Hyram Yarbro

Hyram's hometown of Paulden, Arizona

Yarbo was born in Paulden, Arizona and grew up on a cattle ranch. [3][4][5] He is one of five children and was raised in a deeply Mormon household;[6] according to Yarbro, his childhood home "was a very religious environment with no internet and highly restricted materials".[7] Deeply disapproving of homosexuality, Yarbro claimed his family expressed, "extremely violent rhetoric and dangerous remarks made about gay people"[6] and that he was kicked out of the family home when he came out as gay.[8] According to Yarbro, he suffered from depression, eating disorders and self-harm throughout his teen years and early twenties as a result, and he attempted suicide during this time.[7]

Aged 18, Yarbro moved from Arizona to Honolulu, Hawaii in 2014 to study at Brigham Young University,[4][6][9] later dropping out for financial reasons.[7] According to Yarbro, while at college he experienced premature aging and became passionate about skincare products when he used them and saw how effective they could be.[10][8] He went on to work as a make-up artist at Saks Fifth Avenue.[4][11] Yarbro has described his motivation for starting his YouTube channel as being borne out of a realization whilst working the job that there weren't any resources online about skincare directed towards consumers.[10][4][11]

Yarbro began his YouTube channel in 2017.[10][12] In 2019, he went from 50,000 to 500,000 subscribers in under two weeks,[4] and later in the year reached a million.[5] He joined TikTok in 2020 and experienced further growth during the COVID-19 lockdown, going from 100,000 followers on TikTok in March to over 6 million by September.[9][13] Between March and October 2020, Yarbro released videos about the L'Oréal sub-brand Cerave that were credited with contributing to increased popularity and sales of the brand.[14][15][16] During this period, his videos contributed $3.2 million in media impact value for the brand[14] and reportedly led to a 89% increase in its global sales in 2020.[15] This led to Yarbro receiving a paid partnership from L'Oréal to create branded content on TikTok and YouTube.[17] In October 2020, Yarbro signed with United Talent Agency.[18][19] That December, he announced his first ever product collaboration with the Hyram x Kinship Sea the Good collection. A portion of the collection's profits were donated to Lonely Whale, a charity devoted to removing plastic from oceans.[20] In 2022, he started a podcast called Justaposition, a play on the word juxtaposition,[5] which is centred around exploring his and other influencers' mental health journeys.[7] That year he also began posting to Flip, a social media app similar to TikTok; although according to Glossy, he had only a small following on the app as of that August.[21]

Yarbro is amongst a wave of social media influencers on platforms such as TikTok referred to as "skinfluencers" for their focus on skincare products.[6][17][29] He has also been described as "at the forefront of the men's skincare movement" by GQ Australia.[30] His content consists of reviews and recommendations of beauty products, skincare tutorials, and reaction videos in which he reacts to the skincare regimes of his fans and online influencers.[9][18][19] On TikTok, Yarbro utilizes the duet feature to make such reaction videos, often responding to users posting under the hashtag #skincarebyhyram.[29] According to lifestyle magazine Elle, he also uses the feature to debunk skincare myths propagated by other users.[31] He is known for recommending products which are at a lower price point,[18][27][32] generally at a price under $50[4] and regularly under $10.[11]

Yarbro's reviews have been described as taking an ingredients-first approach and he has become known for his catchphrase "the ingredients don't lie" which has appeared in his merchandising.[6][9][11][33] According to The Washington Post, Yarbro's brand focuses on promoting "clean beauty" consisting of products with safe, organic ingredients.[34] According to The Independent, he disapproves of products containing fragrances and essential oils whilst praising brands that utilise sustainable practices to make their products.[11] Yarbro states in his content that he is not a licensed dermatologist or aesthetician, instead calling himself as "skincare specialist",[12] and has claimed that his content should not be taken as medical advice but as "shopping with a best friend".[29] Yarbro's audience is primarily made up of generation Z and is 90% women.[35]

Yarbro makes money from his content via affiliate links, YouTube ads, and brand sponsorships.[4][9][34] He has stated that he refuses 90 to 95% of brand deals offered to him on the basis of product ingredients and price, and a desire to retain the trust of his audience.[4][6] Yarbro also avoids working with luxury brands due to his focus on recommending more affordable products.[29]

Yarbro has been criticized along these lines for promoting a trend called "slugging" in which Vaseline is applied thickly to the face and left overnight which dermatologists say can worsen acne.[36] Nylon included excessive slugging on their list of the 10 worst beauty trends on TikTok of 2021, naming Yarbro as one of the influencers that promoted the trend.[37] Doctors have stated that consumers should not take skincare advice from influencers on TikTok.