Laura Schubert is the co-founder and CEO of Fur, a Recent York-based hair and skincare brand disrupting the taboo around body hair. Taking an inclusive approach, the brand has developed 4 multifunctional all-natural products which might be useful for the hairless, body hair groomers and everybody in between. First is the stubble cream that softens growing hair and acts as a body moisturiser, then the silk scrub that doubles as an exfoliating mask depending on how you employ it. There may be an ingrown concentrate that alleviates bumps, and other common symptoms of ingrown hairs and eventually, their signature Fur Oil that targets pubic hair. Despite the initial hesitation from chemists around developing products specifically for pubes, Fur Oil is now a staple to the likes of feminist shero Emma Watson. Since their launch in 2016, Laura and her co-founder Lillian Tung have managed to show an easy idea right into a brand shelved by retailers comparable to Nordstrom and Urban Outfitters. We seek advice from Laura to seek out out more about FUR and the great thing about body hair in 2019.

Are you able to tell us a bit about your background? How has it shaped who you might be?
Laura Schubert: I’ve been surrounded by small business entrepreneurs for the vast majority of my life. My dad is a health care provider and still runs his own practice, but going to Columbia Business School is what really made me involved in starting my very own business.

What’s the story behind Fur?
Laura Schubert: Back in 2014 we were discussing exciting trends in beauty towards natural products and defining your personal beauty, away from prescribed standards. As we talked, we realised available body hair products weren’t in keeping with this movement. The ingredients were harsh, the packaging was unsophisticated, they usually focused only on removal — hair as an issue. Fur is a few more inclusive definition of beauty, whether you think that the bush is back or skin is in. We spent the subsequent two years developing, testing and officially launched in 2016. Today, we’re still one among the few totally women-run and women-owned businesses on this space.

Body hair is kind of a distinct segment subject, where did your interest come from?
Laura Schubert: I’ve been shaving since I used to be an adolescent doing gymnastics, but experienced terrible ingrown hairs. I didn’t know the way to take care of them, but I didn’t feel comfortable asking my parents. I also never really knew where the pressure to remove my hair got here from or why I used to be doing it in the primary place. So I’ve all the time been involved in the taboo that surrounds it and where that taboo comes from, but one among the foremost reasons I began Fur is because I desired to make those conversations easier to have. Nonetheless, since almost every adult human has body hair of some type, we’ve never seen it as a “area of interest.” It only seems that way because taboos are sometimes uncomfortable for people to discuss, so it’s something that gets swept under the rug. At Fur we’re all the time pushing that conversation further within the hopes that this may now not be seen as a distinct segment subject or product line.

Why is there a marketplace for this and where do you most likely see it going?
Laura Schubert: While there are such a lot of options on the market for hair removal, there aren’t many options on the market for caring for your hair and skin in between removal sessions, or options for individuals who select to maintain their hair. While these past few years have seen an enormous surge within the interest around skincare, I believe individuals are starting to grasp that they must care for the remaining of their body as well. In case you know you’ve gotten to moisturise your face to stop it from feeling dry and irritated, why wouldn’t that apply to the remaining of your skin? Especially should you wax, shave, or laser, that skin becomes extremely delicate and wishes to be protected through moisturisation. We’ve got continued to see growing interest in our line, because at the top of the day people wish to feel comfortable and never take care of irritated skin or ingrowns.

What are a few of your key ingredients used and the way do your products work?
Laura Schubert: All of our products are made with top quality naturally derived, vegan ingredients. We’re also the one line of products that include ingredients which might be useful to skin and hair, because they each have crucial and separate needs. For skin, we selected ingredients that each make clear pores and maintain overall softness. A key ingredient that focuses on cleansing the pores in most of our product range is tea tree oil, a strong antimicrobial essential oil that eliminates excess sebum within the pores to stop ingrowns and accelerates the skin’s healing process resulting from its anti-inflammatory properties. For softness, we selected grape seed oil, a vitamin E, D, and C complex that hydrates the skin and absorbs quickly without leaving a greasy residue. For hair softness, we selected jojoba oil since it mimics the body’s natural moisturising properties and absorbs quickly. We also selected tamanu oil, derived from the tamanu nut, that’s full of omega fatty acids to moisturise the hair while soothing the irritation that usually occurs with prickly regrowth. With every day use of all of our products, users see a decrease in ingrowns and softer, healthier skin and hair.

