Latest / Skin Anarchy / Annie Kreighbaum and Rebecca Zhou, Co-Founders of Soft Services Skincare

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Annie Kreighbaum and Rebecca Zhou, Co-Founders of Soft Services Skincare · Skin Anarchy

• 0:00
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• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Hi guys, welcome back to Skincare Anarchy.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: This is your host, Ekta, and I am excited about our episode yet again.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I'm always excited, but like um I'm excited for our guests because this is a beautiful line and it's it's very much based on body care, which is something that I think is very, very important and we don't see enough of.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: So um without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to the founders of Soft Services, um, Annie Kreebaum and Rebecca Joe.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show, guys.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad you're here.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, how are you?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Good, Annie.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Doing well.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to get started um by you guys kind of diving into your backgrounds and like what really led you to start the line and um focus on body care and all the good stuff.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: Cool.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um this is Rebecca, by the way.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_03: Annie, I'm gonna have you start because you're a podcast expert.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_03: Annie has her own podcast, eyewitness beauty.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm gonna let you like kind of get it, warm us up.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_04: Rebecca, Rebecca's the marketing expert, obviously.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um yeah, uh, so how did soft services come about?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Rebecca and I met, um, which feels like forever ago now, back when we were both at Glossier, um, Rebecca came on to like lead digital.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_04: She designed the first website.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_04: And so we kind of got into a room together and realized that it felt like magic was just constantly made whenever we put our heads together, coming up with you know ways to use different platforms uh in in ways that hadn't been done before, whether it was on email or if you remember the Glossies first website was so different from everything else that was out there.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_04: And that's like very much thanks to the way Rebecca was is able to think so outside the box in terms of e-commerce and digital, and really has an appreciation for the brand story, which was kind of my my area that I oversaw.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_04: So um well, now I feel like you introduced me.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_03: I can't forget to introduce you.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_03: I, you know, got to know Annie actually because I was a reader of Into the Gloss, where Annie wasn't writer and actually at the time I joined Glossier, was an editor.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um and Annie, yeah, like along with the rest of the staff at Into the Gloss, you know, I was obsessed with their writing and kind of discovering new products through there.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_03: And so when I ended up coming to Glossier, it was like felt like, you know, the first day of work was so exciting to get to meet all these people I had read online for so long.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um and when Annie talks about the website of Glossier, I think I was really inspired by like Annie's work and the rest of the writers, where in editorial it felt like I was really able to be convinced to buy new products I had never seen before, touched.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_03: I was maybe buying stuff from like Korea that like, you know, didn't even have a secure checkout, but would come months later and I'd be like, oh my God, this product is to die for.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: Annie and I kind of worked together on glossy.com and we're really scratching our heads of like, okay, how do we also convince someone to buy a brand online for the first time they've never seen through an e-commerce website, which you know took a lot of inspiration from um the editorial um that I was like, you know, kind of drawn to as a reader.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I just want to say, like, before you guys continue, your website is so easy.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's so easy to like, yeah, no, I seriously, like I was like browsing and you know, like I remember just it's so easy to like just get the products you need and like check out.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like I love that you've made it so like accessible and easy for the consumer to like just go in because you know how there are some sites where it's like I can't find what I need.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_04: Like I can't yeah, no, we we totally we tried to really think about that.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_04: It's like we wanted to give those people that just want to come to the site, you know, know kind of that they they're already convinced they want to buy the products, we wanted to make that experience really easy, but we also wanted to layer in, you know, basically we oversharing all the details about the products, you know, what every ingredient does, what the packaging is made from, um, you know, what they're even the down to the percentages of like the hero ingredients and the formula.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_04: We really wanted to dig in and say, okay, we know these questions are going to come through our customer service or they're gonna be asked on Instagram, you know, customers want to know these things.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_04: So we wanted to layer in, you know, for those skincare junkies, for those people that, you know, want to know the details more.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_04: We wanted to also have that information there for them as well.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_04: So it was kind of, you know, a fun challenge to figure out how to make the shopping experience really like seamless, but also provide enough information for those people that want to know, want to make a smart purchase decision, you know, what we always talk about.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_04: The last thing that we want to do is convince someone to buy our products that they don't need them because they're gonna be unhappy with them, right?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_04: They they treat skin concerns.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_04: And if you're just buying it because you think the brand is cool or you know, um for whatever other reason, um, maybe that that we we might actually want to talk you out of it so you have a better experience with the actual physical product itself.