A PROFESSOR AND A HAIR GUY WALK INTO A SAUNA

May 31, 2022
Patrick Kidd

A PROFESSOR AND A HAIR GUY WALK INTO A SAUNA

Best thing about the Four Seasons sauna and spa in Chicago is you can meet all types. Bartenders, ex Super Bowl champs, FinTech nerds, a guy who once hooked up with Miley Cyrus, and world-renowned skin geneticists like Professor Matthew During.

Matt told me about his work at Yale and Oxford with skin regeneration and scar treatment, and how he’d been obsessed with making more innovative skincare. He just couldn’t find anyone willing to push the boundaries.

It was my big chance. And there I was. Dehydrated, dying and desperate for water. The sauna was now extra hot and the ex-Super Bowl guy had left. ‘Whatever rookie’, I thought, ‘this was my Super Bowl’.

I stood up in my tiny pair of black underpants. I was sweating bullets. But in a sauna, that’s probably OK. I pitched like never before. I told him how I wanted to do what PATRICKS had done with hair care and create something in mens skincare that hadn't been done before - no expense spared, male-specific skincare formulations created out of the most innovative, technically advanced ingredients globally. Think bio-memetic peptides, acids and molecular complexes.

We spoke about the entire range and how it would do better than anything else out there. How we’d go on to win the best moisturizer in the world and GQ UK would celebrate it.

The professor was in! And four years later, it happened. Thanks Matthew During. Thank you Chicago. I love you both.

Patrick.