What BYOMA Understands About Today’s Beauty Consumer

One sentence from a recent interview with BYOMA founder Marc Elrick immediately caught my attention: “Our ambition wasn’t to launch another skincare brand. It was to change the conversation.”

It’s a simple statement, but I think it captures one of the biggest shifts happening in beauty today. The beauty industry has never had a shortage of products. Every year, we’re introduced to new ingredients, new technologies, and new claims promising better, faster results. Innovation is essential, but what struck me about BYOMA was that sometimes the biggest opportunity isn’t creating something new; it’s helping consumers think differently about what already exists.

BYOMA was built on the observation that consumers had become overwhelmed by increasingly complex routines, stronger actives, and conflicting advice. Instead of asking how to create another moisturizer or serum, the brand asked a different question: How do we simplify skincare and help people build healthier relationships with it? That philosophy has shaped everything from its focus on skin barrier health to its commitment to education and accessibility.

That idea resonated with me because it mirrors so much of what I’ve been hearing throughout my doctoral research. Over the past year, I’ve interviewed many men and women about their beauty and personal care routines. I expected those conversations to revolve around products, ingredients, and purchasing decisions. Instead, they became conversations about people’s lives.

Participants described routines that helped them prepare for the day, decompress after work, regain a sense of normalcy during stressful periods, and create moments that belonged entirely to themselves. We talked about confidence, identity, emotional regulation, and the role that ordinary routines play in everyday well-being. Although every interview was unique, a theme that surfaced again and again: people weren’t looking to add another step to their routine. They were looking for products they could trust, routines that felt manageable, and brands that genuinely understood their everyday lives.

Those interviews ultimately changed the direction of my research. What began as a qualitative exploration evolved into a broader question: What happens when beauty and personal care routines become psychologically incorporated into everyday life? That question has become the foundation of my doctoral research. I’m now developing and validating a measurement scale that examines how these routines become meaningful beyond their functional purpose, not just because they improve appearance, but because of the role they play in helping people navigate everyday life.

That’s why BYOMA’s philosophy feels so timely. Marc Elrick has spoken about consumers feeling overwhelmed by skincare and his desire to put education at the center of the brand rather than chasing trends. He has also emphasized that BYOMA was built by listening to what consumers actually needed, with the goal of empowering them to make informed decisions about their skin.

To me, that’s a shift worth paying attention to. The brands shaping the future of beauty will be the brands that reduce confusion, build trust through education, and create products that fit naturally into consumers’ lives. Performance will always matter. Science will always matter.

But I also think consumers are increasingly looking for brands that help them understand why they’re using a product, not just what it does. As both a founder and a researcher, I find that incredibly exciting. Because changing the conversation doesn’t just change how we market products; it can change how people experience them.

Dania Khalife