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_04: And like ultimately that ladders up to like us, our our approach to being sustainable and you know, with so many, so much stuff in the beauty space, we really want to make sure the right products are getting into the hands of the right people.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_04: Um I'm rambling now.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no, well, I was gonna say, I feel like you led us into a great like place to kind of take a step back as to like who we are.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_03: I think that you know, we love our website, um, we love our products.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: We made this company um because we are consumers of beauty, right?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_03: And we, I think a lot of times, I think Annie and I are both like, we think as consumers, but then we also have had a ton of experience in the industry across different parts, like Annie, much more in product development, in content, in marketing, in high in strategy.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then for me, on like the digital side, on the marketing side, on business and you know, et cetera.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: But we take this idea of like we work in the industry, we can see it from an industry perspective, but we never like let go of like, okay, but as a consumer, what do I want?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's like the really kind of fun um, I don't know, like balance that we get to bring.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, okay, as a consumer, when I shop on another website, what is the thing that I really am drawn to?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like what part of the website am I spending a lot of time on and what parts of the website am I like just like cruising by?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_03: I think that that even goes to like why we even started this company.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it sounds like I feel like you know, founders' origin stories are kind of funny, but you know, really like Annie and I were getting drinks basically, and we were talking about my our we were talking about our body acne, and that was like the origin of soft services.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_03: Annie, I don't know if you want to go into that.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, it's funny we we talked about, we we kind of realized because Rebecca and I, after I left Glossier, Rebecca had already had like a really um established, like amazing consulting career working for a lot of different brands and um you know we're friends through work um and outside of work, and we were just talking one day, I think probably about a project we were working on, but obviously as things usually go, you kind of start talking about beauty products.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, even just like we we women do that, right?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like that all roads lead to like a beauty product.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: It always comes down to like a lip gloss or like some sort of skincare product.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I'm sorry I interrupted you.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_04: No, I mean it's so true.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's we we kind of it our corny saying sometimes that we um that I say is that like beauty is our love language, and I just think back to like that it is how we take care of each other, you know, uh whether it's like you braid braid your sister's hair or you help your boyfriend pop a zit on his back or whatever, that is very much how we take take care of each other at our very like core of being humans.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_04: And so on the one hand, it can feel very vain and you know, unnecessary um parts of the industry, but ultimately Rebecca and I like have a very tight bond around this stuff.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_04: And we were talking about being 30 and still dealing with body acne.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_04: You know, for me, I thought I would grow out of it.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I was always like, well, Annie knows how to do everything, you know, like you know, every beauty trick, makeup.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, whenever we get to go out and Annie gets to do my makeup is like my favorite thing of my like my favorite.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's amazing.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm like, oh my God, I've never even had knew this kind of eyeshadow shape existed.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_03: But so when we were talking about body acne, I was like, okay, you must know, like you know everything.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you've tried everything because you were a beauty editor, you were at Glossia, you got to develop all these products, you have all these secret samples under your bed.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_03: Tell me what you use for acne.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: And she was like, You wonder why I have long hair.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's like to cover up my body acne.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: And we were just like, this is crazy.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_03: And we then just started trading all of our like, you know, kind of um, to use a term that we were recently came upon, like trauma bonded over body acne.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's like I was talking about like I had gotten married recently and I like went to such great lengths to try to find a wedding dress that like didn't show on my back, and then was debating like, well, maybe I wear a backless dress, but I put makeup on my back, but oh, what if the makeup gets on my white dress?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: That would be so embarrassing, you know.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: And then I, you know, we started talking about this.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I was like, oh, well, there's this like sulfur stinky soap that I use from Amazon that like comes in this plastic jar.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: And he's like, Oh my god, I use that too.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, wait, you use that?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I thought that was just like me kind of like just trying to find any solution.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so that's really where we like started thinking about the brand as like consumers.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_03: We have so many incredible choices when it comes to skincare and cosmetics for the face.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_03: And honestly, hair today, there's so many great hair products.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: When it came to body, it's like there just was really nothing for there's nothing.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: No, not just you guys, effort in general.