About the Brand

HOW JO COLLECTION STARTED

The founder is long-winded, but the routine isn’t.

I didn’t start this brand because I loved skincare. I started it because I wrecked my skin trying to fix it.

Growing up, I had pretty decent skin and figured I was lucky. My mom, though, was the expert (licensed cosmetician trained in Versailles Academy, Montreal). She believed skincare was a daily ritual.

She used to say, “Men have great skin because they’re secretly doing skincare every day. They just don’t know it.”
Shaving, she explained, was cleansing, exfoliating, and moisturizing. Three steps. Simple. Consistent.

She’d gently nudge me toward better habits, send me products, drop tips… and I’d shrug it off. I had bar soap and vibes. For a while, that worked.

Then came law school: stress, exhaustion, dry air and suddenly, my low-maintenance routine wasn’t cutting it. My mom (as they often are) was right, I should have had a routine all along.

A well-meaning friend gave me a fancy facial cleansing brush they swore by to start me on my journey. I used it once. Big mistake. My skin completely freaked out. Red, flaky, raw. And that was just the beginning.

Over-the-counter products didn’t help. A dermatologist’s prescription left visible burns and made everything worse. I was so embarrassed I called in sick. When my boss invited me to lunch to reassure me it “couldn’t be that bad,” he took one look and said, “Oh… yeah. That’s really bad.” It was.

I was overwhelmed, embarrassed, and afraid of every product I touched. Not to mention, long working hours coupled with later raising kids, I found that a traditional 12-step skincare routine was practically impossible to fit into my schedule.

I turned to the people who actually knew skin, starting with my own family. My mom, the cosmetician. My dad, a pharmaceutical chemist who runs an FDA-compliant facility. I come from a family of science and solutions, so I dove in.

I read clinical studies. Took cosmetic chemistry and formulation courses. Tested every promising ingredient I could find. I basically became a part-time cosmetic chemist while a full time Lawyer.

When I had a formula I believed in, I turned to my dad. We developed it in his lab and sent it to international cosmetic experts for review and refinement.

We wanted it to be gentle enough for sensitive skin, but effective enough to actually work.

That formula became the Pineapple Peel: a daily, leave-on exfoliator powered by AHAs and BHAs. No scrubbing. No rinsing. Just results. It gave me my skin, and my time, back.

Jo Collection was born from that product and everything my mom had been trying to teach me all along.
Three steps is all you need: Cleanse. Treat. Protect.

She passed away before she could see the final result, but the brand is named in her honor “Jo” for Joanne.
Her wisdom. My research. Our family’s determination to fix what wasn’t working. That’s what built this.

We create skincare that respects your skin and your time.
Real results. Simple steps. No fluff. No 10-step routines. Just formulas that work and are actually easy to stick with.

What started as a family effort to help me is now about helping others.

I ruined my skin so you wouldn’t have to.
I did the research so you get the results.

-Leah (Founder)