Jordyn Huitema Is Making Skincare For Girls That Sweat
Launching the first skincare line made with athletes in mind, the soccer star talks about her latest career move.
Jordyn Huitema is one of the most recognizable faces in women’s soccer. An Olympic gold medalist, one of Canada’s brightest talents and an NWSL stalwart, the 25-year-old star has an impressive list of accolades to her name already. This year she’s adding one more to the list: skincare maven.
Huitema has been open about her struggles with acne in the past, recently offering insight into her skin’s transformation as she revealed the passion project she has been working tirelessly on in the background of all the goals and glamor. Announcing the launch of her JORDYSKIN skincare line, the Chicago Stars forward is building a regimen for professional athletes, gym rats, pilates princesses and anyone who sweats.
Entering the market as the first skincare line designed with athletes in mind, Huitema’s JORDYSKIN is a revelation in the world of beauty. Despite so many people identifying as athletes, ranging from WNBA All-Stars to amateurs and recreational players, no brand has come up with a formula made specifically for them. Huitema took the matter into her own hands, and now she’s sharing her secret to a healthy skin barrier with the world.
We spoke to Huitema about the upcoming launch of JORDYSKIN, the challenges she faced starting the line and where she hopes the brand can go in the future. Keep scrolling to read the full conversation.
What made you want to start a skincare line?
I used to struggle with my skin and I didn’t know where to turn, really. I felt lost, and everywhere I went, it just didn’t work with my lifestyle. It was always just like, “wash your skin morning and night,” and I needed to wash it three times because I play sports. It would naturally strip my skin and I’d peel. I think for me, it was about giving athletes and people who work out, or train, or do anything with movement, a place to turn to in a way that they can trust is made specifically for them. Going through my bad skin and acne journey, I was really looking for something like this, and it didn’t exist, so I created it myself.
This launch was several years in the making. What was the process like?
The process was crazy. This is year four now, but I wanted to make it perfect, and I wanted to pump out something that I felt super passionate about — something that I loved and fully believed in. If you removed my name, it would still be a very good, standalone product that people would want to buy because of that. There’s definitely been a lot of ups and downs with creating the company that was a bit unexpected, but it got us to this point now, which makes it all worth it.
How much trial and error went into perfecting each formula?
Every formulation takes about two and a half to three months because the dermatologists have to reproduce it, and the chemists have to remake something, test it, make sure it’s approved, make sure it’s shelf-life stable and then they’ll send it out to you. If I want to change the foaminess, the texture or the formula, I can’t just change and tweak whatever I want. It takes another two and a half to three months for them to do that.
There were definitely moments where it kept going back and forth, and I was just like, “Do I want to just say yes because it’s been a year and a half, two years of formulating this product?” But I held strong to it and wanted to make something perfect. We kept denying things until it came back the exact way we wanted it to be.
What were the specific skin frustrations that you were dealing with that other brands just weren’t fixing?
It was definitely like the dryness that was created because I would have to wash my skin at least three times a day. There was so much stripping of my natural oils and of my skin itself. My skin barrier was red and irritated, and the skin was literally peeling off of my face because it was just so damaged as far as my skin health and skin barrier.
I obviously want to have clean skin in the morning; I needed to clean my skin after training and I like to shower before bed. So, it was like I had to either choose to wash my face with water in certain moments — which didn’t really work for me, especially at night or post-training — or just deal with it. I wanted to create something that would take away the sweat, oil and dirt that needed to be removed, but then, with the milky toner and the moisturizer, it can replenish your skin and bring it back to where it needs to be.
When you’re training or playing, sometimes skincare will melt down your face from sweat and heat. How did your playing experience influence the texture and wearability of JORDYSKIN?
We wanted to create something that wasn’t sticky and kind of soaks into your skin well. We always say it moves with you, keeps up with your life and doesn’t hold you back. We wanted to create something that you can use just before going anywhere — going out, going to play, going to do whatever. It’s a super light formulation that is heavy enough to seep in but doesn’t sit too much on top of your skin.
Those pieces of formulation took forever as well, but that was the goal: get the cleanser to bring your skin back to neutral and clean, get the toner to go into the pores and continue cleaning it while filling it with good products, but also hydrating, and then covering it with the moisturizer to lock everything in and create a good final layer before going out.
This is one of the first skincare lines that has athletes in mind. How does it feel to be the person spearheading that?
It feels special. I think that my goal was to create a space that makes everyone feel safe and welcomed. Originally, it wasn’t like, “oh, look at this great opportunity.” This is something I’ve felt personally, and I want to help support other people who are feeling the same way as me. But now, when you kind of take a step back, you get to see how special it is. I’m very excited to be a part of the wave and the first to begin that journey.
Why do you think there’s been such a huge gap in the market for athletes?
Yeah, I don’t know! I think that was the big thing. I stepped away, and I was just like, “Why is there nothing?” So many people are active, and it doesn’t have to even be high-performing athletes. It’s anyone on a day-to-day basis who likes to go for a hike, or likes to go for a walk, a run, or Pilates, or the gym or anything. There are so many people out there who just like to stay active, and nothing out there is really catered to us.