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I can I just say like I fully, fully understand, empathize, and just kudos to you guys for even talking about this topic because I'm not gonna lie, like I've never to this day, you guys, I can't wear a like an open back dress or like because I'm so self-conscious, because it's not just the body acne, right?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's like act acne anywhere, like it's gonna leave scars and it's gonna leave like you know what I mean, like a hyperpigmentation or like something.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like, it's such a huge issue, and I just don't know why more people aren't really like really talking about it.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you see a couple of posts, like, you know what I mean, about like body or back acne, like backnee, you know, so and but like it's not nearly in depth enough.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: There's not nearly enough, like I feel like editors or bloggers or YouTubers talking about good products that work and that you could really rely on.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I I just I just want to say like that's where I really appreciate that you guys um have focused on this issue because it's so so important.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean it's funny how taboo, especially in in the US, like we are about the human body.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_04: I think you know, we kind of saw the shift happen for face.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_04: I think you think back 15 years, I can't, I guess Instagram was around 15 years ago, but um, I can't imagine then girls being as open as they are now and guys about posting, you know, bare faced, you know, kind of celebrating their acne.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_04: Now, now acne is kind of this like fun project that people can work on and talk about openly with Starface.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_04: You have like these beautiful people putting stars, colorful stars, like all over the acne in a sense, like kind of highlighting it.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_04: Um, yet for the body, that shift has not yet really happened in a huge way.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_04: And so, you know, we really we want to be the brand that's like making it uh, you know, not something that to be ashamed of.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah, products that can live with your other beautiful skincare products.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: And I think like in terms of like being ashamed of, you know, I was we were like, we talk a lot about like, oh, you used to just cover up your face acne with concealer, right?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: And now we like treat the root of the issue and yeah, like anything.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's like not an embarrassing thing, but there's just so much education so we can actually understand is it hormonal acne?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: You know, is it acne caused by something else?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like if you do have acne, should you pick it?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, should you, you know, shield it from the sun?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_03: There's just all this education to help people not feel like alone with something that can, you know, just be an annoyance.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but with the body, it's like because there's so much taboo, then no one talks about it and we just cover it up with like basically clothing.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_03: Like we'd be just, it's like our concealer is just like never wearing something that shows that part of our body.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and honestly, like here's the thing though, honestly, you guys, like I feel like with body acne, it also kind of like for me, it dives into that whole like movement around like body positivity and like you know, like really feeling good in your skin.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's such a that's why it's so important because like I'm not gonna lie, the other day, uh like there's this phenomenal reporter.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if um you guys have heard of her, but she was uh, well, her name is Paul Kisharma, and she was reporting about like um it was just like a clip.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: She was talking about body positivity and how like brands have like created the idea of like, you know, you need to feel more comfortable in your body if you're overweight.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: But then, you know, like it was just a huge like rant, but it was it made so much sense what she said.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like almost like she was saying that because we are talking about it in such a way, it's almost making people feel even more uncomfortable in their body because there's so many issues, right?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like body positivity isn't just about weight, it's about like, you know, like we're talking about body acne, um, the scars that are left behind, putting concealer on your back, you know, so it doesn't like anything.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think that that's where like soft services for me.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: I really love that you guys are, you know, doing what you're doing because you're right, you know.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, Annie, you were talking about earlier, like we have to make this an easier topic to discuss, especially for me.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a woman of color and I know that for me, like my shoulders, even and like you know, it was always an issue for me.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I like I honestly I wear like long sleeve shirts, like I've been like that since a teenager.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it's a really important discussion and and topic.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_04: And it's funny because at the same time that there's not a ton of solutions for body acne, we are getting so much more comfortable with showing our body skin, right?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_04: Like people that get body acne often, oftentimes it's because they take great care of themselves.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_04: They're working out, they're just wearing, you know, tight, stretchy clothes, and the sweat is trapped in the skin, and it's like a human environment.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_03: So you're getting this like overgrowth of like bacteria and fungus, and or you're like deep conditioning your hair because you like really take care of the rest of your body, and then all of a sudden you're not aware that like, oh, the conditioner or the oils from your hair or sorry, from your hair products is sitting on your body, and that's what's causing it, right?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, like Annie, Annie always dichotomy.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, there's this like misconception that like you have body acne, therefore you are a gross person.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_04: Like, that's not true at all.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_04: Actually, it's likely the exact opposite.