Everything You Need To Know About Hyram Yarbro And His Skincare Line

Grazia speaks exclusively to the TikTok and YouTube sensation

Published on8th April 2022 at 4.07pm

If you haven't heard of Hyram Yarbro before, it's time to get acquainted. The skincare guru boasts a 6.4 million - and counting - following on TikTok and has amassed over 4.6 million subscribers on YouTube. Most recently he joined Hailey Bieber on her very own YouTube stage - he had the honour of being the first guest to feature on her brand new video franchise Beauty Tips & Tricks - and talked all things beauty with the supermodel. Read more about the £25 retinol serum he introduced Hailey to right here.

Hyram recently launched his own skincare range - Selfless by Hyram - in the UK, and to celebrate the drop he sat down with Grazia and talked through his journey, his passion for skincare and his vision for the future.

On First Discovering A Passion For Beauty And Skincare

'Growing up, I had no exposure to beauty products. I lived on a cattle ranch in Arizona, it was never a conversation or something that was associated with boys. I first started thinking about skincare in college, when I started to notice a little premature ageing. People close to me gave me a friendly nudge towards my first skincare products, I started using them, and noticed the transformative results. That experience was the first thing that piqued my interest in the beauty industry.'

'As for my passion, that came about through make-up artistry. That's the area I initially got involved in. Through that, I started thinking more deeply about the ingredients in skincare - the foundation of any good make-up - and I saw first-hand how sharing useful information in that arena, could lead to someone using that information practically, and growing in confidence as a result. That's when I really found my calling.'

On Coming Out

'I was kicked out of my home in Arizona after coming out as gay, and that had a huge impact. It was a wake-up call. Nobody wants to be disowned by their parents, but it made me ask myself a few valuable questions - who do I want in my life? What type of people do I want around me and supporting me? Yes, it was a horrible, horrible moment in my life, but looking back it was liberating. I realised that I didn't have to care what people thought about me any more, about how I was perceived by my family or my community. I wouldn't have experienced that sense of freedom had I held on.'

On The Support He Found On Social Media

'Growing up in an environment where homophobia, close mindedness and toxic relationships were very prevalent, I never experienced any sense of community. That was something that was not afforded to me. Losing my blood family the way that I did was very disorientating, I was incredibly lonely. I didn't know what it was to feel unconditional love or a real sense of community until I started noticing people online interacting with me. I started posting regularly about my mental health struggles, and I saw so many viewers pouring out their hearts in the comments section in response. I had people saying they would adopt me as their son, as their grandson, members of the LGBTQ+ community offering support, telling me they were right there and available to help me when I was at my lowest. It's what everyone deserves and for the first time in my life I was truly experiencing it. It was that support that gave me a reason to keep moving forward.'

On His Role In The Skincare Arena

'When I first started to create content in this space, I realised that there was a big disconnect between consumers and information. On the one hand you have the sort of information that sales associates are providing, which is heavily biased and not entirely trustworthy. On the other hand you have chemists, who are providing such a high level of in-depth information, that it's overwhelming to the average customer. My aim was to take that complex information, digest it and translate it for my audience in a way that both appealed to anyone really interested in skincare, and was simple enough to help someone who had no clue how to shop the space. In the process I've learned so much from what dermatologists, chemists and aestheticians put out there online, it's been really enriching.'

On An Average Day In The Life Of Hyram

'I'm really lucky to have a job in which every day is different. When I'm not travelling I live in Hawaii. I'll wake up and film some content that morning, maybe a TikTok that tackles something skincare related that I've seen going viral. Then, I'll go into the office, have a few meetings and be there until around 3pm. Next up I'll film a YouTube, and I can continue doing that quite late into the evening, although more recently I've been trying to teach myself to allow for free time, especially in the evenings.'

On Launching Selfless By Hyram

'The brand came to be out of a desire to connect people's purchasing power to a greater cause. I saw that in the beauty industry there was so much growth and so much abundance, but I wasn't seeing anything out there with any real connection to social change. I decided I wanted to do that myself, and initially tried to go it alone, which, in a huge corporate world like the beauty industry, is very hard. Eventually I met Colette Laxton and Mark Curry, founders of The Inkey List, and instantly there was this magical connection. I created Selfless by Hyram in collaboration with them. The brand supports organisations all over the world, that address the climate and water crisis, health, education and empowerment. The hero buy in the range is definitely the Selfless by Hyram Retinol & Rainbow Algae Repair Serum, £25. It's formulated with a gentle, encapsulated form of retinol because I wanted those with slightly sensitive skin to be able to use it.'

Main image credit: YouTube @ Hailey Rhode Bieber