What Rachel Roff learned from touch in Charlotte treatment room

Touch came first, then the formula. Rachel Roff set aside a franchise plan in 2010 and poured a cleansing bar instead, and Urban Skin Rx still starts at the fingertip. Think plant supported care for melanin rich skin, with licorice root and kojic acid inside rituals you can keep.

Roff opened Urban Skin Solutions in Charlotte in 2006 when she was 25. She was a licensed medical esthetician living with severe acne and a nevus mole. She watched practitioners hesitate around deeper tones for lack of training. She wanted a room where those clients felt central.

By 2010 the franchise idea was shelved. She made the Even Tone Cleansing Bar for home use, a solid bar melted into a jar with kojic acid, azelaic acid, niacinamide and licorice root. One take home product grew into a line. A neighborhood practice grew into national retail. The brand now calls itself skin care from the melanin experts.

The sensory part is easy to miss in a clinical story. These formulas lean on plant derived brighteners and calming extracts in low steady amounts inside exfoliating bases. Roff talks like an operator, results before price, yet she keeps returning to roots and harvests. This interview follows texture, objects and routine, and the discipline they ask for.

The weight of a jar and two damp sponges sits at the center of your line. Your first release in 2010 was the Even Tone Cleansing Bar, first shaped as a private label bar for future franchisees. Why did a solid bar in a jar feel right in the hand, and how did licorice root find its place beside kojic acid and niacinamide.

I fell into it by accident. I never pictured a skin care line ahead when I first began. The idea was to franchise the spa and supply products my franchisees could offer. Then clients kept asking how to hold our in room results at home. A bar felt right because it could wash, it could sit briefly like a mask, and it could lightly polish.

Licorice root earned its spot because I wanted luminosity without roughness. Kojic acid helps the look of uneven tone appear more even. Azelaic acid with niacinamide leaves skin looking clearer and feeling smooth to touch. Licorice root extract, from Glycyrrhiza glabra root, contains glabridin and liquiritin, compounds researched for how dark spots appear, plus a calming feel that keeps the bar usable. We melt the firm bar into the jar and you work it with sponges, so contact stays short and uniform. It stays popular because it visibly works, and the plant helps it work gently.

Marks fade on their own slow clock. You opened Urban Skin Solutions in Charlotte in 2006 at age 25, after esthetician school showed you how few practitioners touched deeper tones with ease. What did those early treatment room years show you about post inflammatory marks that a lab alone could miss.

I built that room because no one else had. I understood what it meant to lack confidence in how I looked, in my skin in particular. I lived with severe acne. I lived with a nevus mole that changed how I saw myself. Then in training I saw practitioners grow uneasy around deeper skin tones, above all around acne and post inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Training was thin, so people looked away.

A treatment room teaches slowness. Marks soften over time. Melanin rich skin can answer pressure with added darkening. I learned to observe, to lighten pressure, to hold routines plain enough that clients stayed with them. If I cannot give visible results, life changing results for people, there goes my brand. Those years gave me that line. It still orders how I compose a formula, results ahead, then price second as I develop it.

Cost pressure tests every promise. The brand page says you leave out sulfates and parabens and skip hydroquinone, and you call formulas cruelty free and esthetician developed. What does your rule, I have never compromised on what I put in my products, mean when ingredient costs climb.

It means results ahead, then price second. I just have never softened what I put in my products. When a brightening plant extract runs higher because it was grown and handled with care, we retain it and solve elsewhere in the formula. We build without sulfates and without parabens. We do not build with hydroquinone. We remain cruelty free.

That reads plain. It is demanding. Every retailer started coming to us wanting a piece of the business, and we kind of welcomed everybody for a while. Added doors should bring volume and softer costs, yet they add pressure to dilute a formula toward a price. I prefer to edit size or range rather than weaken the portion that performs. Clients trust us with melasma, acne marks and uneven tone seen up close. That confidence is the company.

