKER_02: And um, I was cooking with these, it was to celebrate the beginning of spring uh equinox.
5:41
SPEAKER_02: So it's very close to Easter.
5:42
SPEAKER_02: And in the Middle East, we cook quite a lot, and we cook a lot with spring herbs and seasonal vegetables.
5:48
SPEAKER_02: Um, and the entire dinner table is green, it's full of herbs and beautiful ingredients and just the freshest produce you can find.
5:56
SPEAKER_02: And as I was cooking, I was like, this is the most all these ingredients are fantastic.
6:01
SPEAKER_02: I would love to see what this would look like in a in a skincare product.
6:06
SPEAKER_02: You know, what would this do for your skin?
6:08
SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's how the journey started.
6:10
SPEAKER_02: And that was about four or five years ago now.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: Um that's so cool.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: No, I love that.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: I really love that.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: I just want to I want to chime in and say how much that is so much in the spirit of science.
6:21
SPEAKER_01: Like, I can't even tell you, you know, I um recently kind of had my own little rant session on my podcast where I was just like kind of calling out all my clinician friends in a weird way.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, you guys have to understand, like, you know, science comes from like this discovery-driven mindset, you know, and that really is the essence, like what you just said, like, you know, looking at just things around us and being like, wow, I wonder what that does, you know, if you do this and this.
6:47
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I I love that.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: I really love that.
6:49
SPEAKER_02: No, thank you.
6:50
SPEAKER_02: I I I heard it, uh, and I and I, you know, couldn't agree more with uh with uh with your it was a mini episode, let's call it.
6:58
SPEAKER_02: Um it was fantastic.
7:00
SPEAKER_02: No, I totally agree.
7:01
SPEAKER_02: And I think there's a lot of things, especially when we're looking at skincare, that people don't sort of consider.
7:08
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I say people the industry doesn't consider.
7:11
SPEAKER_02: So, for example, anecdotal evidence is still data, right?
7:15
SPEAKER_02: Anecdotes are still data.
7:16
SPEAKER_02: People, a large group of people telling you this is all done this to their skin, whatever that might be, is considered data in my eyes, right?
7:24
SPEAKER_02: Even if there's not been a study done yet or the clinical study yet done, you know, if enough people tell you that this is this is happening, there's cause and effect there, and we can sort of measure some sort of progress.
7:35
SPEAKER_02: Um so I'm all for it.
7:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm all for looking at things in different ways and different angles.
7:40
SPEAKER_02: And I think really the industry welcomes that.
7:43
SPEAKER_02: And this is what I love about the skincare industry.
7:45
SPEAKER_02: It does welcome experimenting and playing around and seeing what happens.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: No, I agree, and I and I completely, you know, for me, um, from the science aspect, um, you know, I can I wholeheartedly agree with that statement because that's what really drew me into this.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: You know, I love beauty, but skincare for me was like this big, like, you know, chemistry lab in a way, in the best way, you know, and it was like getting to see these products that have this amazing, like just thought behind them.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I completely agree with what you said in the sense that like, you know, um, we have to really consider the anecdotal evidence and we have to really consider people's reviews because that it that's the beginning of all clinical data, if you really think about it.
8:27
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
8:28
SPEAKER_01: So, like, I mean, I'm not gonna go on that rant and go in that direction, but like I just wanna um no, but like, I mean, it makes sense because I'm not gonna lie, like I always say this, but like, you know, one of my earlier papers, like, you know, I basically did exactly what you just talked about.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: I was looking at my mother's um, you know, kitchen counter and she was cooking with turmeric and ginger and like all these amazing herbs.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, you know, I wonder what happened if I took extracts of all these and tested them on like Mycobacterium, and which is one of the hardest bacteria to kill, you know what I mean?
8:59
SPEAKER_01: And I saw like all these effects, so it's like we can't just we can't turn a blind eye to that.
9:05
SPEAKER_02: That's that was my whole thing.
9:07
SPEAKER_02: I absolutely and I love the fact that you know that study was done based on your mother's kitchen.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:13
SPEAKER_02: Well, all the greatest things start, I believe.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: Exactly, exactly.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: I want to actually touch upon the cultural aspect of your line because I know that you briefly touched upon that, that you know, um, Middle Eastern culture, like you guys really love your herbs and the greens and stuff.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: So I want to talk about that a little bit more, if you can tell us more about that.
