Hello and welcome to the Smart Beauty podcast. I'm your host, Viola Levy, beauty journalist
and founder of copy-led branding agency, Smart Beauty Creative. We're here to create your
brand voice and craft the story behind it. So today's guest is Lauren Bell, the inspiring
founder behind Cosy Care, a groundbreaking brand that's redefining how we manage itchy
eczema-prone skin. Lauren's journey began with a personal mission to create a safe
steroid-free solution for her brother, who battled severe eczema and topical steroid withdrawal
for years. What started as a university project has since grown into a multi-award-winning
global brand, celebrated for its innovative, stylish and effective safe-scratching devices.
Lauren is not just a beauty founder, but a trailblazer who's turning personal pain points
into a thriving business that's helping thousands find relief. I'm so excited to dive into her
story, her unique approach to product design and what's next for Cosy Care. Welcome, Lauren.
Hi, yeah, thank you so much for having me. Oh, it's a pleasure. So your brother's eczema
struggles initially sparked the idea for Cosy Care. I mean, it's an issue that I've personally
been affected by, my friends have been affected by. I mean, we know so many people that have
this issue. So how did you identify the gap for a safe-scratching device and what made
you confident that this problem could be solved? So yeah, my little brother has had eczema
since he was about three, and I studied product design and engineering at university. So when
it was time to do my kind of final year major project, we were tasked to kind of solve a
problem through design. That was the kind of overarching theme. So I spent weeks thinking
like, oh my gosh, what am I going to create? I was thinking of heels that you can wear,
flat and you know, like random things. And then I was like, actually, I want to solve
a problem where that my family can relate to. And then I looked at my brother and thought,
oh my gosh, my brother's lived with eczema, itchy skin, the struggle of trying to help
him through scratching and just stop scratching or stop scratching. It's such a like famous
phrase in my household. So I focus like all my energy into solving that specific problem
for my brother. And I think through my research, then realize how many people actually live
with the same condition, live with the same problems. And that there was nothing really
centered around instant relief. So that's kind of how it all started. And quite quickly,
I started to realize how, you know, how the sheer scale of the market and the sheer scale
of the problem.
Definitely, because you're told sort of not to scratch, which is not very helpful when
you're in the throes of it. And like your brother, I sort of became a bit addicted to
topical steroid treatment myself. So I see.
Luckily, my ex was no longer an issue. But when it was, it was really bad. So it's, yeah,
I think it's a massive issue that not many people talk about.
Yeah, of course.
And I know you come from quite a creative and entrepreneurial family background. Can
you tell us a bit about how that influenced your approach to bringing this to market?
Yeah, so my, my dad runs a business. My brother also runs his own barbering business. So I
think naturally I've always been around very entrepreneurial people, kind of people that
have ideas and kind of want to do things to themselves in that respect. So yeah, I found
my dad very inspiring in that way. And even when we, my brother, we're younger, we used
to like make cards and sell cards around like the neighborhood. It was kind of just like,
we were always a little bit creative and trying to think of ways to make money and try and
think of ways to like to do stuff quite differently. So it's always kind of been in us. And when
I relate to like the problem with my family specifically, it's like my dad was the one
that used to use things like cold flannels and different like feather dusters and different
things like tickle my brother and calm down my brother just, you know, just to have anything
physical to kind of cool him down. So from like a creative aspect, my parents, my dad
specifically would kind of find objects and things to try and cool my brother's skin.
So that also like inspired things as well. And it sounds like it was a very emotional
journey. So what were the key moments that really stand out for you that that shaped
the direction of the brand? Yeah, I mean, anyone who has eczema always
gone through TSW, which is topical steroid withdrawal, will know that it's much more
than a skin condition. It can affect everything from mental health, school, diet, family relationships.
So kind of all consuming, especially when you have more severe forms of the condition,
you know, you could struggle to sleep, eat, go to school, like there's so many different
things that can happen. The biggest challenge really was kind of seeing my brother go through
TSW, like the realization through my research because he care that we always thought my
brother just had severe eczema for like 20 years. And gradually kind of in his early
twenties, then it hit a point where the steroid creams just didn't work for him anymore. So,
you know, and then in parallel to that, I was at university doing this project and being
online actually researching into eczema, the different communities, the different treatments.
