How TikTok’s Hyram Yarbro Found Self-Acceptance Through Skin Care
What do you think gen Z wants from a skincare brand?
Many gen Zers can be critical and they want to know how a product works. Marketing strategies of the past don’t work on them. People want to know about ingredients and their functionality. They look past the aesthetics and the fun, cute packaging. They want to learn what’s healthiest and what’s best for the skin for the best price possible.
That’s why you saw the rise of brands such as The Inkey List, The Ordinary and CeraVe — dermatology-focused brands that don’t focus on aesthetics or packaging. Most younger people have a functional approach to skincare. They may have just gotten their [first] job or they are looking for one, so they don’t have a lot of extra money to spend. In the past, skin care appealed to older clients who were willing to spend and wanted a luxury experience.
With that in mind, what were you trying to do with your own brand?
I wanted to introduce products that aren’t the strongest, most powerful, instant-results type of products out there. I wanted to make ones that support skin health every day, but I didn’t want to create something unless it was contributing something new to the industry.
We’ve seen so many skin-care brands come up. I didn’t know if I was going to create one until I thought: ‘What if we could combine social change and skin care, where skin-care products could be a catalyst for creating a bigger social impact in the world?’ From every purchase, one person is either provided with clean drinking water for a year or you are helping to protect forests from deforestation, which are the most pressing social issues of our time.
