From Our Kitchen Table to Your Bathroom Counter

Marc: The Heart of Our Story

Our story begins about 10 years ago with our brother Marc, affectionately nicknamed “Chick.” Marc has Down syndrome, which is frequently accompanied by intense and painful digestive issues. Our mom tried every method in the book to alleviate his pain, from changes in diet to different medications, but none of them seemed to work. Frustrated, our mom asked Marc's doctor for help, but he told her it just came with the territory of having a son with Down syndrome.

Our mom would not accept this answer and started exploring possible solutions on her own. As research about the gut microbiome was really starting to take off, she discovered a probiotic beverage called kefir: a supercharged fermented drink packed with symbiotic cultures of yeast and bacteria. Kefir is the most powerful probiotic food in the world, containing trillions of probiotics in just a tablespoon. Our mom started making raw, homemade kefir and giving it to Marc to drink every day. It completely changed his life, alleviating his pain and aiding in his digestive issues in a way that nothing had before. To this day, Marc still drinks a glass of homemade kefir every morning.

From Hypothesis to Breakthrough

Blown away by the power of probiotics on Marc’s digestive health, our mom conducted further research on the gut microbiome in order to understand the mechanisms behind this success. It was then that she uncovered intriguing potential for skincare. She hypothesized that the skin, much like the gut, gets aggravated and inflamed when it is bacterially imbalanced.

This was back as we were entering our teenage years and starting to deal with acne. It was hard for us to find a cleanser or treatment for our acne that worked. Oftentimes, we found that when we treated our skin with typical cleansers containing harsh antibacterial ingredients that were aggressive on acne, our breakouts would clear temporarily but then come back even worse. In the meantime, our skin became inflamed, red, and dry.

So, we started treating our skin with homemade kefir masks whenever we broke out, hoping that probiotics could help rebalance our skin the same way they had rebalanced Marc’s gut. Remarkably, this was more effective on our acne than any of the antibacterial cleansers we had used, and it did not irritate our skin. We began exclusively using kefir on our skin and giving it to friends and family to treat their acne.

Building Chick

Always interested in entrepreneurship and innovation, we decided to turn our idea for a healthier and more permanent skincare solution into an actual business. We entered our first pitch competition in the fall of 2023 with just the idea, and by the summer of 2024, we were working on the business full-time. We staked out the Whole Foods skincare aisle, cornering customers about their pain points and preferences. We extensively investigated academic research and trials on the potential for topical probiotics in skincare. We met with multiple microbiologists who study probiotics, the gut and skin microbiomes, and dermatology. We also met with countless chemists and entrepreneurs in similar spaces. Through these conversations, we selected the types of probiotics to use in our products, created a strategy for how to deliver topical probiotics to the skin in a way that keeps them viable and shelf stable, and gained a greater understanding of the science behind the probiotic application to the skin.

Once we validated the need for our idea and planned how we would bring it to life, we hired a chemist to create prototypes for our three core products, including the first-ever shelf-stable skincare product with live probiotics. Meanwhile, our designer helped us create a brand with a strong identity that emphasizes ingenuity, authenticity, and strength.

The Road Ahead: Redefining Skincare

As we prepare to launch our brand, Marc's journey and our mom's discoveries forever inspire us. At Chick, we aim to transform skincare both in practice, from skin sterilization to skin strengthening, and in messaging, from an emphasis on flawlessness to embracing and nurturing our real skin. Sign up for our waitlist and help us change the way we appraoch skincare forever.