The HyperCorrect Intense Fading Cream pairs 5 percent cysteamine with 1 percent niacinamide and vitamin E, applied to dry skin for 15 to 20 minutes before cleansing. Where do plants belong in a formula this clinical, and why keep their touch brief on skin.

People assume clinical leaves no room for plants. I do not work that way. Cysteamine is a strong ingredient used for how stubborn discoloration looks. Niacinamide helps tone look even and helps barrier comfort. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that helps the texture sit stable on skin. Around those we still select soothing botanical support so the feel stays bearable, because comfort is what keeps a person returning.

Brief wear is deliberate. You smooth a thin film onto dry skin, pause 15 to 20 minutes, then wash before cleansing. That interval gives actives time to act while curbing excess exposure. Melasma appears most often in Fitzpatrick types IV to VI, and those types spot readily. A mild routine that repeats beats one intense night. Botanicals do not lead this formula, yet they help skin receive it.

A phone video changed the scale. In early 2020 an unpaid customer shared a before and after video of the bar on TikTok, with sales reported up 150 percent and later described as up 300 percent over three months during the Three Week Clear Skin Challenge. What did that sudden rush reveal about how people really smooth a botanical exfoliant over skin at home.

There are plenty of pluses and minuses that arrive with viral moments. People assume those sales continue forever. That pace is not realistic or sustainable. I paid closest attention to handling. Users left the bar on for longer, applied it twice daily without pause, rubbed hard with the sponge because they wanted marks to lift sooner. On deeper tones that habit can rebound and make marks look darker.

So we coached the feel. Soak the sponges. Whip lather. Press, do not drag. Start a few evenings a week, then use more often as skin allows. Rinse fully. Layer moisture and morning sunscreen. The botanicals need steady time, almost like steeping. Licorice root and niacinamide help tone look supported with regular use, while acids clear the dull top layer. The label eyed 70 percent growth in 2020, 36 points above plan, after about 30 million dollars in sales the prior year. That volume pushed us to sharpen directions, stock and patience.

If I fail to deliver noticeable results, life changing results for people, my brand is gone.

Rachel Roff

A small bottle keeps vitamin C honest. The Even Tone Super Glow Serum at 0.5 fluid ounces blends 10 percent vitamin C with a retinoid and niacinamide. Vitamin C turns quickly and retinoids can sting easily, so how do you weigh harvest freshness, packaging and dose for melanin rich skin.

With vitamin C, freshness rules. L ascorbic acid performs yet stays fragile. Light, air and warmth alter it. So vessel, closure and habit count as much as strength. A little 0.5 fluid ounce bottle supports daily use while the serum stays fresh. Opaque walls and a cap kept shut help. A pea sized press over even skin at night, then cream, works better than a large pump used now and then.

With retinoids on deeper tones we hold a careful line and join them with niacinamide, which helps skin look calm and even. I think the way a grower thinks. Pick at peak, store cool, use soon. A serum behaves the same. Purchase the volume you will empty. Keep it stored well. When tint or scent turns notably, replace it. The aim is glow that accumulates, not a fast peel plus a rebound spot.

Texture has to survive scale. You moved from one spa to Walmart in more than 750 stores in fall 2020, later reported near 1,500, plus Walgreens, Ulta, Target, CVS, Dermstore, Amazon, HSN and QVC, with a Pro Strength refresh at Ulta in 2021. What did you have to shift in sourcing to keep the botanical feel steady at that scale.

We practiced refusal more. It tempts you to take each door. We kind of said yes to everybody at first, and then we felt the pull on production and stock. Growth choices are concrete. You order bigger lots of kojic acid, niacinamide, licorice root extract and oils. Lead times lengthen. You approve backup sources. You fix targets for tint, scent and strength so one batch sits near the next.