We actually through my research identified what my brother was going through. So then
that took like a huge turn of, okay, stop using the medication. He actually got diagnosed
by his doctor as having a topical steroid addiction and withdrawal. And now he's pivoted
to kind of like more natural, holistic approaches. So yeah, it was so challenging to have to
be part of that discovery because it was really challenging for my brother to, it was almost
like a penny drop. Like, oh my gosh, this is what's making my skin worse, which was really
scary.
Definitely. And I can imagine it was, yeah, it affects the whole family, I imagine, not
just the individual involved. I've got a close friend who suffers from it terribly and she's
actually trying one of your safe scratches and she was saying, she received it, she's
like, thank you so much.
Oh, yes.
I'm so grateful because, yeah, she's going through a really bad breakup and her eczema
is really, really bad at the moment.
Oh, I see.
It's everything sort of relates to it, doesn't it? Everything else that's going on in your
life, it's all interconnected.
Absolutely. It can be triggered by stress or a change in environment. Like, there's so
many things that can trigger it. And I think what's challenging, because I've got eczema
myself, is the like unpredictability of it. And it's kind of like not knowing when it's
coming next or, yeah, it's so challenging. It's such a unique condition to have to explain
to someone, but unfortunately a lot of people can relate because they've been through it
themselves.
No, for sure. That's why I think, you know, it's such a great idea to come up with. But
obviously everyone has a lot of great ideas when they're at uni, but not everyone manages
to bring a product to market and make a viable business out of it. I mean, so what kind of
main challenges with that? I mean, your story is so inspiring. How did you kind of navigate
the, yeah, all of that journey?
Oh, thank you. Yeah, it's been kind of a crazy kind of journey, I guess. So I graduated
and then after graduation, we kind of did like an exhibition. So we kind of showed off
what we've been working on all year. And I was approached by an accelerator, a business
accelerator, and they said, look, we think you've got a great idea. Have you ever thought
of turning this into a business? And I was like, okay, well, not, I've always, I've always
known that I would have loved to have done that, but I didn't almost expect it to happen
so quickly.
It must have felt incredible when they said that.
I was like, yeah, me, since they were like, okay, put your application in, you can win
£5,000, we'll give you business mentorship for six months. And I felt like I'd won the
lottery. Do you know what I mean? Like a student getting five grand to do, you know, to continue
that kind of creative project was amazing. So I ended up getting that which was fantastic.
And then we ended up visiting manufacturers in China to try and understand, you know,
how things are made, how do you scale, how do you actually turn an idea into a commercial
product? So yeah, it was, that's kind of what sparked it all. And then there was a huge
challenges with, as every entrepreneur will tell you, with raising funds and building
a team and working out how to get to market and building your social media. There's so
many parts and components to a business. It's been like six years, pretty much of just full
time, every day, just figuring it out. That's how I explain it.
Exactly. A lot of people, they have other careers first, and then sort of into business
for themselves, but you had to really hit the ground running straight out of uni.
I was a student and I, my background is obviously design. So I had that creative skill set,
but I didn't necessarily have the kind of business understanding. I think there's definitely
certain personality traits that make someone a good entrepreneur, but I think business
and actually starting a business is like some fundamental things you've got to learn. You've
got to learn about writing a business plan, you've got to learn about raising investment,
you've got to learn about hiring and HR. There's so many bits to it that you don't even think
about when you're fresh out of uni.
Definitely. And I think being a founder and being a CEO are two different things, but
that people just sort of say them together, like founder and CEO, but they're completely
separate. Definitely.
And what advice would you give to other entrepreneurs as to how to really leverage those opportunities
to say like meeting with accelerators and getting opportunities like that? How would
you advise them, make the most out of them?
I think the thing that we did really well is when we started the company, we did a lot
of research into what's available to us. So we were new graduates. We had recently set
up a company. We were a really heavy R&D business, so a lot of research, a lot of development.