9:30
SPEAKER_02: Of course, yeah.
9:31
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, so it's called SAMZ.
9:34
SPEAKER_02: So SAMZ is what I refer to as a universally understood word.
9:39
SPEAKER_02: Um, and by that I mean uh the word is used from the start of the Mediterranean, so from Turkey, um, all the way to South Asia.
9:47
SPEAKER_02: You know, Sabzi or Sabji or variations of that word are used to mean the same thing.
9:51
SPEAKER_02: And it means green, greens, herbs, vegetables.
9:56
SPEAKER_02: Um, it all connotes the same the same type of thing.
10:02
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I really wanted to call it sabzi.
10:04
SPEAKER_02: Um, the dish in particular that inspired it was um a shebzi from Iraq, which is very similar and it borrows from from the Persian Gourma Sabzi, which is a stew, and it's a a blend of these beautiful herbs.
10:18
SPEAKER_02: And the the result, you know, it doesn't you wouldn't think it would work, you know.
10:22
SPEAKER_02: You're just you're just stewing down a mountain of herbs, honestly, it's so much.
10:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and the result is absolutely outstanding.
10:30
SPEAKER_02: So um, I really wanted to honor that when we created Sabzi, um, because the formulation was just, you know, it it this was an experiment, first and foremost, and uh the expectations were exceeded entirely, you know, from from everything, from the results to to how it honored um the Middle East and sort of my own culture, which is our Iraqi, so how it honored my own heritage.
10:52
SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, I think that's important.
10:54
SPEAKER_02: I don't think sort of the Middle East is represented enough in the realm of skincare.
10:58
SPEAKER_02: So I was really conscious to make to sort of to represent it in a way that I knew how.
11:03
SPEAKER_02: Um, so adding Arabic language onto the packaging was the first thing that I was insistent of doing.
11:08
SPEAKER_02: Um, a lot of people try to talk me out of it um for whatever reason.
11:12
SPEAKER_02: Um and I said no, Arabic has to feature in the packaging.
11:15
SPEAKER_02: I want my grandma in the Middle East, who doesn't speak a word of English or French, to be able to pick it up and understand it and know what it does.
11:22
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, yeah, no, I love that.
11:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I love that.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I was just gonna say, like, I I can see people being like skeptical because I, you know, let's be honest, you know, in in the times, people have demonized uh, you know, the every Arab-speaking country on this planet, which is completely ridiculous, you know.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: So that's why I think with from a marketing perspective, people get like weird about it.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: But no, it's a beautiful language, it's one of the oldest languages, you know, and I absolutely agree with you when you're doing something from the premise of you know, expressing like heritage and giving, you know, like homage, like paying homage to a culture, you have to incorporate that culture.
12:01
SPEAKER_01: So I love that you did that.
12:03
SPEAKER_02: And and it's my culture, you know, and I'm I'm really I'm really proud of it.
12:06
SPEAKER_02: And I and I absolutely adore it.
12:08
SPEAKER_02: And it's it's it's a large part of the foundation, my foundation.
12:12
SPEAKER_02: Also the formulation, the formulation came from from herbs in that blend that we would use.
12:18
SPEAKER_02: Um, and you're right, I think the Middle East has been still Arab-speaking countries who have been stigmatized to a certain degree, and there's and there's such beauty and and wealth and culture and and just richness to that region.
12:30
SPEAKER_02: So I really wanted to celebrate that without sort of being making it a caricature.
12:35
SPEAKER_02: So everything's very subtly done, but it's all uh it's all I think well done, and and I think it celebrates it well.
12:41
SPEAKER_02: And I think more than just paying an homage, it's to give people in the Middle East access where they can see a product on the shelf and they're like, oh, this we understand, we can resonate with this.
12:52
SPEAKER_02: Finally, there's something there's something for us.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, that's extremely important.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: I completely agree, especially, you know, I I often think about, you know, when women are shopping for something, we're the ones that are always le like reading labels and reading descriptions, and you know what I mean?
13:07
SPEAKER_01: So I know that like um, especially in the Middle East, and you know, me being from India, like we like the the care of our skin is very, very like sacred in those countries.
13:17
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's something people don't really understand is that um they're not makeup-based places, you know, if you really think about it from a beauty perspective, they're more about healthy skin, glowing skin, beautiful, like natural features, and that really is the culture.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: So, like, you know, I I really enjoy that you have, you know, really addressed that accessibility um idea because yeah, there's there's a big problem in terms of like global representation of beauty brands.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: And then if people are really understanding like what to buy, why to buy it, you know.
