Karen Young, Oui Shave: Refining Women's Shaving – Well Made E46

After a career in retail sales and operations at Estée Lauder, Karen Young started Oui Shave. The ecommerce brand of skincare and shaving tools is specifically crafted for the female experience. Their rose gold safety razor is engineered to last longer and cause less irritation; when paired with their natural oils and rich balms, the whole experience is designed to elevate women's shaving. She launched the latest design in November 2017 and it's already back ordered.

In many ways, Karen’s upbringing in Guyana, South America shaped her as an entrepreneur. Raised by her uncles and grandmother, Karen's first business was an homage to her grandmother's colorful home, while Oui Shave’s signature razor was inspired by her uncles’ grooming tools. From Guyana to Brooklyn, where Karen runs the business, she’s embraced the culture of bootstrapping and leans into her scrappiness.

On this episode of the podcast, Karen talks about learning from her first business, Hammocks & High Tea (7:11), and the path that led her to the beauty industry and Oui Shave (8:14). She talks about challenging behemoth companies and other direct-to-consumer brands by marketing to women (10:52) and why she’s positioning her razor as an heirloom product (14:18). She gets real about the slow and steady growth of bootstrapping (37:02) and making a purposeful choice not to fundraise right out the gate (38:01). Finally, she shares the lows (41:11) and highs (42:57) of seeing her grooming products scale beyond giant blue Ikea bags.

Find Karen and Oui Shave on Twitter and follow Oui Shave on Instagram.

Also mentioned on the show:

• Dollar Shave Club
• Harry’s
• Bevel
• Well Made Episode 3 with Mike Macadaan: The Silicon Valley of Leather
• Well Made Episode 41 with Lauren Sherman: Going Direct to Consumer

Header photo by Sasha Isreal Photography.