And it was just about knowing the different parts of money and opportunities available
to you. So I ended up applying for 506 student-based competitions, so Mayor of London, Santander,
Tata and a couple of others. And there's like really, really incredible like little parts
of equity free funding available. So Mayor of London gave us 25 grand. Tata offered us
15 grand. We had 25 grand of Santander. So all these little parts of money, I say little,
obviously that is substantial for a new business. But that all adds up. And we ended up raising
about 150 grand in equity free fundings. We hadn't even given a percentage away, but
we really leveraged all these little opportunities. And I think another great tip that I would
advise anyone starting a new business is consider local parts of funding. So if you're based
in London, if you're a Welsh-based business, really try and understand like different government
supports, like networks, different parts of money in your area, because there's loads
of opportunities, especially if you're an innovation company doing something new. There's
so much money out there. There's so much opportunity out there. It's just about knowing where to
look, I think, and just taking the time to understand what's available.
That's the thing. I think people don't know about it. So they just, yeah, or believe it.
They just almost don't love. Yeah, I think, I think if you've got, for example, like my
businesses within healthcare, we were based in London at the time. So Mayor of London
was perfect competition for us because their objective was to invest in innovation in London.
So that kind of specific part was perfect. But if you're a company in Wales, Development
Bank of Wales, for example, you can get little loans, you can get, I think they offer like
different networking opportunities. So it's just about putting yourself out there and
never think it, oh, this isn't quite right for me, or I'm not quite there yet. When I
applied for Mayor of London, I had one prototype. And to be honest, I'd never pitched before.
I went into that and I didn't quite fit into any of the categories either. So I was kind
of just winging it a little bit. But I think the key is just to enter it with confidence
and tweak your pitch to kind of answer the objectives of the funding. So the Mayor of
London, for example, was all about how are you making London great? Why is London a great
place to start your company? So just tailoring your pitch for that, it, you know, it goes
a long way. And how did it feel kind of when you were pitching to these investors? Was
it, you know, was it kind of a bit like Dragon's Den? Yeah, it really was. Like so one of the
judges was Richard Reid, who's the founder of Innocence Movie. So he was a personal kind
of idol of mine, because I had watched some of his documentaries on how he started his
company and like he he did like amazing things for like company culture and kind of challenged
that a little bit. So yeah, having him in front of me was was amazing and had some great
feedback from him. So yeah, I was very kind of like thrown in at the deep end a little
bit, but it was a great way to kind of meet people and just get things going, really.
Definitely. And I think as a female founder as well, there's a lot of chatter. I see a
lot of chatter on LinkedIn about how it's such a struggle for female founders in particular
to get investment. Yeah, yeah. So it's just a huge, you know, it's just a huge issue,
isn't it really that people are still kind of tackling, but it's so great that there
are companies like yours that are getting that funding and are sort of being allowed
to take their business idea to the next level. I think that's brilliant. Definitely. Yeah,
I think the biggest challenge with female founders is there's so many opportunities
for us that that specifically are around support. I think there's so many great kind
of like networks of support systems, mentorship and networking opportunities, but ultimately
just like any business, we need funding. So I think it's great to have that network element,
but ultimately we need investment. And I think at the current state that we're in, I think
it's something like a one to four ratio, men versus women who get funding, do you know
what I mean? And even my experience in raising investment, the majority of people I pitch
to are men. So there's not even a lot of female VCs, female investors, angel investors.
It's, yeah, it's a difficult space to be in. But I think, you know, I, in my career,
I've met some incredible female founders and, you know, it's getting better, but I think
there's definitely more to be done for sure. Oh, for sure. I think it's important just
not to be brought down by the negative, you know, the negativity surrounding those conversations.
100%. It's quite a depressing story, but then there are success stories like yours that
goes to show that, yeah, there is a way it can be done. Yeah, definitely, definitely.