13:46
SPEAKER_01: So I I really like that.
13:48
SPEAKER_02: I think you touched on a really good point now, and I absolutely love that you touched on it.
13:52
SPEAKER_02: It's uh the ritual in different countries are are very different, right?
13:57
SPEAKER_02: So I think at the moment in the West, we're very used to either very sort of sterile looking skincare or skincare caused, it's very functional.
14:06
SPEAKER_02: And I never grew up in a functional world, right?
14:09
SPEAKER_02: So our beauty rituals were going to hamams and you know using precious oils and using good ingredients, and it was about sourcing.
14:17
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I knew sort of, and this is actually what inspired the brand as well.
14:22
SPEAKER_02: I knew no two olive oils were the same.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: You know, now we have you know, we can read whatever ingredient in the back, but we don't have very much visibility as to where it was sourced from.
14:32
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it's a bit like wine.
14:34
SPEAKER_02: Wine comes from grapes, but the variety of grapes are endless and the harvests are different, and there are certain years that are great for grapes and wine-making, and there are certain years that are bad for it.
14:44
SPEAKER_02: And I think that nuance is really understood within the rituals, especially of self-care and skincare when I grew up.
14:51
SPEAKER_02: Whereas I think it's not that prevalent um in certain in certain places or in certain um in certain spheres.
14:59
SPEAKER_02: So it's really again bringing that warmth back into taking care of your skin.
15:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, as opposed to that that sterile box that we're used to.
15:08
SPEAKER_01: Well, also, Ziad, it's like, you know, I think of it almost like elegance too, right?
15:12
SPEAKER_01: Like for me, like I don't know if it's just because I'm also from, you know, an Eastern culture.
15:17
SPEAKER_01: Like, I when I think of oils, and when I think of like like anointing yourself in oils, I think of like, you know, I mean, for lack of a better reference, you know, Cleopatra and Egypt and beautiful places and you know, you know what I mean?
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Like just that's what people have done for centuries is use oils for, you know, preserving and for enhancing.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, we have to really, really go back to those cultures and understand why.
15:44
SPEAKER_01: And I and that's why I think, you know, products and lines such as yours are so important in this industry, because not only from a cultural standpoint, but if you really want an efficacious product, and if you really want something that is working, is tried and true, then you're gonna have to go back to cultures.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have to go back centuries into culture, cultural norms and practices because that's the stuff that worked.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
16:08
SPEAKER_01: And there's a reason it's been carried forward, yeah.
16:11
SPEAKER_02: No, I love I love that.
16:12
SPEAKER_02: And you're and you're right, there is a reason why it's been carried forward.
16:16
SPEAKER_02: And I think there's something precious about oil, so you have to treat them in a precious way.
16:21
SPEAKER_02: So we were very careful of doing that and making sure that we were we were good to do that.
16:27
SPEAKER_02: So um that sounds like a really bizarre process, but usually, sort of, you know, a lot of the times um a brand would go to a lab or they would have their own labs, and the sourcing is quite, you know, they have an oil and it works and it's fine.
16:40
SPEAKER_02: But we wanted to make sure that from field we understood exactly where our produce was coming from.
16:46
SPEAKER_02: We really wanted to honor and celebrate each individual ingredient, um, as if I was cooking, you know.
16:52
SPEAKER_02: It's yeah, I I liken it to going to the farmer's market.
16:55
SPEAKER_02: I want to pick up my tomatoes and smell them before I buy them.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: I want to make sure I know exactly where my meat is coming from if I go to the butcher or you know, know my local baker, as opposed to going to a grocery store where everything's in cellophane and everything's plastic crapped and there's no visibility as the point.
17:12
SPEAKER_02: Um so I kind of liken the experience a bit to that.
17:15
SPEAKER_02: If I'm going to make a precious oil, I want to go right back to source.
17:19
SPEAKER_02: So rather than relying on a third party, I suppose you know it took about four years to get to this point.
17:26
SPEAKER_02: Um I went to each farm, and the farms I didn't go to, my friends went to and they managed to supply.
17:32
SPEAKER_02: Um and then we bought the raw materials individually from every single department.
