Hand Sanitizer Need Not Be Boring (Win!)

Who said sanitizer needs to be a snooze? New brand Dom is determined to bridge the gap between medical and cosmetic by designing a product that’s not only powerful and effective, but that we’re proud to keep in our bag, car and living space. We chatted with founders Sam and Adam about their mission to make sanitizing more, well, stylish. —Vita Daily

Hi Sam and Adam! Please tell us a bit about yourselves to start.

Sam is a recruiter by day and foodie by night, and Adam has mastered his craft of sales in the CPG a logistics industries. We’ve always felt called to starting a business of our own, and the inspiration for Dom came from our frustration with the lack of safe, effective and aesthetically pleasing products on the market, especially during a time when hand sanitizer is becoming such an integral part of our daily lives.

It’s safe to say (pun intended) that sanitizers are trending at the mo. When and why did you decide to launch your own line of sanitizing products through Dom, and what makes your offerings unique?

In so many words: we didn’t like the sanitizers on the market. We heard and experienced the complaints: too gloopy or sticky; drying too quickly or not rubbing in; reeking of heavy booze; leaving behind white residue; and drying out your (our) skin. And on top of that, the bottles were clear plastic with a sticker slapped on. It looked like a medical product and no one is excited about that. We want people to use sanitizer … all the time. Well, at least when hand washing is not an option. So, if we’re going to encourage the use of sanitizers as part of everyone’s day to day routine, we need(ed) a solution. We wanted to see how we could bridge the gap between medical and cosmetic by designing hand sanitizers that are not only powerful and effective, but complement the consumers’ everyday lifestyle. That is when we decided to found Dom, a company that creates safe and organic products so you (our current and future consumers) can create sanitary sanctuaries wherever you are. Dom is a sanitary lifestyle brand that develops design-forward sanitizing products for the current and post-pandemic world. Our hand sanitizing sprays are organic, hypoallergenic, medical-grade, free-from, sustainable, locally-sourced, kill 99.99 per cent of harmful germs and bacteria, and truly smell and feel so so so good! We recognized that an everyday product (sanitizer) needs to complement your everyday style, which is why we’ve combined form and function, and bottled our hand sanitizers in sleek post-consumer plastic designed to fit in your bag and right at home.

What goes into making a really great sanitizer?

Chemical-filled products are not our jam. We both have super-sensitive skin, so it was important to think about what we were going to put into our sanitizers. The ingredients needed to be powerful enough to kill bacteria and viruses while containing ingredients that are safe, clean and nourishing for your skin. We worked with a local distributor on sourcing for organic ingredients – did a lot of testing, sampling and iterating—and finally came up with the two sanitizers we have now. Our sanitizers are formulated using familiar ingredients (like aloe, lavender and rosemary) and without the bad stuff (like silicon, phthalate, paraben and sulfates).

How about aesthetics? What didn’t appeal to you about the original sanitizers we all rushed to buy when the pandemic hit?

Everything? We’re seeing a movement in the cosmetic and beauty space (including shampoos) that we have yet to see in sanitizer and need to see. Sanitizers are naturally associated with medical products, hospitals and sickness. But, why? Why does staying safe have to look so sterile? If hand sanitizer is going to be part of the new normal, then we need to shift away from the hyper-medical design to introduce a product that is minimalist and can compliment consumers’ everyday lifestyle with ease. The black-and-white design can add to and camouflage into your everyday lifestyle with no interruptions. We want our consumers to have their sanitizers in their purses, pockets and cars, and all around their homes, and not to be apologetic for it.

What’s in the future/pipeline for Dom?

What is awesome about D2C and social media is that we can truly have a pulse of people and hear directly from our community what they are wanting. We kicked off with our Rosemary & Lavender hand sanitizers, and will continue to further Dom as a brand of safe and organic products so that our growing Dom community can create sanitary sanctuaries wherever they are. We are currently in the R&D phase of expanding our hand sanitizer offerings, currently testing bergamot and cedar leaf, and will be launching an antimicrobial hand lotion in the late fall. Dom will always be organic first with some sort of sanitary element included in each product.

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Win! The Full Dom Collection!

Congrats Jordan@socialQrelations.com. of Windsor, ON, who will receive the full Dom collection, including Lavender in 60ML and 250 ML, Rosemary in 60ML and 250ML + the adorable Dom hat, valued at $104! Please note: if you are the winner, you will receive a DM (direct message) in Instagram directly from @vitadaily.ca. Please be wary of fake accounts, which often use similar handles with an extra or missing letter, number or symbol. We will never ask for a payment or for your credit card number, and we will never ask you to click through a link. If you are unsure whether you have been contacted, via Instagram, by us or a fake account, email us before responding.