I think it's just about, you know, really just going for it and not to feel kind of
intimidated by any statistics or any, and, you know, any kind of room that you walk into,
you know, if you're one of a couple of women, try not to let that kind of dull your sparkle
a little bit or kind of make you think, oh, maybe I'm not worthy to be here. Maybe I'm
not big enough, fast enough, strong enough, do you know what I mean? Like just kind of
being that mindset of, you know, I deserve to be here too, and I deserve to have the
investment just like anyone else. I deserve to be part of the conversation. So just have,
I think, confidence for me has been something that I've tried to actively work on in those
kind of situations. It's really key, isn't it? And do you think having a strong story
is crucial to getting investors on board? 100%. I think people buy into why you do something
versus what you're doing always. So that's why the best pictures I've ever watched, they
always lead with why they're doing it. So, you know, is it a family member that's inspired
you? Is it an event in your life that's triggered this idea? So starting with the why is always
the way to kind of capture someone's interest. I think if you, the best and the worst pictures
I've seen, the best is definitely story-led. The worst pictures I see are often people that
just reel off stats and data and facts, and you don't have that emotional connection to
what they're saying. So I think there's no heart to it. There's no heart to it. You know,
people relate to people, and I think, you know, having a great product is obviously essential,
but don't lead with that. Lead with like you as a founder and like why you're doing it.
I think that's there's always so much more strength to that.
For sure. I think the story is almost as important as the product that you've got, isn't it?
100%. Yeah. I mean, the story, I would say, is the reason we won most of the funding is
because people went, you know, I told my brother's story and the challenges he's had, and the
number of judges, people in the audience that would say, my gosh, my little girl's got
excellent, all my niece has got excellent, all my grandfather's got excellent. You know,
there's that people instantly relate to it, and then they can kind of understand why you're
doing it. Then there's an element of trust, and then they know that you're coming from
a place of not financial motivation. And it's kind of an emotive motivation instead.
Of course. And not only is your product functional, but it also looks great. How did you find
the right balance when you were creating it? Because obviously, I'm sure that lots of people
would have just gone down the medical clinic or you actually wanted something that looked
nice on the bathroom shelf. Yeah, definitely. I think the way that I approached it is that
having my eczema myself, my brother having eczema, and you'll know as well if you struggle
with it, when you shop for eczema clothing, eczema creams, it's all very white, it's
all very boring. And for children, there was that element of like constantly feeling like
you're being medicated. So the way I approached it is let's start off by making these look
like almost toys, and then working backwards from that. So very kind of like fun colors,
nice shapes. All of our products are kind of like sea life creatures, because it's all
about kind of that cooling element as well. So yeah, that's kind of where I took my inspiration
from. And I also wanted to keep it quite minimal as well. Like I think Apple do a really nice
job of very kind of like, even though our scratch star is a starfish and our roller
is the shark, and we've got some other like little puffed fish products coming out, even
though there's a nod to that character, it's still very like minimal. So that was the kind
of a design approach that I took. Just looking at companies like Apple and how they kind
of design their products was really inspiring. Yeah, very chic, very streamlined, aren't
they? Yeah. And obviously it's a medical product. And I've got to do when I first heard about
it, because you know, there is like I say, you're just told, don't scratch, don't scratch,
and it's the worst thing you can do. Yeah, that kind of in mind, how did you make sure
that you were kind of adhering to all of the kind of medical regulations? I mean, I'm
sure that was a huge challenge just to make sure that your product was safe and that was
considered like approved for use by the public. Yeah, definitely. So I did my first trade
show when I first launched the brand, and I had six samples. And the way that I started
it was just doing market research. I asked people to hold and fill the product. We did
a user trial with over 200 parents and just got their feedback. That was the initial kind
of approach. And then when we got their feedback, we then categorized the product. So what
do we want these products to do? And what are our claims? So our claims were itch relief,
cooling the skin, soothing itchiness. So these are the main things that we wanted to claim.
And then working back from that, we reached out to some kind of classification experts.
So they classify medical devices, they put our product in the category of like a class
one medical device. So then that moved us on to a process that's kind of like biocompatibility
testing, cytotoxicity testing. So all the materials are certified, say for skin contact.
And then we also engaged with kind of like medical papers, medical research papers, looking
into cold and itchiness and the research that looking into massage and itchiness, looking
into how different habit reversals and distraction techniques. So we took all this research that
existed around the efficacy and safety of cold, texture, massage, distraction. And we
almost put it into one product that we then independently certified as well. So there's
all these layers. And something that we do do for all our products as well is we, we're
not, we don't legally have to do this, but we get all the products tested under toy regulations
as well. So we do too. So we've got this like layer of safety. So just to make sure that
like things like for example, choke testing or drop testing or, you know, all these kind
of very toy specific things that we also do as a layer on top as well. So yeah, I'm a
bit of a nude when it comes to compliance. So I try and just do all the right things
if that makes sense.