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_04: So, yeah, I think you know, for all these body body skin concerns, it's just we want to make sure that people know, like, hey, we're the brand that is aware of these things.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_04: That a, we never one thing I really want to be careful with in our marketing is like never make people feel like, hey, you need to fix this thing that you didn't already think was wrong with you.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_04: Which is like that, which is like really we try to be like, you know, really on top of SEO and stuff like that so that we can be there for the people that are searching for these things.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_04: I don't ever want it to feel like I didn't even know I had that problem, but now I'm like self-conscious that like, yeah, no, I need to buy this product, you know.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um I love that you just said that.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, wow, you know, because you're right, you should never have to like I hate when brands do that.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's like you have to get this because this is the new best way to tone your face.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, no, it's the same damn thing, you know.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's like like I hate that.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: I hate the, you know, um, the pushing, the overly like, you know, overbearing brands that are like, well, you know, this is our brand new launch and you better get it, and you know, you have to have this.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I agree with you.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's also um, you know, so one of the feedbacks I've gotten about just like not only like skincare, but just like the business of this industry is that there's just so many people out there making a line.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: And like, how do you shift how or sift through all of that and then also like make a distinction of like these are the good brands or these are not you know the greatest brands.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's because everyone's just doing the same thing.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, like when I see your line, I'm like, this is something that stands out to me because you've done it in such a simple way, and it's for a specific reason, and it's obvious like what you're trying to like offer your consumers.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, for example, like everyone listening out there, there's this amazing, you guys have a medicated breakout tonic, like clearing mist.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that you've made it so easy to understand.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's it's a mist, like it's a spray, you know what I mean, for your body and to treat body acne.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like that's I feel like if growing up, if I had had brands that were like easily showing me that, like I would have been like taking care of that issue, you know, from uh from the start.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, I think it's very, very important.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: You're right, to be very, very transparent with your consumers and only offer what you think is really needed.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_04: It's yeah, it's funny that you mentioned the format of the mist.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_04: And that's something that we try to think about too with body, but also in terms of kind of like you have opportunities when you're making physical products to really think about how it's being used and uh if you're creating waste with that.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_04: So, like with the body, with the smoothing solution or even the clearing mist, um, I had to figure out, you know, how how to apply these things and the clearing mist is like felt right because it's hard to reach areas on your back.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_04: So um a mist format works, works really well.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_04: But the for the smoothing solution, what I wanted to do was create like a chemical exfoliant for your body that you can actually leave on.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_04: It's in like a you you see it's you see chemical exfoliants pop up in like body washes, but I really feel like for those to be efficacious, then they need to sit on your skin.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you can't just like immediately wash them off.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and so my favorite, favorite, favorite chemical exfoliant that I've used for years and years is Polish Choice 2% BHA skin perfecting downer.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_04: Um, which I feel like I should have like shares in the company for how much I talk about that problem.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_04: But anyway, I know because they just or they just sold our IPO, something anyway.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_04: I wish.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but so I was like, okay, I want to make this for body, but I can't do it.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um I can't, I can't make a product that's like liquid that you'll need to apply with like um, you know, cotton pad.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so let's make it in like a gelled format.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_04: And so just thinking through those application gestures is something that um I picked up really early on when I was working with Alexis Page, who's like a really incredible product developer.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_04: She's done everything from like Claussier to like Pat McGrath and OHI and like a ton of brands.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_04: She's like really OG.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I just remember her always talking about the gestures of application.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_04: And so when you're making a product, it can't just be about the goo and the hero ingredients.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_04: You really need to think about okay, how how does it live with the person in their life?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_04: What is it packaged in?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_04: You know, where is a person gonna store it um and what else they might need to like put it on.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_04: So that's been like a real, I mean, I just love I'm so I'm such like a devil for the details.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_04: And so that's like the being able to do this with my own brand with Rebecca, obviously.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like I couldn't do, I definitely couldn't do this if we weren't doing it together.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_04: But being able to make all those decisions and really think through those details um has been like just the most freeing thing.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: I bet no, I I bet go ahead, sorry.