Cosmetic duo invents natural way to combat uncomfortable problem faced by women

Swoob is the silent problem many women deal with daily. Urban Dictionary defines swoob as an accumulation of sweat in the chest area that creates discomfort and can often lead to a yeast infection.

To combat swoob, Carrie Landry of Boise, who spent three-plus decades in the cosmetics industry, along with her business partner, Darcy Biby, who applied more than 40 years to her resume in the world of cosmetics, have created Comfy Boobz & Body.

“Let’s be straight. Nobody wants to run around and say, ‘I have sweaty boobs and now I have a yeast infection,’” Landry said laughing.

In fact, both Landry, with careers at Este Lauder and L’Oreal, and Biby, also a veteran of L’Oreal, are talking about the issue. And when it comes to this “taboo subject,” Landry said it’s a problem she knows all too well.

“We both decided we were tired, menopausal,” Landry said. “We had night sweats, we were uncomfortable all the time. But nobody knew it though. To look at us you’d think we were fantastic, but we weren’t.”

Without a hint of blush, the two birds, as they affectionately refer to each other, set out to solve this sensitive or prickly issue affecting women of all ages, builds and body types.

“Not to be rude, but I personally don’t think the world needs another lip gloss,” Landry said. “We wanted to create something for women who knew they had a problem, the same problem we had.”

The pair first met during their days at L’Oreal, with Landry handling global accounts for military sites, and Biby overseeing wholesale operations for department stores on behalf of the world’s leading cosmetic brand.

Reporting to the same boss, they struck up a friendship that has now evolved into a successful business partnership.

“I’m the math nerd and she’s the research queen,” Biby said. “Our skill sets blend perfectly for the perfect business marriage.”

During a cosmetics convention in Florida, the longtime acquaintances found themselves “commiserating about life” as Landry put it. And with more than 70 combined years of diverse and highly relevant experience in the make-up world, the pair realized that the early-bird retirement package they accepted from L’Oreal was not the foundation they yet desired.

Then and there they decided to fly in a different direction and to develop their own product, one to benefit all women plagued by the dreaded swoob.

“We knew enough to be dangerous,” Biby said. “With all of our years and experience, we had a lot of information and knew about product launching, ingredients and the type of product we wanted to create. And it had to be safe.”

An Oklahoma native, and resident of Edmond, Biby put her degree in finance from the University of Oklahoma to the test and began crunching numbers.

Relying on Landry’s research expertise, the cosmetics experts divided and conquered, spending what became two years of developing and finalizing a formula on their own.

“When we thought we had everything right, I flew to Boise and we literally went ‘Breaking Bad’ in Carrie’s kitchen and kept tweaking our work until we came up with the product,” Biby said.

And breaking bad turned out to be quite good.

“Because of our inside experience of what goes into creating a product, we knew we wanted to go in a completely different direction than what is out there now,” Landry, the former gift-wrap girl at Nordstrom’s said. That is how we conceived the idea for Comfy Boobz & Body.”

Applying their invaluable, high-stakes cosmetics industry experience, they aimed to create a safe product, one with multiple uses, conceived with natural ingredients to help make women feel more comfortable in their own skin.

More specifically, the business partners and besties centered their eyes and attention on breasts, theirs and others.

“Sweaty, sticky, super-uncomfortable breasts,” Landry said. “Plus, we know for active women, sports bras create friction, rashes, prickly uncomfortable skin. And sometimes an odor. It’s all skin on skin in tight places.”

Equally, if not most important, they agreed the final product had to be waterless.

“With water, you have to include a tremendous amount of preservatives within the formula because water can breed an assortment of yeast and bacterial infections,” Landry said. “We wanted a product that was highly concentrated without harmful preservatives or chemical additives.”

Plus, “savvy shoppers,” as Biby calls them, are everywhere these days. It’s not uncommon to see a woman on her phone in a store searching for product information.

“The industry is changing and consumers are getting smarter about what they do or don’t want to use, or the chemicals that may be in a product and what the effects of using the product might be,” she said.

