Founders pick a smooth formula
A new homegrown cosmetics brand, which began with a barber’s garage experiments, is counting down to its official launch.
After more than a year of fundraising, testing and planning, Cutly Ltd founders Mohamed Eltayeb, Chris Teneza and Blake Janes will launch their Palmerston North-based company in May.
The seeds of Cutly were sown before the first Covid-19 lockdown last year, when Eltayeb and Teneza came home from Australia after an entrepreneurial project they were working on fell through.
Eltayeb said they were at a loose end when they met Blake Janes, a barberwho had created his own combination shaving cream, aftershave and beard oil in his garage.
‘‘I justwent in to get a haircut,’’ Eltayeb said. ‘‘But we got talking about what me and Chris had been doing, and he told me about a product he’d come up with.’’
Janes noticed the creams and oil he used gave some customers rashes and bumps and were having a negative effect on his own skin. He thought it was a reaction to some chemical ingredients, so set about creating his own cream with only natural ingredients. After three years of research, trial and error, he had a formula for a shaving cream that also acted as an aftershave, moisturiser and beard oil.
Teneza said Janes found that unlike other shaving creams, it went on clear. This helped with another problem he encountered at work – the difficulty of seeing small lumps before they were nicked and started bleeding.
‘‘He was just using it himself andwhen hewas working. But his customers started wanting to know where they could buy it.’’
The trio teamed up and brought in Cutly’s fourth founder, Hawke’s Bay-based chemical engineeraden Sareh.
Eltayeb and Teneza handled the business and marketing side, while Sareh helped Janes tweak his formula.
At launch, the cream will come in five different smells including the cedar- and sandalwood-scented Hiker’s Retreat, and 90 Mile, which smells of lime and camomile.
Eltayeb said the creamwould only be available via Cutly’s website at first. ‘‘It’ll be easier to approach retailers about stocking our brand with ... a proven sales record.’’