Shayde Beauty CEO Shay Paresh on serving melanin-rich skin and her time at NYU

By Sharanya Pogaku

The $150 billion skincare industry has boomed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. With people from all walks of life interested in the health of their skin, the industry attracts billions of consumers and has cultivated thousands of brands. Still, most skin care products are designed for lighter skin and tend to neglect skin with more melanin.

Shayde Beauty is a company that is looking to combat this issue. Shayde is a skincare line made with melanin in mind that helps treat hyperpigmentation and acne scars more effectively. The company focuses on the sensitivities of skin of color and has developed a product line that is tailored specifically to melanated skin and is vegan and cruelty-free. The company was started by Shay Paresh, NYU alumni, who struggled with acne growing up and was inspired to start her skincare line when she saw that most products weren’t formulated for women of color. After working in the media industry, she saw that melanin-rich skin was underserved and she wanted to create skincare that kept melanin in mind. We sat down with her to talk about the inspiration for her company, the melanated skin care space, and how NYU has helped her get to where she is now.

Where did the inspiration for Shayde come from?

Personally, I've always struggled with skin issues, and I really wanted to find something that would work for me and make it better. The products on the market always need to be part of more complicated routines: you need to know which products to use and what order to use them in. I’ve always wanted just one “power product” that works for everything. That's why Shayde formulates its products in a very minimalistic style. I actually used to work at Clinique, and that's where I realized that a lot of the formulas weren't specifically formulated for melanin-rich skin.

It's really interesting to me how you said that a lot of skincare isn't for people with melanin-rich skin. But is there a reason? Why is it that people don't know that melanin needs different skincare?

I think there's a lack of education around it. Even if you talk to a dermatologist, they'll say the same thing. There hasn't been a lot of studies done specifically on skin of color. Things are slowly changing, but for years, there wasn't any progress. On the Fitzpatrick scale [a numerical system to classify skin color], a lot of skincare is only tested on levels one to three, but I’m around the four, five, or six-- the darker tones. Beauty companies usually only  formulate for one to three, then add specific ingredients to "compensate" for four, five, or six. But it's still formulated for one specific type of skin ethnicity,  and everyone’s needs are really not taken into consideration. However, things are changing with chemists and the way people are formulating, and Shayde uses those practices as well.

I didn't know about the Fitzpatrick scale, but I think it’s interesting how companies aren’t directly formulating products for people of color. If brands were to accommodate for melanin-rich skin, wouldn't they be able to make a lot more money?

You would think that, but there's not enough data yet and companies always want data-driven objectives. If the research hasn’t been done before, there isn’t enough data available. And companies may not want to take that first step because of the risk.

Shayde is one of the first companies focusing on melanin-rich skin and doing this in your space. And I think that's really amazing. Do you think you have a first-mover advantage, and how does that give you a leg up over other companies that are trying to do something similar?

There are quite a few skincare lines that focus on melanated skin now, and I think it's exciting to see other brands emerge for melanin-rich skin. But there are still thousands and thousands of beauty brands that are supposed to cater to “everyone.” So, the melanin space is still tiny. I’m excited to see it grow and become its own category.

How has the pandemic affected Shayde? Has it accelerated growth or pushed you back?

In the beginning, it was very stressful, but now we know what's ahead of us. There was time for people to learn and become more educated about skincare. A lot of people were Googling “why do we need melanated skincare?” Quarantine was a really good time because people got to educate themselves on why this matters.

Looking back as an alum now, how has your time at NYU influenced your career and helped you build Shayde?

I went to Gallatin, and essentially, I'm interested in everything. I have a million tabs open on my computer screen at all times. That's how my brain works. And at Gallatin, that's exactly what it is. You can do all of these different things. So I think my experience at Gallatin was really amazing, I got to learn a lot of the things that I'm interested in. It was interesting to meet people who had similar thought processes, because before, it was always hard to fit in. I was the oddball out. But when I came to Gallatin, I realized that there are other people who think the same way. You just have to find the right people. So NYU really helped me find myself and find my community.

What advice would you give to someone else who's trying to start a new company? And specifically, a niche company in a legacy market - similar to how you're focusing on melanin in the more traditional skincare market?

Focus on your “why” and just stick to that. You need to surround yourself with good people and like-minded people. You need that positivity and you need to create together. Having a really strong support system and people you can talk to is really important because you need to bounce ideas off of each other. It's always about constantly innovating.