DPP Technologies Inc., a Canadian biotechnology firm specializing in the health and beauty applications of date palm pollen, is building an audience for the ingredient with its first brand, Skin By Noor, which launched last year with a single product, $150 Noorishing Face Serum.
DPP Technologies is the outgrowth of research conducted by Rashad Tawashi, a pharmaceutical scientist and former professor who spent years investigating drug delivery systems, a focus that led him to study date palm pollen, the main reproductive force of the date palm tree that’s rich in antioxidants, amino acids and vitamins. Tawashi says date palm pollen is a powerful exfoliant, moisturizer and solar protectant, and it wards off inflammation and ulcerations associated with chemo and radiation therapy.
When he discovered date palm pollen’s beauty benefits, Tawashi contacted his daughter Mona, a clinical research consultant, and granddaughter Salma Hassouna, a naturopathic doctor, to form DPP Technologies in 2022 and create a brand showcasing it. Skin By Noor’s Noorishing Face Serum contains purified date palm pollen along with jojoba oil, sunflower seed oil and rosemary leaf extract. The brand is named for Hassouna’s daughter and the date palm species deglet noor.
Hassouna describes Noorishing Face Serum as a universal product, although its price tag is prohibitive to many. She explains that date palm pollen’s harvesting limitations contribute to the lofty price. She says, “[It] can only be harvested within two weeks just once throughout the year, so there is some level of luxury attached to the product because it’s not something that can just be picked up every day and everywhere.”
Since launch, Skin By Noor’s customers include men and women ranging from 18 to 60 years old and skew younger than Hassouna initially expected. She says, “Because it’s a luxury product, I thought the primary customer would be older women who wanted to invest in their skin spend that kind of money, but it’s been well received by people of all ages, men and women.” She adds, “People are pushing for clean beauty and more natural skincare products, and that is something that makes our product stand out from others in the market.”
Skin By Noor has a lip balm in the product pipeline, and an eye product and sunscreen are future possibilities. DPP Technologies holds five patents in the United States for its research on the topical applications of date palm pollen—and it isn’t done investigating the ingredient’s applications and the various products it can be in.
“There are so many things DPP can do and so many ways it can be applied in the world of science, health and technology,” says Tawashi. “We are working on exploring its different properties, and we will gradually unfold our findings as time goes on.”
While DPP Technologies is convinced date palm pollen is going to be skincare’s next big hero ingredient, cutting through the beauty industry noise has been difficult for Skin By Noor. “We realized that there’s a lot of successful indie brands, but mainly just because of their branding,” says Houssana. “Because we come from the science world, we can look at their ingredients and there’s really nothing groundbreaking, even in the luxury market, whereas our product is the opposite. We know that we’ve got all this amazing research to back this one ingredient, but getting that out there as knowledge is the challenge.”
Skin By Noor has broken into med-spa distribution in the U.S.—it’s carried in Empire Med Spa & Concierge Medicine’s Texas locations in Dallas and Greenville—and the move is helping it get the word out. The brand expects to expand to med-spas in Canada soon. “That’s a good avenue because spas are a place where there’s a lot of customer education happening,” says Houssana, noting Skin By Noor also has its sights set on retail, with Sephora, Nordstrom and The Detox Market its top retail picks. The brand is sold on its direct-to-consumer platform and ships worldwide.
DPP Technologies declines to disclose how much money it took to bring Skin By Noor to market, but shares it didn’t secure external funding to develop the brand. Skin By Noor ran a pre-launch Kickstarter campaign last year, which Mona underscores was less about garnering money than gauging interest, and drew slightly over $20,000 Canadian dollars or almost $14,000 from the campaign. The brand advertised on Facebook and Instagram to promote it.
Forty-five backers participated in the Kickstarter campaign, and those who contributed at least $75 Canadian dollars were able to try Skin By Noor’s Noorishing Face Serum. Two months later, they visiting the brand’s website to restock. “We’ve found that anybody who we get it in the hands of is like, that’s it, they’re addicted,” says Hassouna. “They want more, they need more.”
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