Well, I think you have to be a nerd. I think you've got a medical product. I think it just
definitely.
You have to. Yeah.
It sounds like it's a true labor of love. I mean, what were the most interesting insights
from getting your customer feedback and doing all your research? Was there anything that
really kind of jumped out at you that then shaped how the product developed?
So originally funny enough, all the tech, so all the bumps on the star rolled. So one
of our initial prototypes that we tested with consumers was all these little bumps were
kind of like rotating. And then one of the challenges we had there was like hygiene because
we didn't want any area of the product to be able to get dirty or have a bacteria or
be really difficult to clean. So we did some tests then we gave 10 people just non rolling
bumps, 10 people rolling bumps. And we actually asked them to compare the sensation. And because
it's smooth metal, it's actually really hard to tell if it's rolling or not. So we were
able to improve the hygiene of the product without sacrificing feel. And then that drove
us into doing a one part metal plate versus all these like little rolling balls. But we
were able to keep the rolling ball massage aspect with a larger product. But that can
be disassembled and cleaned. So it was kind of like this, the scratch attack roller was
born from a challenge that we face the scratch star and then it ended up pivoting to two
blocks. But your product development is like that sometimes you just have to compare and
contrast and get different feedback on different designs and everything. Sometimes the design
you think people are going to like. I thought the rolling ball is definitely the winner,
even though it's a challenge with cleaning it, you know, sensation wise, I think it feels
better. But then when you actually speak to a group of people and they say doesn't feel
any different than that drives your thinking then. Definitely. And obviously, you know,
as you say, you have to be so patient with this process that you make sure you get the
product that's actually going to work for people. Yeah, the product you brought it to
market. And so let's talk scaling because obviously that's a whole other kind of challenge
in itself. Yeah, it's so tricky. Yeah, because scaling is we had so we sold out of the scratch
star. I think we've sold out now four or five times. Because we couldn't quite crack like
supply and demand. So for example, we put a video on TikTok, we go viral, and then we'd
sell out and it was oh my gosh, I've got an out reorder, like you can't predict sometimes
like what video is going to land and how your marketing efforts are going to go. So that
was like a couple of years ago, one of the biggest challenges we found to make to strike
that balance. But how we've kind of overcome that now is we've got we've got a couple of
supply chains we just signed off on a UK manufacturing project. So a lot of our scratch
stars now will be made in the UK, which is amazing because now what that means is that
there's quicker lead times they're here we're selling them where we make them. So it's just
so much easier to order stock is lead times for example, you could be looking at three
months for a batch, do you know what I mean? So yeah, managing that stock versus demand
isn't there's like an art to it that I think most hardware businesses will relate to is
really hard to crack in the early days.
For sure. Imagine you must feel like you have to clone yourself sometimes to sort of get
around all these different
And you almost have to be a bit of like have a crystal ball almost to be like, okay, we
know we're doing a couple of posts on Instagram, but sometimes they flop and then other times
you get this amazing response and sometimes it's really hard to predict like how it's
going to translate to sales. So yeah, it's a bit of like a balancing act really and then
obviously if if sales are picking up you then it's got a scale down your marketing so you
don't want to do big marketing activities if you haven't got the stock. So it's yeah,
it's just like a balance constantly.
Definitely. And I think a lot of brands sometimes make the mistake of thinking well they've gone
viral so that's it they don't have to do any more work. And look at the likes of Clinique
who's like Black Honey Lipstick. I don't know if you saw it like a few years ago it went
viral on TikTok. Yeah.
And then there's recently news that Sephora are like dropping the makeup line from their
stores. So it just goes to show that you can go viral on social media but you need to kind
of ensure that longevity over time. I mean, how do you kind of tackle that when it comes
to kind of maintaining the shelf life of your brand in the long term?
I think the long term goal for us is to so I've worked quite hard to create a product
range that is very kind of specialised. So every product that we launch is for a specific
area on the body. So we've recently launched like a scalp scratcher that's specifically
for scalp psoriasis, scalp eczema.
In a couple of months we're launching a little finger scratcher. We're launching pajamas.