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, sorry, I was just gonna say, I think to Annie's point about like how do people live with these products, I feel like circle back to something that you were saying earlier, which is like how does do these issues live in the like context of people's lifestyles, right?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_03: And so when we talk, you talk about body acne, it's like, okay, then we're talking about scarring.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so because there's like not a lot of conversation or education, that happened to me.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_03: I used to have body acne.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: I'd pick at it and then I'd like wear a bathing suit that didn't have a back and lay out in the sun, thinking that it would like help clear my body acne, whatever, some weird misconception that the sun would like clear your body acne.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like actually making it worse because my body acne is caused by bacteria and fungus, which grows when it gets hot, but then all the scars are getting super dark.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_03: But then even the treatments on the market, everything was only caused, like, you know, really fixing body acne.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_03: Nothing was really trying to fix the hyperpigmentation.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_03: So I think with our products, even the mist, like, you know, when um Annie was developing the product, like not only is the format super easy to use, but it's also has things like niacinamide to start to like kind of chip away at the other things around just body acne, right?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_03: Like body acne doesn't live in a vacuum of like, if you just fix my pimple, then that's all you need to do.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_03: Like there's a lot of other stuff going on.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I think that that's something we've like taken into a lot of consideration, which just feels like we're so excited to bring these, bring customers and ourselves these choices in the body, where it's like in the face category, the products are so thoughtful, the formats, it's you know, the packaging is great, this it's sustainable, the ingredient efficacy is there.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_03: They're thinking about like one product does multiple things, how does it layer into your routine?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: But we just felt like body really needed an injection of like that same type of innovation and that same type of like full circle thinking so that the so customers could really find products that not only work for them, but like that they really love using.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that you mentioned that you guys have um other ingredients like niacinamide, and also I noticed zinc is in there and you've got maximum strength, like sulfur.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's just, you know, you've really thought out that concept that this is made for the these products are made for the body, and it's you know, the skin, skin is very different depending on where it is, you know, and it's very, very important from a dermatological standpoint for us to like discuss that.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to know, like, you know, when you were formulating the products, um, what was like the starting homework that you had to do?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Was it just sitting down with the germ, or like how did you figure out like how much of what ingredient you wanted to include in your products?
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I think well, um you kind of got me thinking about something that we're trying to popularize the idea around, which is that like everybody has combination body skin.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_04: And so this idea that you just like take one body lotion and just use it from you know everywhere where you stop putting your face cream on below the neck it's it's just not um you know if you're if you are looking for results for a skin concern that that's um not the approach right so um one thing well we started we started kind of brainstorming okay what what are different skin concerns that we personally have and then we like immediately turned to uh Google Google Trend Search uh to Reddit to all these different places you know Amazon reviews just to see like what the conversations were that people were having what do people currently understand about these like skin issues and how are they currently treating them and what we saw was that it was very much a desert um in terms of both education and physical products that could actually help these things so um doing really doing our homework and like convincing ourselves A that we should leave our our consulting careers which were going great especially for Rebecca to like do this full time and like ask people for money you know to do this um you know raising money from your friends and family over a cool idea is great but like we really wanted to back it up with some data so we could see that a lot of people were searching for these things and they weren't ending up anywhere legitimate on the internet.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_04: And so that was kind of square one.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_04: And then we um you know you're starting out with not a ton of money, not a ton of time as a brand making product.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_04: So we purposely made our product development calendar we we loaded the front end with products that we can make super efficacious formulas that we could really stand behind that um where the hero ingredients are already like tried and true.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_04: We're not going to go out and put in uh you know bakuki all oil um into our formulas it's great it's not it looks really promising but the data for me as a product developer and as someone that has a brand is not there to be able to put it into a pro into a formula we really don't have any studies really on retinol or retinol derivatives for body um care anyway so I'm glad that you stick away from Bacuchiol that's good but sorry but like I don't I realize I don't think I've ever actually said it out loud.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_04: I mean that those letters together they should not be combined honestly like why named I get it no it took me a while to uh trans uh what do you call it um pronounce it as well so don't worry well thank you thank you for uh thank you for correcting me otherwise I wouldn't have known um but yeah so we we wanted to make sure that uh a lot of the claims that we're making around the formulas or all the claims that we're making around the formulas could really be substantiated so then you turn to you know a lot of this research is there urea it has been around for a century used in dermatology um used to treat like a lot of different skin concerns and it's super safe super effective we know that the the data is there that it works so that's why like we're obsessed with urea and we personally know it works.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_04: We'd been like ordering like jugs of urea toners from like Korea and just like using it all over our body all summer that summer and we were like first working on the brand.