17:37
SPEAKER_02: Wow, that was food grade, and we were really shorter again.
17:42
SPEAKER_02: It was all about making something precious and ensuring preciousness.
17:45
SPEAKER_02: And then the minute it was, and uh, half of these, I mean dill seed oil, for example, is usually an essential oil, but very rarely would you get dill seed as a carrier.
17:55
SPEAKER_02: And we we had it bespokely pressed for us, and I haven't seen that ingredient used elsewhere in skincare.
18:01
SPEAKER_02: So we had it bespokely pressed for us, um, and then sort of we were we were very conscious to make it food grade all the way throughout.
18:09
SPEAKER_02: So even when this was um created and manufactured, it was manufactured as a supplement.
18:15
SPEAKER_02: So if you wanted to pick it up and put it into your mouth, I don't recommend it.
18:18
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't taste very good, but if should you want to, you could, and it wouldn't cause any damage.
18:23
SPEAKER_02: It's really food grade, it's really premium and precious, and we wanted to ensure that it was.
18:29
SPEAKER_02: And this is the surprising thing about it.
18:32
SPEAKER_02: You know, it sounds fluffy and it sounds okay.
18:34
SPEAKER_02: Well, what what does that mean?
18:36
SPEAKER_02: When we actually took it into testing, um, we found out that it had 79% epidermal absorption, which is huge.
18:43
SPEAKER_02: Oh wow, yeah.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's huge.
18:48
SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, like why way to knock it out of the park.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's crazy.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: So wait, so that was like the first trial that you did?
18:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so when we actually so this wasn't on our mind.
19:00
SPEAKER_02: So when I created this, what's what was on my mind just sort of finding the best, sourcing the best, blending it together, letting letting it infuse for three months.
19:10
SPEAKER_02: So the infusion process to actually make all these materials work cohesively.
19:15
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's a minimum of two weeks usually if you're working with essential oils, but really what we really wanted to make sure that it was infused well, like in the best way possible.
19:24
SPEAKER_02: So it's a really slow process to make this impact.
19:28
SPEAKER_02: So once all of that was done, great.
19:31
SPEAKER_02: Um, and as we were testing, we went through about 30 iterations of the formula.
19:35
SPEAKER_02: Uh which we tried and we're like, okay, this works.
19:38
SPEAKER_02: This really works.
19:39
SPEAKER_02: And my skin was glowing and it looked healthy, and I couldn't really pin why, and I couldn't really put anything on what was going on on my skin.
19:47
SPEAKER_02: But I knew in theory how it would work.
19:49
SPEAKER_02: It's super antioxidant rich, it's flavonoid rich, it's rich in beta-carotene, it's rich in lycopene, it's vitamin E rich as well.
19:56
SPEAKER_02: Um, the vitamin E we use is a really high, high standard.
20:00
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's got a lot of brightening properties, anti-inflammatory properties from the turmeric, which you mentioned earlier that you were testing.
20:07
SPEAKER_02: It's got a lot of pure CO2 extracted turmeric that has no heat going through it.
20:12
SPEAKER_02: So we're really getting the best.
20:14
SPEAKER_02: Um Wow, yeah, it has a lot of properties.
20:16
SPEAKER_02: So we knew in theory what it would do and how it would work.
20:19
SPEAKER_02: But when we actually put it to the test um and we had to run it through some sort of clinicals to get it through compliance, we found out actually it had the most epidermal absorption I've seen in a product thus far.
20:32
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, oh, okay.
20:34
SPEAKER_02: This is what we're doing what we're supposed to do.
20:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but that wasn't our intention.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: But I mean, it was in a way because you did it right.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: You did it the best way you could, and that's what happens when you do science right.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it is, you know, it works.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: Like, I think that, you know, that's that's phenomenal, first of all.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: You know, those results are phenomenal.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, for me, I wanted to actually share the story with you, and I was waiting um for us to have our chat because it actually the oil actually saved my skin because I recently had um I was traveling and I came to see my mother in Ohio.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: And no joke, I had not done any skincare for like a week.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: And for everyone out there who's skeptical about skincare, if you need it or not, you do, I do at least, okay, because my skin was terrible.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: It was just very unhappy.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: And I couldn't figure out why I was like having these little tiny breakouts.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't have that.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
21:20
SPEAKER_01: It's not even part of my normal hormonal response.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: So my skin was freaking out.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I'm gonna use one product, and that's where I really put your product to the test.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: And let me tell you, within two days, my skin went not only back to normal, but it was like, like you said, glowing, healthy, beautiful.
