Founder Story

Extremely sensitive skin runs in my family. As a baby, my mom used to put me in an oatmeal bath every night to keep my eczema at bay. I have a distinct memory of my sister and I breaking out in hives during one of our summer vacations. The culprit? The bedding had been washed using a heavily fragranced detergent. It felt like the Dove bar of soap was the only thing my skin could tolerate. 

From my late teens to mid-twenties, my skin started to get progressively worse. Blackheads, whiteheads, papules, pustules, cystic breakouts... I was blessed with them all. Even when I was having a “good skin day” my face was still marked with a ton of hyperpigmentation from previous breakouts. I started to feel like I couldn’t go outside without makeup, which I resented. Even with heavy makeup, the acne was visible, and I couldn’t help but cringe every time someone pulled out a phone to take a photo. I was embarrassed of my face and it was eroding my self esteem.

I started trying new products with different active ingredients to treat my acne. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to work. I started a vicious cycle of heading to the store every time my direct deposit hit; desperate to find the solution to my problem. I felt like I was grasping at straws but nothing was working.

During this time I was also struggling with my mental health and would constantly think to myself “This shouldn’t be this hard. Why is the simple act of maintaining myself this hard?”

Eventually I realized that using products with the right active ingredients was only one part of the puzzle. I also needed to avoid any ingredients that my skin might be sensitive to. I put my biology degree to use and poured over the research - identifying 350+ ingredients that might irritate or sensitize skin. I actually started a product review site for a few years during this time, buying all of the products myself to pH test them and write thorough reviews of their ingredient lists.

This process took several years, but it actually worked! At one point it seemed impossible, but I had finally gotten my skin under control.

Unfortunately, while my skin was now under control, my bathroom was totally out of control. Every product that I was using was so niched down that I felt like I needed 15+ products to keep my skin in check. I started to hate the clutter, the plastic, and the time involved in doing my skincare routine.

I knew I wasn’t the only person facing these problems:

• Up to 70% of people identify as having sensitive skin.
• 31% of people have cancelled/changed social plans because of acne.
• 61% of people have skipped washing their face at night because they were too tired.

So I decided that I would take all of the research I had done for my own skincare routine, and funnel it into multi-tasking products that would provide all the benefits, but without all the shelf space, lengthy routines, and plastic.

My hope is that GRAES and its products help customers like me. Together we can simplify, reduce our environmental impact, look our best, and, most importantly, live life to the fullest!

xx Becky

Founder, GRAES