Consider the products that you use on your body and the products strictly for your face—it’s more than likely that the latter is getting more targeted treatments. Soft Services, a brand dreamed up by two Glossier alums, wants to change that. But their objective is to make your body care routine more efficient, not more excessive. “We’re more of a problem-solution brand versus a lifestyle brand,” co-founder Annie Kreighbaum tells Coveteur.
As a counterpoint to the abundance of attention brands pay to skin stressors from the chin up, Kreighbaum and her co-founder Rebecca Zhou created Soft Services to carve out space for a well-rounded self-care arsenal, where the full body (read: arms, back, chest, and legs) gets as much TLC as the face. Their formulas also address common skin issues below the neck, from body acne to keratosis pilaris.
Soft Services co-founders Annie Kreighbaum and Rebecca Zhou. Photo: Courtesy of Soft ServicesThe pair launched Soft Services in 2021, several years after meeting as coworkers. In fact, their first interaction was body care-based. “It’s kind of kismet that we launched a body line together,” Kreighbaum says. When Zhou first approached Kreighbaum at Glossier HQ, it was to compliment her on an article about a body peel that she had penned for Into the Gloss. “I had written about Makeup Artist’s Choice. They were the only brand at the time doing serious formulas for the body with acids. She said that she bought it immediately and I thought, OK, I like this girl,” Kreighbaum recalls.
Years later, after Zhou had moved on from her post as Glossier’s head of digital product and Kreighbaum had transitioned out of her role as VP of brand development, which touched everything from editorial to product development, they were working as creative consultants together and couldn’t get past their ongoing skin struggles. “Rebecca and I were like, ‘Why are we 30 and still have body acne? Maybe we should create a product for this,’” says Kreighbaum. “We started pulling on that thread to see what else people are searching for when it comes to the body. That’s how we did our first product roadmap for Soft Services.”
The Buffing Bar. Photo: Courtesy of Soft ServicesToday, the brand’s offering includes five products: a suite of smoothing essentials, including their Buffing Bar, Coveteur’s 2022 Beauty All-Stars winner for “Head-to-Toe Hero,” Smoothing Solution, and Carea Cream, plus a clearing duo made up of a Clearing Clay and an accompanying Clearing Mist. Below, Kreighbaum looks back on her experience building one of beauty’s coolest body care brands, how she navigated learning curves, and why we should start thinking about beauty from the chin down.
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Soft Services
The Buffing Bar “The first time I touched my skin after using the Buffing Bar, I literally gasped because it was so smooth. I really like when my shower feels like an experience, and I feel that especially with the Buffing Bar. The shower is my happy place, so I really love this.” —Ama Kwarteng, Coveteur Beauty Editor