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_04: And so that would be just like an example of like the type of ingredients that we really honed in on because we we're not set up to you know really say okay now we want to um innovate in a way where this ingredient hasn't been used for this thing but we need to substantiate that with studies, with clinicals, you know, things that we um as a business like couldn't um invest in at first but you just to give like a preview of like where we're going with the brand we are making much more like complicated formulas that do require that kind of stuff now that we are a little bit, you know, we've launched, we're here and as time goes on we'll be like innovating um even more with our formulas.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: So um I love that I love that.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you know everything that you have right now that's available on the line I think it's the perfect way to begin.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know it's it's simple to understand.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's you know you you have amazing products you like you're telling people off the bat what's in the products I think those features like by themselves for me as a consumer like let me know that you guys are doing something with a lot of care and a lot of like you know you're transparent and you don't want to BS people and I love that I really love that.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I said that initially about your website because as soon as for everyone listening when you go to the website soft services.co you will notice immediately like okay here are the products and then it like right under it's like a little paragraph and it tells you like 10% sulfur wash mask spot treatment you know it just tells you right there.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I really really enjoy that and I think you know the like the easy access and the ease of you know understanding um of your line already is just something that you know for as a consumer it draws me in and it makes me even more curious.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I I am I'm excited to see the line expand and you know what else you guys are going to do.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: I will say this though you know um from my own concerns I would love to see you come out with something for like um what do you call it like not color correcting but like you know how people have like discoloration like different kinds of like like if you're brown you're like 15 shades of brown that kind of thing to like tone your skin that's like making it a little bit more even I think I I saw like a meme today or something made me think of that.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_04: But um that would be kind of cool to see we've seen that request a few times so we'll follow up with you because we might have something to send you to test out.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah we we definitely have seen requests for that and you know I think we want to just be really thoughtful around how we go about doing stuff like that.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_04: You know for me I lead our product development team I'm a white chick and I also don't have like every I don't have every skin concern.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_04: And so we really try to uh approach all of these different skin concerns especially as we start getting a little bit more quote unquote niche although we don't really believe that anything is niche nowadays, especially when you're online um we try to be really thoughtful around like you know okay is this a concern that a lot of people do have again we don't want to convince people that they have a quote unquote problem that is not a problem.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay I will tell you honestly Annie as like as the representative of brown girls all over the world this is a problem we have you know like I it is and it's there's nothing to be ashamed of it's just a part of it you know because different parts of your body are covered in clothing and then you know it just it's it's worse than tan line sometimes because it's like you know my arms are one brown you know my back's another brown it just it so yeah it'd be kind of cool to see that but I love your products and everyone listening um you really really need to go check out the line I'm gonna tag everything in the art for this episode but um definitely check them out there's not a lot of products so it's very easy to use and they're all just really you know standalone products like you know just try whatever suits you best but I I want to thank you guys so much.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_03: Oh well thank you I was just gonna say we talked so much about body acne today but we basically our first line that we launch with is called the smoothing set which is really to help with texture issues.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_03: So keratosis polaris crepe skin just like general texture all over the body and that's three products.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah ingrown hairs strawberry skin and forgetting so we have the buffing bar which is a the best physical exfoliant we believe for the body and then the smoothing solution which is the best chemical exfoliant and then also carrier cream which is like a hardworking body lotion.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_03: And then we already talked so much about body acne but our clearing duo is our um line to basically help with body breakouts and other bacterial and fungal issues.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_03: And there we have the clearing mist and then the clearing clay which we've kind of already glossed over but I just wanted people to make sure everyone to know that right now we have products for both texture and breakout issues.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_03: And then as we've been teasing there's a lot of really cool stuff coming um and launching there's some stuff launching later this year and early next year.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm super excited and yeah the um the carrier cream is uh for everyone listening is the daily toning lotion and yeah I I'm so sorry I I totally didn't even uh get to talk to you more about that but that's amazing and I love that I love that you've covered so many issues already you know with just a few products that's really really amazing and you know whatever you guys come out with next I'm sure it's gonna be phenomenal.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I can't wait.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um but everyone listening uh check out the line soft services.co is the website and um yeah I'm super excited for you guys to leave us some feedback some comments if you guys have any questions for um you know the soft services team let us know in the comments we will definitely pass them along and um thank you guys so much for coming on to the show it's been lovely.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks for having us thank you you're such a pro.
• 30:25
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• 30:58
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• 31:05
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• 31:11
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• 31:21
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• 31:28
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• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.