Meet the Original Human Co-Founders

In this edition of #BeAnOriginalHuman, we’re chatting with Original Human Co. founders Win and Sasha, the mother-daughter team behind Original Human! We thought Mother’s Day was the perfect opportunity to chat more about the brand, our team behind it and what makes us strive to be original humans.

Name: Sasha and Win Hull

Kicking this off, we’ve never actually formally introduced ourselves…

We’re Win and Sasha, Original Human Co. founders! What started as a search to tackle our own skin concerns evolved into starting a business together.

Talking about skincare… How did a skincare line come about? What led you to be Original Human Co. founders?

We’ve always been close, so when it came to finding solutions to the skin issues we each had, we basically started exploring solutions from the same angle. 

It took us a little while to figure out that even though we’re very similar in many ways—many, many ways—our skin wasn’t one of them. Mine (Sasha) is breakout-prone, dry, and just generally difficult, while Win’s skin is more sensitive and reactive. We needed to approach things differently.

This led to a lot of research about skin types, what we were missing and how we could fill that gap. Many biochemistry research papers later, we started doing a few things that some thought were a little crazy. 

Like using oil on our face… religiously. 

For me especially, I’d come a long way from my University days of scrubbing my skin until it was red in the hopes that I could erase the breakouts. Spoiler, it made them worse.

It turns out giving the skin a little love and what it needs to do its job, then getting out of its way has been the best route for both of us. 

The same principle worked for mom.

And while we’d made progress, there was still a little way to go. Then the question became, what does our skin need to do its job? 

I have breakout prone skin, rougher texture, and scars that lasted forever. All of these are telltale signs of sluggish cell turnover and a lack a specific fatty acids that my skin needs to function properly. Coupled with dry skin, which means I lose a lot of water to the environment, and my skin was the perfect playground for bacteria to cause breakouts. It also meant things looked a little oily as my skin tried to overcompensate with excess oil production.

By giving the skin the fatty acids it needs, along with lots of hydration and then letting it heal itself, breakouts are now minimal and usually tied to hormonal changes or diet. That said, you can pry the chocolate out of my cold, dead hands.

Mom’s dry, sensitive skin needs a lot of hydration as well, but hydration wasn’t the only issue with her. Making sure water stayed in the skin was key to healing the sensitivity and trauma she struggled with, which meant creating something completely opposite to what I needed. 

From all of this, and diving deep into what different skin needs to be healthy, we founded Original Human. It’s skincare driven by embracing was makes you, you!

If you had to describe your skincare routine in three words, how would you describe it?

Sasha: Minimalist, mindful, consistent, but I’m being optimistic here… still working on the consistent part if I’m being honest.

Win (laughing): if your routine is minimalist, then mine is ultra-minimalist! But I would add I focus on soothing and gentle as well.

What drove you to create Original Human Co. and start a business together?

To be honest, I feel that our partnership was a long time coming. I’ve always admired mom’s entrepreneurial spirit. To me she was a trailblazer who ran who her own business with three toddlers in tow. I’m now close to the age she was and can appreciate even more what she’s accomplished.

It’s also been a lot of fun, and the business and brand grew organically out of who we are (and who mom has encouraged me to become) plus all the experimentation we’ve done to find something that worked for both of us. Launching a store to be able to share that with the world was the next step and we’re so happy to be able to do that as best friends.

What does being an Original Human mean to you?

Being an original human to us simply means being yourself. Each of us are so different from anyone else. While that makes life wonderful, it can also be a little frustrating as well, since each of us needs to accept responsibility for blazing our own trail. It’s liberating in a way too though, because you can pay attention to what works for you, and then let go of the rest! This is true in both life and the smaller things like finding a skin care routine that makes sense for you. 

Follow us:

You won’t find mom on many social media platforms but you can connect with both of us through @originalhumanco’s channels and find me at @sasha_hull on Twitter and Instagram.