Welbe started as many entrepreneurial pursuits do in beauty: Founder Steph Weibring was searching for products and couldn’t find them. Specifically, she was hunting for clean skincare products for her then 10-year-old daughter and the lack of available choices stunned her.
“She was aging out of the Honest baby stuff that was in her bathroom before and was looking for stuff meant for her,” recalls Weibring. “Once I started doing some research on all of the changes that go on in their bodies and the hormones and how beauty products really can affect them in a negative way, I started to put some emphasis on building out what I wanted for her, which is clean teen beauty.”
Welbe, which gets its name from a mashup of the words “wellness” and “beauty,” is the culmination of Weibring building out a clean teen beauty regimen. The new brand’s assortment includes Face Wash ($12), Face Moisturizer ($14), Moisturizing All in One Wash ($12) and Deodorant ($11.50). Weibring considers the four items essential for girls and boys in the pre-teen to teen age groups.
She designed the wash with her 9-year-old son in mind. “He uses as little as possible, so the goal is to just get them to take a shower and be clean,” she says. “It’s created to be moisturizing because they probably skip that step of going to put on lotion post-shower unless they need it.” The products are fragrance-free, but Weibring recognizes Welbe might have to explore fragrance in the future. She says, “I know that they’re used to the Bath & Body Works of the world, and that scent is what they’re known for, but we have on purpose really scaled back for now.”
Welbe’s products are sold individually and in sets priced from $22 to $42. Since the brand went live in October, The Starter Set with the complete range is the most popular offering. Weibring encourages people to gift the sets to adolescent consumers. “When they get to a certain age, they don’t want toys any longer,” she says. “Well, then, why not give them something that their mom would be thrilled with and they would have fun using?”
While there’s been a lot of discussion in the beauty industry about there being no official definition of “clean beauty,” Weibring has a clear idea of what it means for Welbe. She explains it means no harmful or hormone-disrupting ingredients and “peace of mind for the parent.” Weibring says, “My daughter could use anything that’s on the market that’s clean technically, but so many are anti-aging and so there are ingredients in there for that. We don’t really promise to do anything on purpose. We just want this to be simple and made with as little as possible.”
From focus groups with pre-teens, Weibring learned overly complicated packaging is a no-go. Welbe’s containers are white with blue logos and rings of bright colors along the bottoms, but there’s nothing fussy. “They’re not going to get embarrassed that it’s on their counter. There’s no glitter. There are no pinks,” says Weibring. “It’s pretty gender-neutral and modern in the packaging, so that they don’t mind keeping it in their shower.”
Another learning from the focus group was that teens, especially ones on the older side, have an aversion to the descriptor “teen.” “They feel like they’re adults at a certain age,” says Weibring. Welbe’s consumer sweet spot is 8- to 15-year-olds still influenced by their parents’ preferences, yet moving beyond mom’s or dad’s hand-me-down products. Weibring says, “We’re hopefully creating a market where the kids have their own independence in a way, but the parents feel super confident that what they’re giving them is good for them.”
Welbe’s marketing strategy involves reaching out to moms and clean beauty bloggers. “It became very clear to me that we were going after the mom, not the child, and I mainly say that because I did some research on social media and looked at what young influencers are doing and I personally, as a mom, did not feel it was our best interest to push a product on someone that young,” she says. “My daughter doesn’t even have social media, so she is not paying attention that way, but, if I came to her or a friend gave her the set because the mom bought it for a birthday, she would then think it was super cool and go about it that way.”
Weibring anticipates Welbe’s products will age along with its customers. She deems the brand’s debut products an entry-level collection that will help them get into the habit of taking care of themselves. Her next move will be to provide larger sizes, and additional products like razors, shaving cream and a shampoo conditioner combo. Acne is a category she might delve into because it’s particularly relevant to the pre-teen and teen demographic.
Weibring is also mulling over introducing makeup products that enhance rather than cover up. “They may need a concealer because a pimple popped up, and they want to cover it before going to school, but there’s absolutely no need for full foundation,” she says. “We would really be promoting their natural beauty through our products, not changing them.”
Welbe is self-funded, and Weibring poured $20,000 of her own money into launching it. She’s open to investors and raising capital in the future. In the long term, her goal is to play a leadership role in the clean teen beauty segment similar to how Honest has done in the clean baby goods segment. Target would be a dream retail partner for Welbe. Weibring says, “I think everyone might be a little bit afraid to go all in because it is a niche market, but I do believe there’s a big enough audience and parents that do want more for their kids.”
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