If you were developing the brand, who did you’ve gotten in mind?
Laura Schubert: While other brands available in the market appear to need to make themselves more of a distinct segment, or deal with just pubic-area care, we all the time desired to make our products inclusive to a wider range of individuals, which is why we try to maintain our branding very gender neutral. We also desired to ensure our products may very well be utilized in any grooming regimen, whether you select to shave, wax, laser, or keep all of your hair. For therefore long within the body care market, all of the products were each hair removal-centric and really stereotypically “feminine”, e.g. floral scents and pink packaging—almost juvenile in a way. Our packaging was meant to invoke a classic elegance, based off vintage YSL perfume bottles, because we wanted Fur to face in opposition to that and to invoke the timeless elegance of being honest about our bodies and body hair without being condescending.

What are common mistakes people make with ingrown hairs?
Laura Schubert: People make the error of applying products on them which might be super harsh or irritating, often something with alcohol within the ingredients. While it’s vital that the ingrown gets clarified, moisturisation is vital since it allows them to heal without scabbing over or forsaking a scar.

What’s your overall message about body hair?
Laura Schubert: What people do with their body hair is a private decision that needs to be respected. Fur has created products that cater to each regimen, to ensure you stay ingrown free and have soft skin or silky hair. We’re destigmatising body hair by demystifying the method around it. There’s nothing embarrassing about having a grooming regimen, whether that’s waxing, shaving, or yes, leaving your hair be. We don’t wish to further the concept your body hair should follow a specific trend, because that message ultimately alienates people.

Why is there still a stigma surrounding body hair?
Laura Schubert: The mystery around body hair definitely contributes to the stigma. While theories abound as to why humans grow body hair — some claim it was to maintain us warm, others say it helps prevent bacteria from moving into us. The lack of information and education around body hair has allowed for negative opinions and stereotypes to creep in. It’s also been overly sexualised, and only considered by way of a partner i.e. “will my partner like this, or do I would like to remove my hair to be considered attractive.” At Fur, we’re all the time striving to contemplate body hair by way of the way it feels to you, and the self-care aspect of grooming. When it becomes a private decision, with no right or flawed answer, it becomes clear how arbitrary the stigma really is.

Where did the concept for Fur Oil come from? Is pubic hair any different from average hair?
Laura Schubert: Pubic hair is different from average hair, by way of texture, average length, and after all, the skin pubic hair grows from is vastly different from the scalp. Pubic skin is way more delicate and liable to irritation, especially after hair removal. Fur Oil is one among the incredible products that seems to have countless uses. Whether you shave, wax, laser, or keep all of your hair, Fur Oil moisturizes each skin and hair, in addition to keeps pores clean to stop any irritation or ingrowns. Beyond that, we’ve found that Fur Oil works great as a cuticle oil, a clarifying hair and scalp mask, a shower oil, and even a tattoo aftercare moisturizer.

Vaginal care could either be considered an intimate act of self-care or could very easily translate into the misogynistic notion of getting to beautify every part ourselves for men. What’s your tackle this? 
Laura Schubert: It’s true that there are many products on the market that appear to cater to the notion that a lady’s body, even her pubic area, is in some way flawed and wishes to be “perfected.” That’s why it was so vital that Fur products be, firstly, designed with feel and luxury in mind, quite than aesthetics or looks. Fur was founded on the concept nobody deserves ingrowns. That features men, women, and everybody on the gender spectrum.

Why do we want more beauty products especially for there?
Laura Schubert: As with every beauty product, you don’t necessarily “need” it, but we founded Fur because we thought it was odd that there have been so many products on the market that catered to go hair and facial skin, but absolutely none for pubic hair and skin. In some ways, it’s pretty groundbreaking to contemplate pubic hair outside the realm of it being embarrassing or something it’s essential remove and never discuss. There’s almost a rebellious quality to treating your body hair luxuriously.

What would you prefer to see Fur evolve into?
Laura Schubert: After we first founded Fur, there was no precedent for the brand we were creating. Three years later, we’re in over 300 retailers and are lucky to have a community around us who supports our message and loves our line. We actually pride ourselves on having created an area that feels inclusive largely because we prolonged the conversation around body hair past just removal, and allowed people to debate body hair and grooming without judgment. Even now, seeing all these brands on the market which might be starting to embrace body hair and body positivity as a message is proof to us that we now have successfully created a movement and spurned a trend, which is able to hopefully end the taboo around pubic hair and body hair.