How 21-year-old Clay And Glow founder included social media followers in the product development process

Published: 20-Mar-2020

The 21-year-old Dutch founder of Clay And Glow, Julia, was a frustrated customer struggling to find a product that reduced her acne, redness, pimples and blackheads for her sensitive skin.

After trying every product out there, with allergic reactions as a result, she took matters into her own hands. She went searching for a remedy to help her fix her skin problems and at the same time helping others that had the same skin problems as she had.

This was the beginning of the journey in developing Clay And Glow’s first product.

She wouldn’t take no for an answer

She began researching ingredients and tried to convince chemists and labs from The Netherlands and abroad to help her and take her seriously. She even went to Barcelona and Paris to find labs, but none of them were willing to give her a chance.

She eventually found a Dutch-based chemist that wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt and together they started working on the mask. The developing and sample testing process eventually took over 9 months.

After months of testing, allergic reactions and lots of stress, they finally came up with the perfect mix of ingredients that was good to detoxify the skin without giving her an allergic reaction.

She finally found her remedy for her sensitive, trouble skin. After using the mask for 3 weeks, her skin started to show changes and after 3 months, she had a glowing skin without acne and redness.

How 21-year-old Clay And Glow founder included social media followers in the product development process

The first product of Clay And Glow was a fact: the Detoxifying Pink Clay Mask is 100% vegan and cruelty-free, includes 98,5% natural ingredients (the main ingredients are Pink Clay, Black Quinoa, Aloe Vera and Açaí) and is made in the Netherlands. The mask is free of perfume, parabens, alcohol and excludes lots of other nasties too.

The first product created by the founder and future customers

While developing the mask, she already created an Instagram account: "I wanted to involve the customers in the process of developing the mask. They were the ones that needed to benefit from it. So I just started following some girls, and started a conversation about what they wanted and needed."

This was the perfect way for her to find out what the needs were from future customers, and at the same time, involve them in the process. "They were so excited to finally see and test the product for themselves" she adds.

When the mask launched in May of 2019, the mask sold out twice within a couple of months. "It was insane how quickly it went, everyone was loving the mask and send their before and after results. I couldn’t be more proud!"

How 21-year-old Clay And Glow founder included social media followers in the product development process

As for the future, we can expect more products from Clay And Glow: "I want Clay And Glow to eventually grow into a whole range with multiple skincare products. And I will obviously involve the customers in the process again because that’s how Clay And Glow became a success in the first place", Julia answers.

Curious about new products? Then definitely follow @clayandglow on Instagram or visit www.clayandglow.com

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