Certain brands will do one-off things where they’re putting a soccer player on a deodorant or whatever, but that isn’t for the athlete. You’re just marketing your brand with an athlete. So why is there no one creating it? I don’t know, I was confused, too. Hopefully, not everyone jumps into the market now that this has started! But either way, we’re basically one of the first to do it and I’m definitely excited to get this out for everybody to have.
Your campaign imagery features a lot of your teammates. Did they test out any of the earlier formulations?
When I was playing in Seattle, I used to bring in the test samples. For the people willing to, I would just put the face wash on their hands, and they would wash in the shower. I would give them the moisturizer to try out. I would try different things and hear everyone’s opinions and see if they enjoyed the way it felt or not.
For me, I was the one who did the longer-term testing to make sure that it worked well over time. But the day-to-day, one-off trying? Yeah, there were lots and lots of players who tried and lots of family who tried. I wanted to get all different skin types, ages, genders — anything included in the trial to make sure that everybody enjoyed it. Everyone along the way didn’t always enjoy it because it wasn’t perfect, but then by the end of it, we perfected it. Every person that I asked to try it loved it. That’s also when I knew I loved it too, so we knew that we came up with something that was perfect.
How has your gameday routine changed and what is your favorite product?
I think that my milky toner has been a really fun thing to play around with, especially wearing makeup during a game, too. For me, starting with a good, super moisturizing, rich skincare as a base has been a game-changer. I’ll usually just go through the whole routine and then double up with the milky toner just before I want to put on a light foundation or whatever I’m going into a game with. It stays on the skin well, it looks like skin, it looks healthy, it looks light, it glows. That’s been a little bit of a game-changer for my gameday routine, for sure.
Skincare is a completely different world than soccer. What was the biggest learning curve for you when you were starting?
It’s just like the hidden mysteries of starting a business. I don’t think I knew the full extent of what that was going to look like. In terms of that, like basically almost getting sued for the first name that we had, and our manufacturer that we were working with originally wanted a third of the business for us to get the products from them. That was never the original deal — we couldn’t just get the products and purchase them; we had to give them part of the company. I was like, “That’s not happening.”
There have been a lot of things that have come up. I think the core of it is that I want to keep being the head of the brand, making all the decisions and knowing the direction that the brand is heading in. There have already been companies talking about purchasing it and just having me be the face of it while they run it, but I don’t want that. This is my passion project, and I think every detail that goes into it, I want it to be perfect and as authentic as possible. Sometimes with the larger brands, you can lose that.
Starting as a smaller business and hopefully growing into a bigger brand, we can create such an authentic place for people to feel safe. That was why, with our photoshoot, none of the photos are going to be retouched. Everything is just going to be natural skin, and as authentic as it can come. Whatever you see is what you’re going to get. For me too, I didn’t wear any skin makeup. I wanted to be as natural as possible through the shoot as well.
I just don’t want to give any false realities. I think social media can create such an unhealthy culture, especially for the younger generation, of what they should look like or what they think everyone else looks like, but it’s just not true at all. So, I think that was the brand’s journey, as well. Especially in skincare, it’s natural for brands to want to put filters on or blur people’s skin and make it seem so perfect, but then it just gives such a fake sense of what it is to everyone looking in. I didn’t want to be a part of that. I think that’s an older mindset, and the new day and age of where we’re headed is all about being yourself, being natural, being authentic. This is going to be at the forefront of what the brand stands for, as well.
How do you want people to feel when they wear JORDYSKIN?
I think the big thing that I want to promote is confidence. Confidence to just be yourself, wear your natural skin out, and not have to feel like you want to cover it up. That’s the big thing. When I think about old Jordyn with my skin issues, the biggest thing that I felt was a lack of confidence and the feeling of wanting to hide or not show anyone my skin. I want to help bring confidence back into everyone’s natural beauty and their natural skin health. It doesn’t matter if it’s pimples, no pimples, it doesn’t matter — just making your skin barrier healthy is the main goal. Healthy skin and beautiful skin. We don’t have to get so caught up in blemishes and things like that, but just healthy, confident skin is the main goal.
I know this is just the beginning, but how do you see JORDYSKIN evolving in the future?
There are so many products in my head that I want to launch and want to create. I want this first drop to go really well. Obviously, we are still a very small company. So, if this first drop goes well, then creating more of what’s already been made, but also expanding into more ideas that I have that I would love to expand into — like different serums, pimple patches, eye patches, face masks and all these different things that I would love to get involved with in skin.
Through that, I also would love to do JORDYHAIR and JORDYBODY, things like that. Creating a haircare line and different products for athletes in every aspect of looking after yourself and your body. That’s the big thing. That’s the dream. That’s the vision. Hopefully, it can get there, and I hope people love this first part.
JORDYSKIN is launching soon, with early access available exclusively on the JORDYSKIN website.