Roff mentions manufacturing obstacles openly. Ours concerned holding feel plus function while expanding. A cleansing bar must melt and firm the same way. A serum must hold its slip and clarity. We kept esthetician review inside the process, feeling texture on skin rather than only in glassware. The Allure Best of Beauty recognition in 2020 for the Even Tone Smooth and Glow Enzyme Mask helped, but prizes do not fix supply. Planning does.

Feedback lives on skin before it lives in charts. Your site lists more than one million Even Tone Cleansing Bars sold and more than 12,000 five star reviews, with surveys reporting 90 percent agree it improves uneven appearance and 87 percent that it boosts radiance. How do you read those numbers as a formulator who still works with hands on skin?

I take them as direction, not proof. Polls show how skin reads to the person wearing it, and that shapes confidence. In the room I check feel, how base sits, whether spots look muted in daylight. The bar acts as a daily infusion. Short touch, wash, repeat. Across weeks the surface appears smoother and tone appears more level.

I also study the remainder. Where 90 percent note more even appearance, I consider the 10 percent who do not. Did they over apply. Did they skip sunscreen. Did they pick at breakouts. Were they pregnant or managing melasma that wants longer attention. Figures show where we tighten guidance and where we advise a consult. Our 15 dollar virtual consultation exists for that purpose. No single ritual suits each face.

Doing less took practice. You have said the biggest difference between successful and unsuccessful people is how you meet failure. Which formulation misstep taught you the most about restraint.

At first I chased every brightener in a single jar. More acids, more extracts, more promises printed on the label. On deeper skin that mix can sting and print the very marks you meant to fade. We stepped back. Fewer actives at thoughtful levels, backed by calming botanicals and an explicit method, outperformed a crowded label.

That is why the bar holds three roles in one, cleanser, mask and exfoliator, instead of three separate potent steps. That is why the fading cream uses short contact. That is why the serum stays small. Restraint follows a field rule as well. You do not strip a plot because orders spike. You cut, you let it rest, you come back. Skin answers the same way. Failure showed me how to guard barrier and brand together.

Ownership changed and the ritual stayed. In January 2025 the label was reported as acquired by American Exchange Group, with terms not disclosed, and you have talked about board members and a medical director holding equity. How do you want readers to feel Urban Skin Rx now, and what stays grounded whatever the ownership.

I want readers to see what holds steady. The mission is to keep making clinical skincare more welcoming to people around the world, especially for hyperpigmentation, melasma, acne marks and uneven tone. I have said over 51 percent of the company is not Black owned, so we do not call ourselves Black owned, and that our board members, our medical director Dr David Henderson plus staff hold equity. Framework matters and candor matters.

What remains rooted is the practice. Esthetician developed. Proven in a working treatment room. Botanicals picked for function, not for narrative. Licorice root for how brightness looks. Niacinamide for how balance looks. Acids applied briefly and rinsed. Moisture plus sunscreen to keep the gain. Ownership may shift. The ground holds, when tended.

Closing note from the desk

What lingers for the editors is a small set of tools, jar, bar and two sponges. Modest objects for a serious worry, and Roff has kept them at the middle as the company widened around them. She speaks of stock and sell through with the same attention she gives to press, time and rinse.

Urban Skin Rx aimed to bring clinical care within reach for melanin rich skin, with no demand to pick between power and steadiness. Roots carry a share of that vow, quietly, in extracts and measured amounts. Handled slowly, the ritual coheres.

Product spotlight

The Even Tone Cleansing Bar sells at 25 dollars for 3.7 oz and 16 dollars for 2.0 oz. One jar that cleanses, masks and exfoliates with kojic acid, azelaic acid, niacinamide and licorice root. Work lather with the included sponges, sweep briefly or rest briefly as a mask, then wash well and add moisture plus daytime sunscreen.

The Even Tone Super Glow Serum sells at 24 dollars for 0.5 fl oz. A brightening serum with 10 percent vitamin C with a retinoid and niacinamide for how dark spots and dullness look. Smooth a small amount over clean skin at night, seal with moisturizer, and use morning sunscreen daily as tone appears more even.