21:39
SPEAKER_01: It just felt like it was happy.
21:40
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
21:41
SPEAKER_01: Like fully hydrated, fully, you know, nourished.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: Like it just looked better.
21:45
SPEAKER_01: It looked like I had life back in me.
21:47
SPEAKER_01: So I can honestly tell you like, I, for me, it's very important that anyone I invite on, I believe in their product.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: And I can't, I really, really love what you've created.
21:55
SPEAKER_01: It's it's a beautiful product.
21:57
SPEAKER_02: I'm so happy to hear that, by the way.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: Because it's been phenomenal.
22:01
SPEAKER_02: I love I love that story.
22:02
SPEAKER_02: And it really goes to show because I honestly, when we put this to market, I had no idea what this was going to do for other people's skin.
22:10
SPEAKER_02: All I knew is my skin looked good.
22:12
SPEAKER_02: It was one shade for the first time in years.
22:15
SPEAKER_02: So brown skin usually gets discolored quite quickly.
22:18
SPEAKER_02: So my skin goes through that sometimes.
22:20
SPEAKER_02: It was one shade for the first time in my life.
22:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, it wasn't red, it wasn't blotchy, um, and my breakouts had had minimized.
22:27
SPEAKER_02: So I knew that's what it did for my skin, and I believed in it enough to launch it as a product, but I had no idea what the response would be.
22:34
SPEAKER_02: But now that we've launched, I think we're new.
22:37
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we've only been around for three months now.
22:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: Um, the response has been insane.
22:43
SPEAKER_02: I've been getting before and after pictures with very similar stories to yours, with with people even saying we didn't think our skin was bad.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
22:55
SPEAKER_02: And then we realized how good our skin could look.
22:58
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, okay, great.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know, like a boost.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: Like it's like having a child that's like somewhat smart, and then you put it in a good school, and it turns out to be a genius.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: Like, it's just like surprise upon surprise.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, honestly, it's a wonderful product.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: And and yeah, like, you know, I think the best for me, like, I honestly, I am a scientist through and through.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: I've been glad since I was eight years old.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: So for me, proof has to be there.
23:22
SPEAKER_01: And when I saw what it did to my skin, I was like, yeah, he I think he just created something very miraculous.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if he fully understands how great this is, but I was so excited.
23:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, with my results.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: So I can definitely imagine, you know, the amazing feedback.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: I actually want to ask you though, like, um, in terms of like any like hurdles you faced, and also like, you know, as a man in this industry, like doing this, you know, coming out with a line, like, how has that been, like that whole experience?
23:50
SPEAKER_02: That's a that's a really good question.
23:52
SPEAKER_02: Um so I think let's start with the hurdles.
23:55
SPEAKER_02: So the hurdles were where every every other step was was a difficult one.
24:00
SPEAKER_02: Um, I really threw the rule book out, I suppose.
24:03
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't smell, I mean, it doesn't smell like a facial oil, right?
24:08
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't have that grainy, rosy smell.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: It smells like the ingredients, it smells like coriander and parsley and dill, and I think it smells like the best salad on the planet, honestly.
24:18
SPEAKER_01: That's what I feel like.
24:20
SPEAKER_02: It's like the most it smells green, yeah.
24:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
24:24
SPEAKER_02: So I think sort of that in and of itself is sort of a bit of a testament to not playing by the rules.
24:31
SPEAKER_02: Um I was I was really conscious not uh so how most products are formulated and sort of every other one that I've seen.
24:40
SPEAKER_02: 95% would be a base, be that an oil or a cream, whatever it might be.
24:44
SPEAKER_02: So it'd be water or it'd be a carrier oil, usually grapeseed oil or sunflower seed oil.
24:50
SPEAKER_02: And then you would leave 5% for the active ingredients.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: And that's not how I wanted to do things.
24:55
SPEAKER_02: I can I conceptualized everything as I would food.
24:58
unknown: Yeah.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: What would that look like as a plate?
25:01
SPEAKER_02: Right?
25:01
SPEAKER_02: Would I be excited to eat that?
25:03
SPEAKER_02: Would I be excited?
25:04
SPEAKER_02: Probably not if I got five percent food and the rest was the rest was one giant sort of mass.
