With learnings in hand from the launch of its first refillable/reusable product, a line of deodorant with a reusable base and refill pods that use 50% less plastic than traditional deodorant, in 2022 D2C body care brand Myro added another Refill-at-home product line to its portfolio. The newest launch comprises body wash products made with essential oils and 100% natural fragrances that are vegan, cruelty-free, and sulfate-free. The refillable/reusable system consists of a durable, PETG bottle with pump dispenser—“Made for keeps, not the landfill”—coupled with body wash concentrate in a 1.5-oz squeezable aluminum tube.
 | Read about Myro’s refillable/reusable packaging system for deodorant. |
One of the features household cleaning products and personal care products have in common that has made them such an appropriate fit for Refill-at-home systems is that many use water, something consumers can easily add at home. However, while it seems like an easy switch for brand owners—supply the concentrate, and let consumers mix it themselves—Myro CEO Greg Laptevsky shares that formulating a concentrate for a product that can be prepared at home is anything but. “You’re constantly balancing three things, and it feels like you’re playing a never-ending whack-a-mole game,” he says. “You solve for one product by creating an unintended consequence somewhere else.”
The three considerations, he explains, are the concentrate-state product profile—how much you’re diluting, its temperature profile, its packaging compatibility, etc.; the diluted-state product profile—consistency viscosity of final product, skin feel, skin benefits, lathering experience, consistent scent experience, etc.; and dilution—how easy it is to mix, how it works with 13 different types of tap water profiles around the country, its viscosity and recyclability profile, etc. “And that’s before you get into production trials,” Laptevsky says. “Then you go back to the drawing board and do this again with a different set of problems to solve.”
