A cool breeze flows throughout the air as doors open, lip balms and soaps of various colors and scents surround the space, and as customers make their way inside, a new day begins for the women-led team of withSimplicity.
Located on East Market Street in downtown Harrisonburg, the cosmetic company has called the Friendly City its home since January 2015. Before residing on Market Street, the brand was a gateway of creativity managed from home by Russian-born Irina Dovganetskiy.
“When I started withSimplicity, I quit my job, and at that point [I was] a stay-at-home mom, so I started an Etsy shop just to have that creative outlet…like a hobby and support it,” Dovganetskiy said.
Although starting the business as a personal creative outlet, Dovganetskiy quickly noticed the disconnection between the consumers and the market. From lengthy labels to trendy eye-catching fonts, the cosmetic industry seemed to prioritize aesthetics rather than wellness. For Dovganetskiy, the focus quickly shifted towards the education and safety use of facial care.
“When I started researching and looking at some of the ingredients, they were hormone disruptive, and cancerous, and all of these things…it just shocked me,” Dovanetskiy said. “I would assume that if it’s out, selling at the store, that it’s safe…regulated in some sort, and it’s not.”
This became a clear goal for Dovganetskiy and her staff. Through their facials, organic products and one-on-one attention, they seek to reverse skin-health challenges experienced from hormonal distress due to aging.
“A lot of it is just mainly self confidence. Lots of people come in with concerns — fine lines, wrinkles, acne… [The] skincare side of things helps a ton,” Emily Giron, an esthetician working at withSimplicity, said.
A growing issue that both Dovganetskiy and Giron identify in their field is the growing concern of young children and teens’ health. With an evident expansion regarding beauty standards and product marketing on social media, protecting the minds of the youth is prioritized.
“We will be kept in business for a long, long time because some of these other brands that are actually hindering at such a young age are causing the bad things now that we’ll have to fix in the future,” Giron said.
Despite the fact that social media and the consumer end of the cosmetics industry can instill damaging beliefs into impressionable audiences, collectives such as withSimplicity create informative spaces for all.
“You don’t need to know everything, but just being more in-tune with your body [at a] younger age…listening and giving yourself some grace,” Dovganetskiy said.
Alongside withSimplicity’s facial services, Dovganetskiy founded the wS School of Esthetics — a program whose main purpose is to enrich the talents of students as they venture into the esthetics industry — after acquiring her masters in esthetics. She studied in partnership with her sister-in-law, Viktoriya Dovganetskiy.
“The teacher who was teaching us pushed us and inspired us to open up,” Dovganetskiy said. “We decided to do it because there’s not something like this around here that people are focusing more on holistic.”
With their ranging expertise in the field, the withSimplicity staff take pride in their establishment. They have experienced the growth first-hand and are delighted with their tight knit community that surrounds them in the area.
“I definitely see a good impact from this place. I think a lot of people actually are shocked to hear that we’re from Harrisonburg,” Marta Khikhol, a store manager at withSimplicity, said. ” The customers are great. I think they enjoy having something special around here.”
For customers, the one-on-one attention-based service offered by the business influences how they shop. For clientele, such as Jennifer Tulio, honesty is of the most importance.
“I think the owner has her eyes on the stars and wants to take it all the way. I hope they make it and keep their quality and commitments — that’s the hardest part with expansion and success —maintaining integrity,” Tulio said.
As her business developed over the years, Dovganetskiy looks forward to following and supporting the flow of the business.
“I’m taking it as it comes. That’s what I’ve done for 10 years and then the doors will open and we’ll take it, we’ll see what the future brings,” Dovganetskiy said.
