HIKI Breaks Taboo By Making A Full Body Deodorant For Skin Folds

As we approach summer, the squirrely conversation about sweat and chafe returns. Plus-size women have long used products branded as underarm deodorant for everything from boob sweat to thigh chafe. HIKI is a new brand of full body deodorant that finally bypasses the polite and condescending marketing, and outright says it’s designed for anywhere where your skin folds.

Though HIKI is designed with the plus-size customer in mind, every human regardless of size has places where skin touches skin. Yet the conversation remains taboo. I asked HIKI co-founder, Jessica Hoskin, why.

“It’s taboo because of society’s unrealistic pressure to be a size zero,” says Hoskin. “Skin folds. It’s normal, but it leads to wetness, causing bacteria to grow, which leads to odor.” Hoskin says that while developing HIKI, she talked to people who have body odor that they wanted to mitigate, as well as people who were so embarrassed of their body odor they didn’t leave the house. “I have talked to so many that deal with intertrigo, rashes, irritation, some are disabled or dealing with grief and mental health issues like so many of us. The plus-size community already has to deal with the stigmas around being in a bigger body, they shouldn’t have to worry or have shame around body odor.”

Hoskin says that the plus-size community has been forgotten by the skin care industry, and she wants to remedy that. “I’ve been spending the last two years learning about what the plus-size community experiences. I have built an influencer advisory board for that purpose. We educate, we collaborate and we make sure we support the 67% of the US women that are size 14 and up. Larger bodies have so many stigmas, and carry so much shame because of what society has deemed ‘beautiful.’ I am doing everything I can to learn, empower and encourage people to take up space. There is room for everyone and we all deserve to enjoy life and love our bodies.”

Hoskin, who spent over a decade in corporate America before finding a passion for consumer product goods, gave me a thorough deodorant tutorial.

“There are two types of underarm products on the market: antiperspirants and deodorants. Antiperspirants always have aluminum in them as an active ingredient. Deodorants never do. Aluminum stops sweat. Deodorant mitigates odor. HIKI has always been a natural product line and we do not use aluminum, parabens, or baking soda in any of our products.”

One of HIKI’s key strategies was getting on the phone with any and every customer who would talk to them. “I wanted to know how they used HIKI, where, why and how often,” says Hoskin. What she found after hundreds of conversations was that consumers didn’t need or want a different product for every part of their body. “I began understanding pain points, stories, needs, and I realized that no brand is addressing the problems that this community faces.”

One of those pain points was shame around odor. “The more skin folds you have, there is more of an opportunity for wetness to cause bacteria that produces odor,” explains Hoskin. “I realized that there is a marginalized group of people, and not so many size-inclusive brands or products. All I could think of was, why not?”

Hoskin says the HIKI launch was delayed many times because they wanted to get the formula perfect. “We were able to come up with a base formula that I knew would stop odor. The tricky part was making sure it was perfect,” says Hoskin. “There is a lot of research and development that went into this formula, a ton of iterations, but I wasn’t going to settle. I wanted to make sure it not only got rid of odor, but smelled amazing and was not irritating to sensitive skin. It was just a game of back and forth with our scientists to get there.”

Hoskin says it was worth the wait. “I am so incredibly proud of this product and all of the stories pouring in about how this is changing people’s lives. That they’ve never found a product that works so good for them. It’s literally a dream come true for me to do this.”