We've got pajamas coming in next month. So yeah, there's loads of products and projects
happening. And what I want to get to is this beautiful range of products for every area
of the body that will feel itchy. And every product is also designed to last a lifetime.
So it's not kind of like a moisturizer or something that you have to buy every month.
It's something that you invest in and then you almost got it for life. So I think when
it comes to longevity, it's about making sure that we've designed products that are designed
to last. So there's that trust and there's that, you know, that long term safety of using
the products. And then also there's that piece of creating a beautiful range where if you
do get a flare up on your scalp, you know, you've got a product to help. And then maybe
at some point in the future, then I would also love to do our own skincare. Like that
would be the dream. Yeah, like skincare that's perfectly designed to use with our products,
you know, we're a small team, but like we have got a lot of like new product development
happening, which is really exciting.
That's fantastic. And how do you decide what to kind of innovate next when it comes to
like MPD?
Honestly, 99% of the time is driven by comments on social media. So the scalp scratcher came
from, he did a video with a creator called Rosie, who has lived with severe psoriasis
all over her body for a number of years. And she suffers with scalp psoriasis. So we did
a collaboration video with her. And there were so many comments with people saying, I've
got it on my scalp, I've got it on my scalp. The scalp seemed to be the main pain point
when living with psoriasis. So the scratcher wasn't suitable, the roller certainly wasn't
suitable. So that then made us design something medical grade for scalp psoriasis. So it's
very kind of community led. And I always encourage people if they are living with a skin condition
and itchy skin condition, and they have our scratched out or any of our products, and
they're not, maybe it's not quite suitable for a specific area or whatever it is, always
reach out because we're such a nimble company, we can actually design and launch products
so quickly. Because we've got our medical suits now, we have that flexibility. So yeah,
I always say speak to me because literally the scalp scratcher came from comments on social
media. So there's always a way to, you know, put your, you know, ideas in and actually
be part of like the journey with us, which is so exciting.
That's fantastic. So they can just drop you a DM and you'd be like, okay.
I make it. Yeah.
Not guarantee I can make everything, but you know.
No, of course. I think it's definitely a benefit of being like you say, like a nimble
indie brand that you can react to that very reactive. Yeah.
100%. And also, when it comes to beauty and wellness
in general, I think there's a lot of overlap between the two categories. I think of what
we were saying earlier about how the stories can be so emotive and people can connect a
lot more and just, yeah, they can invest in the brand a lot more quickly. Do you see that
kind of growing over time, that kind of beauty and wellness category crossover?
100%. I think especially with our products, because we ask, we do sit within that medical
device zone, but there's a lot of crossover with kinds of, for example, there's a lot
of scalp scratches on the market. There's beauty rollers. There's, you know, there's
all these kind of other products. They're not certified, say for skin condition, but
there is that crossover. If someone did have acne or did have sensitive skin by investing
in our products, you know that you're getting that medical safety aspect, even though you
might use it for a cosmetic purpose. So for example, my mum gets really puffy eyes in
the mornings and she bought this roller and it was just awful. It was like really poor
quality. It ended up staining her skin or something crazy. And then obviously her, her
baby, my mum, she gets a lot of free cosy care products naturally. And you know, she
uses our rolling out. So there's a lot of crossover with like cosmetic needs and healthcare
needs. So you may not have a skin condition. You may, for example, suffer with sunburn
in the summer or you might suffer with puffy eyes or you might suffer with, you know, just
just kind of like a cosmetic need versus like a medical need that these products work for
as well. So we definitely sit within that space of like wellness slash medical. We've
done all the work for medical, but there's the use of the product definitely causes over
to kind of cosmetic needs as well.
And what advice would you give other people who are looking to move into that space of
like beauty and wellness, sort of in terms of just sort of creating a beauty brand? Whereas
like, I guess when it's sort of, there's a wellness element, it's very different, isn't
it? What kind of advice would you give people going into that arena?
