Coming off the success of its percussion-based TheraFace Pro facial device, wellness tech company Therabody is penetrating the beauty category even further with the launch of an LED light mask.
The mask, available on the company’s website for $599 on Wednesday, features three modalities: anti-aging with red light, fighting acne with blue light, and stimulating collagen production with red and infrared light. It also comes with vibrating massage treatments meant to to boost blood circulation in the face, the scalp pressure points and the eye area. The top selling point behind Therabody’s LED mask is that it offers more full-face coverage than others on the market and should be worn for just nine minutes daily. Comparatively, the Dr. Dennis Gross light mask is $455 and suggests three minutes per day, while Solawave is $399 and requires 10 minutes a day, and HigherDose is $349 and suggests 10-20 minutes per day.
“It was about the value we could add to something that’s currently on the market where we can come with a higher standard and use technology to bridge the gap for people,” said Lissa Bankston, director of education marketing and media for Therabody.
Therabody first delved into beauty with the release of TheraFace Pro in April 2022 after customers routinely asked if they could use the original Theragun device on their face. (They should not.) It is now the No. 2 best-selling product behind the original Theragun, said Dr. Jason Wersland, founder and chief wellness officer of Therabody. Ultimately, given the success of the TheraFace Pro and the debut of an LED mask, Therabody is quickly ascending to become a new contender in the beauty device category. Wersland declined to specify how much beauty could contribute to Therabody’s overall growth or sales, but stated that the LED mask could “easily” represent 50% of the company’s beauty sales.
LED masks are an area of notable growth and buzz for beauty devices. According to Glossy’s previous reporting, citing digital trend forecasting agency Spate, searches for LED light therapy are up 32.2% year-over-year, and that growth is set to continue over the next 12 months. For example, cross-platform social hashtags tied to red light therapy see 2.8 million average weekly views, which is high when compared to similar trends. The hashtag #LEDfacemask has over 16.3 million views on social media.
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Therabody is present in more than 60 countries, with offices in Shanghai, London and Dublin, Its products are available in over 40 U.S. retailers’ 10,000 total doors. The company also has multi-year partnerships with Real Madrid, Manchester City and Paris-Saint Germain European football clubs. According to a Feb. 2022 L.A. Times story about the company opening a standalone retail location and wellness center called Reset, between 2020 and 2022, Therabody invested $13 million into developing the concept. At the time, it planned to open five more Reset locations, plus — in 2022 — six additional retail stores without a mega-wellness approach. Wersland said, due to the economic upheavals in 2022, Therabody pulled back on its brick-and-mortar retail buildouts to reinvest in marketing. There are five Reset locations, with a sixth opening in New York around October. Wersland said that advertising for those locations costs less than $250,000 and that Therabody is focused on reaching local communities for more store awareness.
As the company embarks on its beauty focus, it’s hired two additional employees focused on marketing and social media for beauty. In January, Therabody also instated health and wellness industry veteran Monty Sharma as CEO. Wersland said Therabody is currently developing a product that could act as a beauty product but declined to share what it is or an exact timeline. He said the product turnaround could be about 12 months including the necessary product research.
“We’re in the process of learning. A lot of [our] direction is going to be driven by Theraface Pro and the mask and will lead us to our potential next product,” he said.
