Dermalogists saw their popularity spike on social media during the pandemic, when “SkinTok”— the umbrella term for people turning to TikTok for skincare advice—took hold. Consumers, especially women, were wearing less makeup and wanted their skin to look good, and at the same time were experiencing skin issues due to mask wearing. As a result, they used their devices to seek out advice and product recommendations from the experts.
Several of these dermatologist-influencers are now capitalizing on their fame by launching their own skincare lines. They include the following, all of whom have introduced new brands since the beginning of the year:
- Shereene Idriss, whose persona on social media is the Pillowtalk Derm, is the latest example. She announced a line of products under the Pillowtalk Derm brand this month. The first three introductions are a serum, mask, and moisturizer under the name Major Fade, focused on reducing hyperpigmentation. The doctor polled her 800,000 followers for input on some of the product development decisions, such as whether to add fragrance.
- Whitney Bowe, known as the founder of the “skin cycling” trend and a proponent of the “skin-gut-mind connection,” launched Dr. Whitney Bowe Beauty in June. At the time she had 365,000 followers on TikTok. The line began with two products, Bowe Glowe Microbiome Nourishing Cream and Bowe Glowe Pomegranate Microbiome Elixir, the first a moisturizer and the second a bottle of skincare drops added to a glass of water.
- Cori Zeichner, the Derm Wife, launched a line in May called JORI Skincare, focused on acne control. Zeichner is not a dermatologist, but her husband Joshua Zeichner, who consulted on the line, is. The first two products are an Acne & Oil Control Primer and a Daily Leave-On Acne Treatment Mask.
- Angela Casey, whose specialty is skincare for girls and young women, launched Bright Girl in April. The gentle products, for consumers aged 8 to 20+, are meant to help females, early in life, take responsibility for keeping their skin healthy through cleansing, use of sunscreen, and moisturizing. Part of the strategy was to create an appealing brand that would help drive adoption.
Note that these are in-house developed brands rather than licensing deals or other partnerships, which is fairly common with celebrity lines in this category, especially when the celebrities have the depth of expertise these doctors do.
These are just a handful of the examples from 2022. Of course there have been other dermatologist-founded brands in the past, including big names like Cerave and Murad. But the pace has picked up this year, thanks in large part to the SkinTok phenomenon.
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