To ensure they had a winning formula, the two birds departed the comfort of their research and development nest and set off to find a lab to put their work to the test.

“The chemists were pretty astounded because they’re typically the ones to create the product for you based on your initial work,” Biby said. “We bypassed that whole process by coming to the table with our own formula which saved tens of thousands of dollars.”

Plus, by creating the formula themselves, their own savvy business skills ensured them 100% sole ownership of the final product.

“The significance of this is that we own the formula,” Landry said. “Typically, if a lab develops a product for you, the lab will then own the formula.”

And all done with zero outside financing.

“Carrie and I, in our own selfish way, wanted to have full control,” Biby said. “And if you take on investors, you can end up in a position where you might have to relax your morals and ethics. We both have a high level of standards.”

Two years later, the sole owners and first-time inventors of the new online skin treatment product consider it a whole different application in sharing their efforts with fellow swoob sufferers.

In the case of Chirs Harrison, who is enjoying retirement with her 90-pound Husky by her side in Northern California’s Marin County, Comfy Boobz & Body is just what the doctor ordered.

“A waterless body product that fights moisture made good sense to me,” she said. “I love that this product was invented and produced by women who have the same body concerns as me. It works on skin bumps and rashes, wherever skin touches skin. They have disappeared for the first time. It’s been a lifesaver.”

Not to mention, one that can be used for a variety of purposes, even for those delicate issues arising far below the breast region, including skin folds, c-section folds and chaffing experienced by runners and other athletes.

“We wanted a multi-benefit product, meaning one that can be used as a natural deodorant, a chub rub, swoob for sweaty boobs, skin folds or irritations resulting from skin on skin,” Landry said. “We intentionally created the product this way to roll all these benefits into one single product.”

“It was highly important for us to respect and reflect that women expect value and should have a product with more than one benefit or added value,” Biby said.

Lee Bowers, a nurse and avid runner, decided she’d give the product a test run after learning about it from Landry.

“I apply it around my sports bra to avoid chafing as well as under arms,” Bowers said. “It really works great, it glides right on, stays put and keeps me comfortable on long runs. I highly recommend it and have even given it to a fellow runner.”

Testimonials and word-of-mouth advertising can travel fast, even in the tiny town of Alva, Oklahoma, with a population of just under 5,000.

After receiving an inordinate amount of online orders from the town’s main hub, Holder Drugstore, Landry and Biby took a road trip to pursue an answer.

A little research revealed that their new product had been passed along by a pharmacist to a woman in a local senior nursing home who was struggling with a persistent yeast infection that would not go away.

With nothing to lose, the senior resident gave Comfy Boobz & Body a try and the issue cleared up. Now many of her fellow residents are lining up to find relief from a variety of nagging skin issues.

“We’re so fortunate to be finding these new niches and paths for the product, unlike we initially intended,” Biby said.

The new product is also making its way into the hands of men to help smooth some delicate issues the guys may experience in some sensitive places.

This unexpected emerging market, Biby said, came about through the initial beta testing conducted prior to the product’s launch.

“Men can have swoob also, skin-on-skin contact in their private parts,” Biby said. “And guys who work out with big thighs can have tremendous friction in that region.”

Still in the early stages of the product’s emerging market, Biby and Landry said they’re not yet prepared to make any specific claims to its effectiveness without proper over-the-counter (OTC) testing.

“We’re not going to tell our customers it heals yeast infections without OTC approval,” Landry said.

“But were quite proud that the ingredients are antibacterial, anti-viral, calming and soothing,” Biby said.

For many women, including Dr. Dusty Buckley of Oklahoma City, who served as a product tester, that is more than enough for her.

“I have replaced my usual deodorant and antiperspirant with this product,” Buckley said. “I recommend it to patients, both female and male. One of the things I love most is its versatility. It’s so soothing and can be used on so many areas.”

Copyright © 2024 BridgeTower Media. All Rights Reserved.