Our story
25 years in Seoul's labs. One question: why was nothing made for us?
This is the story of Tasha, the Black woman who spent her career building Korean skincare for everyone else, and then came home to build it for us.
TashaFounder, rejen+
01 · Seoul
She built Korean skincare for 25 years. None of it was made for her skin.
Tasha is a Black American woman who spent 25 years inside Korean skincare laboratories in Seoul, formulating for some of the biggest beauty brands in the world.
PDRN, salmon DNA, collagen, volume balms: the actives everybody is discovering on TikTok today, she worked on them for two decades before they went viral.
And in all those years, the reference skin on the testing panels was light. Every anti-aging formula she helped build was calibrated on skin that wasn't hers.
02 · Home
The first face she saw age that way was her mother's.
Black skin is naturally tighter. Its outer layer is denser, which is why we wrinkle later than everybody else. But it is also why most actives never get in: the molecules are too big, they sit on top, and they end up on the pillow.
With age, the small fat cells under the eyes, along the cheeks and around the mouth shrink. On our skin, the face doesn't crease first. It hollows. And on brown skin, a hollow casts a shadow that reads as tired.
Every formula she had worked on was calibrated on skin that wasn't ours. That is when she decided to build one that was.
03 · The formula
So she came back with one goal: the first K-beauty brand made for Black skin.
Same Korean labs. Same Korean actives. But a formula built to get into our skin, not to sit on it. It took almost two years.
Low-weight PDRN
Salmon DNA fragments cut smaller than classic PDRN, so they pass a denser barrier instead of sitting on top of it.
10% Volufiline, not 5%
Twice the 5% of the viral pink stick. It works on the look of the fat cells that have shrunk, where our face hollows.
Niacinamide
Because our skin marks. It helps keep the tone even, so you get the glow without the dark spot.
A nude beige balm
No pink, no grey film. It melts in clear on every shade, from golden to ebony.
04 · The offer
Then they offered her $30 million.
When the formula was ready, Tasha pitched it on national TV, in front of a panel of investors. They loved the product. They offered her $30 million.
On one condition: take the word “Black” off it, bring the Volufiline back down to 5% like everybody else, and sell it to every woman. “The market is ten times bigger,” they said.
She turned them down.
“I've watched it happen too many times. A Black skincare brand gets big, someone buys it, and two years later the formula is watered down and it's not for us anymore. Not this one. This one stays ours.”
The road to rejen+
- 25 yearsFormulating in Seoul's labs for some of the biggest beauty brands in the world.
- 2025The pink PDRN collagen stick goes viral. The idea is right. The formula is not made for us: 5% Volufiline, classic PDRN, a pink balm that leaves a cast.
- 2 yearsShe rebuilds it from zero with her Korean lab: low-weight PDRN, 10% Volufiline, niacinamide, nude balm.
- National TVA $30 million offer to remove the word “Black” and go back to 5%. She says no.
- Todayrejen+ launches in the US. Made in Korea. By us, for us.
By us, for us
Made in Seoul for the women who were never on the testing panel.
For our mothers, our sisters, and every woman who has been told she looks tired when she wasn't.