25:11
SPEAKER_02: So I didn't I didn't want to do that.
25:13
SPEAKER_02: I really wanted every single um percentage to count and to matter, and I think that in and of itself created a huge amount of problems because there was no reference to how to formulate, right?
25:24
SPEAKER_02: So the robot was thrown out.
25:26
SPEAKER_02: I was like, no, I want it to all be active, so that was hard.
25:29
SPEAKER_02: And then going to each farm and sourcing from source, really, and making sure everything was food grade was incredibly difficult logistically.
25:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, to even, I think, sort of um, so the bottom bottle is inladen in 24 karat gold.
25:43
SPEAKER_02: And even that was a nightmare, because getting gold into glass and then making it not be able to scratch off to make it scratch resistant is a nightmare in and of itself.
25:53
SPEAKER_02: And because I was meticulously in control of every single aspect, all the way from sort of is the soil being regenerated after farming, you know, small things that you would never really think to ask.
26:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it just it became a a monumentous project, became huge.
26:11
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I think taking that on by myself was a steep learning curve, and I think that that's really where the main difficulties were.
26:20
SPEAKER_02: Um in terms of being a man, I think because this is an industry I've been in for for 12 years now, yeah.
26:28
SPEAKER_02: I don't quite feel it, but I'm sure I'm sure it will have I'm sure I'll I'll understand the challenges that that faces perhaps slightly later on.
26:39
SPEAKER_02: Um at the moment it's been smooth sailing and I, you know, and I don't I I think yes, it's uh I think the men are always meant to be doctors or considered to be doctors, you know, that's the norm.
26:52
SPEAKER_02: If you're a male founder, then you're usually a dermatologist.
26:56
SPEAKER_02: Um so again, time will tell how that affects me later on down the line.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: No, I absolutely love that this is like coming from you because honestly, men in my aspect are very underrepresented in the skin health space, you know, and I have a real problem with that because I, you know, you can't I cannot tell you, you know, how difficult it has been for me to convince even my guy friends to like try a sunscreen or try an oil, you know what I mean?
27:24
SPEAKER_01: So it's like it bothers me to my core because I'm like everyone has skin, you know, like this this conversation has happened so many times, right?
27:31
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not gonna like go and reiterate everything, but everyone has skin.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: And trying to convince a man to use a you know, a product that technically would fall into the beauty category, even though it's a health product in a way, you know, if you think about it, is very difficult.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: So that's why I, you know, that's why I really, really love that you are behind this line and that it is so efficacious and it is working so well, because I find it to be easier to like suggest to my guy friends like you should try this because guess what?
27:59
SPEAKER_01: Who guess who formulated it?
28:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, a guy formulated it.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it's not in like a pink packaged bubble sealed whatever, you know, it's a it's a beautiful product.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: So that's why I asked you that is that this representation aspect.
28:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think and you make a really good point.
28:15
SPEAKER_02: Um, in terms of being a founder, I think you know, we we need more female representation everywhere.
28:20
SPEAKER_02: So me being a minority in one industry really doesn't bother me in that aspect.
28:25
SPEAKER_02: But I think but I think you're right in the sense that that more men need to take care of their skin because it is a health thing that they need to do, not it's not a it's not a luxury.
28:36
SPEAKER_02: Um but to but to that that a lot of men do actually weirdly like this product.
28:42
SPEAKER_02: Um I've had a lot of stories of you know, this has been on on their on their sort of bathroom counter, and their my friends' male partners would see it and go like, what's this?
28:54
SPEAKER_02: Because it is it's it's quite unisex looking, it's quite unassuming.
28:59
SPEAKER_02: And we wanted to make the packaging that way as well.
29:01
SPEAKER_02: We really wanted to, there were two main points.
29:03
SPEAKER_02: I needed the packaging to just kind of look classically elegant.
29:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, and the other point is that I didn't want the my branding to be all over the packaging.
29:12
SPEAKER_02: There's nothing worse than sort of going into someone's bathroom and seeing a million different logos from brands trying to fight for space.
29:18
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I wanted the bottle just to kind of sit there.
29:21
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I think that in and of itself appeals to a lot of people.
29:24
SPEAKER_02: So I think curiosity makes them want to open open the bottle and try it out.
29:29
SPEAKER_02: But um, it's I completely agree.
29:30
SPEAKER_01: No, it's a beautiful product.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: Aesthetically, it's beautiful.