I think the main thing is, oh, there's a couple of things. I think making your brand beautiful
is especially in the age of social media is so important. You know, people, there's an
element of trust. If they see you've got a beautiful logo, you've got beautiful messaging,
a beautiful website, there's instant credibility. So I think investing in a really strong brand
visual early on is really important, not to name names, but there was, I entered a beauty
specific pitching competition and there was a couple of companies that are fantastic ideas,
like very heavy tech. It was like a wearable product, but it crossed over to like, it was
like a wearable ring, I think it was. And her pitch was about kind of, you know, it's
fashion first and it looks great, but it also has this kind of wellness element to like
track in your, I think it was your blood pressure and a few other things, similar to like an
Apple Watch kind of thing. But the brand wasn't there and the investors didn't believe in
it because they couldn't see the quality of the brand. So I think having a brand that
stands out visually, especially the age of social media is so important. And also really
doing your research into what's out there already, having a clear idea of who your customers
are, what they care about, what do they want to see from a brand. Like that's always really,
really important. And I think for us, just like building a community, like that's been
the bigger strength is like really trying to connect with people, really trying to put
ourselves out there. I get mums, I get dads, I get parents constantly sending me videos
and saying we love, you know, we love your brand and sharing that on our socials.
I love your story reporting. Yeah, it's lovely.
I think it makes a difference in people's lives.
Yeah, it's so nice. So I think, yeah, a bit of a waffly answer there, but there's so
much that goes into, into kind of like your brand and your credibility. It's, yes, there's
so many different aspects to it really.
For sure. And I'm sure you must worry about, because your product looks so great, you must
be concerned about copycats. I don't know whether you've encountered any so far along
the journey, but what is the best way of kind of safeguarding against other companies ripping
off your design? I mean, is it just kind of just getting it patented or is it more complex
than that?
I think, yeah, so we weren't kind of crazy on our IP portfolio. So we're completely covered
with kind of patents, trademark and design rights in the US, UK, Europe, China. Like
we've really gone comprehensive with that. And I think another way to kind of safeguard
yourself from that is just really creating a quality product, because I think ultimately
any good idea will naturally have ripoffs or copycats. You can't fight it. It's just, it's
consumerism. It's kind of the world we live in. Everyone wants something for a cheaper
price. They want it quicker. They want it cheaper. But ultimately, I feel quite strongly
that I would, I'm not a parent, but just relating to my brother. I would rather invest in a
brand that's done all the certification, all the work, all the safety features invested
in really high quality materials to know that I can use this on my skin and I'm not going
to get an infection or get harmed versus kind of winging it off a brand on Amazon, for example,
for a similar thing. So I'm quite, I'm quite happy with the work that's gone into kind
of safety and compliance. So because I want to be the Dyson of these products, you know
what I mean? I don't want to be, you know, the next best thing. So I mean, yeah, there'll
always be competition. I think we're in a good position at the minute. We've not seen
it yet. But I am not naive to the fact that it's probably coming. So yeah, I think the
only thing I can control is doing things the best way I can do them and creating the best
quality products and then just relying on the credibility of our brand. That's kind
of, you know, that's, that's kind of what I want to do.
For sure. And I was going to say, I think you're well on your way to giving James Dyson
a run for his money.
The female Dyson. That's what I want to do.
Yeah, that's what we need. And I know that eXma as a topic, it's not traditionally a
sexy topic and people as a result don't really talk about it. But obviously there needs to
be a conversation surrounding issues, like given what we've just discussed, that it affects
so many people in such a, you know, severe way. And what is, what is like your brand
doing to help kind of move the needle in that respect and kind of help educate more people
about eXma and how it affects how it affects you and how you can treat it.
Yeah, definitely. That's such a nice question. So next week, we actually have a really exciting
campaign coming up called the hashtag just stop scratching campaign. So the idea is that
that is probably the worst advice you can give to someone with eXma is just stop scratching
like it's so easy to do. So the idea is we're going to share some testimonials from children
and adults with all sorts of itching skin conditions. So we've got models with harlequin
xleosus eXma psoriasis, and they're actually going to share a bit of good advice on how
to live with a skin condition. And we're also giving away a free scratch saviour guide.
So it'll have loads of information on why we scratch, coping mechanisms, mental health
support connections with the community, things that you can actively do to just stop scratching
in brackets. And just that kind of, I want to do more of that free advice because we
do so much research. And I think it's about not gatekeeping that it's about sharing that
100%. So yeah, so that's what we're going to do next week and that's going to be freely
available. And yeah, we've got an app launching as well where we can connect, you know, patients
with information and that will be a medical device in its own right as well. So yeah,
we're actively trying to give back as much as we can when it comes to research, education.
