We’re always getting tips and pitches on new brand launches here at SELF, many of which deserve more real estate on our site than a quick one-liner. Very Good Brand is a series where we do a deeper dive, helping you get to know the most exciting newish wellness companies that we think and hope you’ll love.
First up, here’s HIKI, a personal care brand that launched in 2020 with a good vibes solution to the bodily emissions that might bug you the most: from back sweat to chafing to a greasy scalp.
Of all the things we’ve had to sweat over in this shitstorm of a past year, the thing I’ve been least worried about is, well, sweat itself. I’ve cleaned my apartment top-to-bottom about 400 times, strode up a number of snow-dusted mountains, and danced my heart out for at least 13 minutes every day without even a peep of anxiety about stenching up the scene. Why? Because I have a new way to keep this ol’ sack of bones feeling fresh and dry.
HIKI is a genderless lineup of full-body sweat products that launched last July out of the arfa Collective, a consumer insights group—founded by Ariel Wengroff, a former VICE Media executive producer, and Glossier alums Henry Davis and Bryan Mahoney—that develops, tests, and promotes personal care products in exchange for 5% of company profits.
The founders learned that the Collective’s biggest gripe with sweat products was how they were marketed, stigmatizing everyday bodily functions, and shaming people into buying more products (sometimes by gaslighting women into thinking that they smell bad). HIKI’s line of thinking is a little different, and goes something like this: “You have a body, bodies sweat, let’s deal with it and move on.”
Take a scroll on their Instagram, and you’ll find uplifting slogans like, “no shame in your sweat game,” and funny sweat-positive memes that’ll both make you chuckle…and perhaps reframe some negative thinking. HIKI’s brand message seeks to normalize sweat, odor, and grease, while also providing customers with the tools to easily handle those same bodily emissions. Like, Yes, your butt sweats, here’s a cute, reasonably-priced powder for that!
HIKI takes this vision one step further through a partnership with the Sad Girls club, which was founded to tackle mental health stigma in young Americans. In addition to a donation made at the beginning of COVID-19—a time when pandemic-related stress and depression were starting to peak for most of us—they match customers’ donations dollar-for-dollar. “As a brand dedicated to personal care, we understand how common it is to face feelings of low self-esteem, shame, or stress about our bodies,” Wengroff explains.
Beyond the vibey, color-contrasted packaging, what’s cool about the products is that all of them target specific issues—like underarm, breast, and back sweat; chafe; skin irritation; and body odor—which helps to nip those in the bud in super easy and low-key ways. Wipes, roll-ons, and water-free powders have all become increasingly popular in a year where lots of people have pared back their typical hygiene and self-care routines in favor of just making it through the day. As one reviewer says, the wipes are “great for minimal effort cleanliness when you can’t get yourself into a shower.”
Personally, I also love that HIKI’s taken standard body-care items and simplified them, and they still work really well without setting off any alarms for sensitive skin. Most of the products are vegan, cruelty-free, and avoid artificial ingredients like synthetic dyes and fragrances, among other things.
Unlike other body-care brands on the market, nothing smells overly chemical or heavy. HIKI’s body wipes allow me to, uh, refresh my intimate areas without any irritation or cloying smells. The tangerine-scented deodorant lets summer live on in my pits while cutting their stank (and notably skips baking soda for a silica and zinc base). And in the increasingly likely scenario where I realize two minutes before a Zoom call that my hair has not been washed for over a week, I turn to the body (and hair!) powder for a quick rescue.
We’ve all got a ton of worries right now, but with HIKI, sweat doesn’t have to be one of them.
Related:
- The 19 Best New Body-Care Products for All Skin Types
- 19 Natural Deodorants to Keep You Dry, Fresh, and Non-Stinky
- 12 Anti-Chafe Products Distance Runners Swear By