Meet Soft Services, the Very Chic Beauty Brand Targeting Common Body Skin Concerns

Soft Services, the newly launched beauty company co-founded by Annie Kreighbaum and Rebecca Zhou, isn't just another body care brand. The brainchild of two Glossier alums who are experienced in marketing and strategy in the digital retail space, Soft Services recognizes the lack of products that specifically address common body skin concerns (such as body acne and keratosis pilaris, the skin condition that causes small bumps), and wants to create solutions for the oft-neglected skin on your back, chest, feet -- basically anywhere below your face.

Having been quietly developing the brand since 2019, this week, Kreighbaum and Zhou officially unveiled their first collection, a trio of body care products dubbed Smooth Skin. There's the Buffing Bar ($28 USD), an exfoliating brick designed for use in the shower to scrub away rough skin; the Carea Cream ($40 USD), a lightweight, hydrating and skin-soothing lotion formulated with sensitive skin in mind. The third product and also the founders' favorite is the Smoothing Solution ($34 USD), a chemical exfoliant that, as Zhou tells us over Zoom, "you’re so used to being able to find for your face, but there was just nothing else like that for the body." The calming gel serum contains ingredients like lactic acid and urea to help improve skin texture, while aloe, arnica and centella asiatica provide relief to the skin during the exfoliation process. Available as a bundle ($102 USD), the entire lineup is fragrance-free -- contrary to many products in the typically fragrance-led body care category -- to minimize the chance of irritation.

As a digital-first beauty business, not to mention one that's run by two branding experts, Soft Services offers an online experience that feels different and refreshing. An extension of its purposeful products, the brand's sleekly designed website has an overall sense of straightforwardness, without excessive images or flowery language that are commonplace in beauty marketing nowadays. "We want to make this as easy as possible for the customer. We want to make sure that they understand the product and figure out, 'is this right for me?' and then buy it," Zhou says.

Besides browsing and shopping for products, beauty enthusiasts can also visit the Mass Index, an informative, educational section of the Soft Services website that provides free, dermatologist-approved resources on body skincare. "We recognize that while our products can help with keratosis pilaris, body acne, crepey skin, discoloration and fungal issues, just smearing on a lotion is not the sure-fire way to fix everything. A lot of that involves lifestyle changes, and you have to understand really what you're dealing with," Kreighbaum explains when asked about the decision to build Mass Index. "We wanted to [create] a place for people to really understand what they're working with, because ultimately, that's what's going to solve the issue for them the best way -- both products and education." Similarly, to help customers cultivate eco-friendly habits, the brand has put together a comprehensive guide to recycling Soft Services' product packaging and shipping materials, with detailed instructions and even video clips showing the proper, responsible way to disassemble and clean physical packaging before it can be dropped off at the recycling station.

With their thoughtful, understatedly chic products and digital platform, ultimately, the founders of Soft Services hope to normalize conversations about body skincare issues that many deal with. "A big part of what we're doing, is we're trying to break down the taboos that especially Americans have around the human body. Culturally, it's happening, and we want to also be a part of that," Kreighbaum shares. "Making these body products feel elevated, interesting and really fun is a part of the strategy." Zhou echoes her partner's sentiments, "[Our products] should feel exciting. They should feel like a gift. They should feel like you’re caring for yourself versus, ‘I’m dealing with a horrendous problem that I can’t show anyone.'"

The Smooth Skin collection, as well as the online resources, are now live on softservices.co.

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