I've done a lot of work as well in the press with BBC News on raising awareness of my brother's
story with Topical Sarah withdrawal. One of our biggest videos on TikTok is me sharing
my granny hands because of my steroid cream use. So yeah, I think just by sharing my personal
journey, my brother's story and the research that we do every day, that's how we're trying
to give back.
It sounds brilliant. Well, I'll put all the links to that in the show.
Oh, Millie said, yeah, thank you.
What is your kind of vision for the brand? Now, we've spoken about sort of product avenues
that you hope to go into, but do you have any other kind of long term plans for where
you'd like to take the brand?
Yeah, I mean, in my mind, our brand will be market leaders of instant literally around
the world. You know, we've put that, we've put that work in with US patents, with comprehensive
IP. So I would love to be able to, I mean, we get so many messages when you're launching
in the US, when you're launching in Canada, when you're launching in Australia.
What is that easy?
I'm like, oh my gosh, if I could send products to you in America right now, I 100% would.
But the red tape and the, I think what, and naturally why would you, but consumers don't
realise like the challenge with launching medical devices in the States, for example,
when you're not based there full time as well.
100%. It's so hard. And you know, we've been working on it for a couple of years. We have
now got officially our FDA registration. And we are in the process of figuring out logistics
and actually getting set up out there. So it's coming. It's just a little bit of a slow
burner just because of all the red tape. But yeah, I think for us, we want to go global.
We want everyone to be able to access this. And I would also love to be able to work with
you know, organisations like the NHS. So, you know, if you do go to your doctor and you're
diagnosed with eczema, instead of the first point of call being here's a steroid cream
that in the long term, you could, you know, there's all these potential risks, topical
steroid addiction and topical steroid withdrawal being the main ones that really kind of instill
a lot of fear in people and rightly so because it is such an awful condition. Instead of
going straight to that, if we can offer more of an educational piece on diet, lifestyle,
stress management, safe scratching and offer our products as a first point of call, then
then, you know, we could potentially avoid millions of people needing steroids and millions
of people having to use antibiotics because they've got an infection. So that's the kind
of overarching goal, I guess.
Incredible. Well, given what you've achieved thus far, I think you'll have no problem with
the, yeah.
Thank you. I'm going to keep cracking on in the background and fingers crossed we'll get
there in the end for sure.
Oh, I have every faith. And how's your brother now? How is his eczema? Like is it, has it
been a marked improvement since kind of you've got on this journey and created all these
new products? Has he noticed like a tangible, I'm sure he, I'm sure there has been a tangible
difference, right?
He's no longer dependent on steroids, which is such an incredible achievement because
a lot of people may feel kind of trapped in that cycle. So I think even him not using
medication that is making it worse is such a huge win for him. Anyone that's gone through
TSW will know that it isn't a linear journey. So he had, he's been going through it for
years. He has had some incredible morts where his skin has healed. He went back to work.
He was really thriving. He's recently had a really bad allergic reaction, which has
thrown him back a little bit. But just like my mum, he's always got a lot of freebie
cosy cares to use when he's struggling. And I think he, yeah, he's made like an incredible
improvement since being addicted to the medication. When he first stopped using steroids, he was
bedbound. He couldn't shower. He couldn't walk. He lost so much weight. His mental health
was just horrific. But looking back to that now, he's back at work. He is thriving. He
is able to swim, go to the gym. His quality of life has improved. He has had moments along
the journey like recently where he's had an allergic reaction that's set him back. But
overall, his life has just, he's so much clearer now on what his condition is versus before
it was kind of like what's happening to my body. So yeah, he's so much better. And I
went through TSW as well. But even though we're siblings, it just goes to show how different
your journeys can be. Like I went through TSW for nine months and now I've been clear
for nearly two years and I don't use any medication now. So yeah, it just goes to show like how
different your journeys can be with a skin condition.
Definitely. Well, do give him my best and I'm so glad he's doing well. Lauren, you're
an absolute interviewer's dream. Like you've provided so much amazing insights that I think
people will get so much out of. So thank you so much for your time and it's been really
lovely chatting with you.
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. I've loved it.
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