29:33
SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, it's it looks very elegant on your vanity, and it's really one of those like standalone products.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: That's what I love so much about it, is that it's something that, you know, if you are somebody who is a very, very much a minimalist in the skincare space and you really want that one product, like this is it, you know, like you can use this and put this on your vanity and be like, this is my daily ritual, you know, like I can use this every day and I'm going to be doing something very good for my skin.
30:01
SPEAKER_01: And that's exactly the kind of products we need because, you know, right now, like the whole conversation is revolving around, well, there's too many products, there's too many brands, there's too many blah, blah, blah.
30:11
SPEAKER_01: But it's like, and then Gen Z comes in with their like excessive use of like peels, you know, and just ruins it for everybody.
30:18
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, it's not about that, it's about creating products that are multi-use, that are able to work, you know what I mean?
30:26
SPEAKER_01: And you're able to see results so that once the consumer does see the results, they keep coming back.
30:31
SPEAKER_01: Because how are you gonna form a habit if you don't see results?
30:34
SPEAKER_01: And like with your oil and your product, like I can I just mentioned that.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: Like in two days, I saw a difference in my skin.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: So if I can see that, you know what I mean?
30:42
SPEAKER_01: Like, you see where I'm trying to go with this?
30:44
SPEAKER_01: Like, if you can see that, that's what really like facilitates like habit formation and the reuse of products that are really letting them work for your skin.
30:53
SPEAKER_02: I I love that, I completely agree, you know.
30:56
SPEAKER_02: And there's that, I think there's something problematic with having a million different products on your on, you know, on rotation.
31:04
SPEAKER_02: There's no need, right?
31:06
SPEAKER_02: And and also your skin, your skin's only absorbing a certain percentage of it, and your skin's not happy.
31:11
SPEAKER_02: I mean, your skin's a barrier.
31:13
SPEAKER_02: You're not it's not meant to sort of receive a million different conflicting messages from from a thousand products that you have lying on your shelf.
31:22
SPEAKER_02: I think keep it consistent, and consistency is key with skincare.
31:25
SPEAKER_02: Using a few things that work really well to make sure that your skin is nourished, hydrated, um, and to make sure that your skin is protected against the environment.
31:33
SPEAKER_02: And you know, skincare could be very, very simple.
31:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, it could be super complex, but um, but if you do it complex, then I think there's more margin for error.
31:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yes.
31:45
SPEAKER_02: A lot of people, um, especially previously when I was working in clinic, I suppose, um, would come in with sensitized skin, thinning skin because they've used 10% glycolic on their, you know, 10% glycolic every single day for the last 10 years.
31:58
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, oh, that's not gonna end well.
32:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:04
SPEAKER_01: Wow, that scared me.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: I just had like flashbacks of like just experimenting with skincare when I first started.
32:10
SPEAKER_01: But no, I mean, honestly, like that's you're right, you're right.
32:13
SPEAKER_01: And that's that's the problem, is that brands keep pushing out differ the same thing in different packaging.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's where the real problem in the industry is.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: It's not about, you know, we have too many skincare.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: No, we have too many redundancies.
32:26
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's really where it really comes down to.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: And that's why I think what you've created is so beautiful and it's it's is just so unique because, like you said, like it's basically taking, you know, food grade, like, you know, criteria and applying it to what we put on our skin, which is food for your skin.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: If you think about it, that's it's skin food.
32:46
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
32:47
SPEAKER_01: Like it's it's really, and so you have to be very, you know, very meticulous, very careful.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, I just want to commend you.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: I think the line is is beautiful.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: Everyone listening, you guys, I wouldn't tag everything in the um art for this, but it's a phenomenal product.
33:01
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, I'm so excited that you came on the show to share all the journey and the whole journey with us.
33:06
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
33:07
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for the question.
33:09
SPEAKER_01: It's my honor.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, everyone listening, please go check out the brand.
33:14
SPEAKER_01: I will link everything, like I said, leave some comments.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: And if you have results, leave them in the comment section so we can share them with Ziyad and his team.
33:22
SPEAKER_01: But thank you so much.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
33:25
SPEAKER_01: So I'll be back next time.
33:27
SPEAKER_02: For sure.
33:28
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for having me.
33:29
SPEAKER_02: It's been a blast.
33:29
SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, so I hope you love that episode.
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34:36
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