Chad O’Connell’s experience making bidets was edifying. In 2017, he quit his day job to dive head-first into the business of butt-spraying bathroom gadgets, an undertaking that taught him a crucial lesson: “People don’t want a bidet. They want a clean butt and they want a healthy butt, and they want a good-looking butt.”

O’Connell quickly realized that bidets are just the tip of the butt-care iceberg. So two years ago, he changed course and launched ASSET, a skincare brand committed to butt wellness and “ass-thetics™.”

Skincare for your butt might seem hyper-niche, but it’s a whitespace with promise (after all, everyone has a butt). “I myself have struggled with irritation for basically my entire life,” O’Connell says. “I started to look more into it — I did paid surveys and asked 568 people about their butt health, their butt hygiene, their routines in the bathroom… 93 percent said they had butt problems in their lifetime. 59 percent said they had anal irritation in the last 12 months.”

Anal irritation isn’t something we shout from the rooftops about, despite the fact that it’s a fairly run-of-the-mill issue that can be caused by a legion of things: “sitting too long, standing too long, weightlifting, pregnancy, anal sex, wiping too much,” O’Connell lists.

ASSET / JOE LINGEMAN

ASSET’s first product, Hole Serum, hopes to help destigmatize the conversation about this delicate area — and more importantly, provide a fix when things get iffy.

Unlike your run-of-the-mill moisturizer, Hole Serum is specifically formulated for the anal skin, which is similar to that of the lips. “There's also no airflow on the anus. You've got two big butt cheeks there,” O’Connell adds. “It’s a part of the body that can't remain wet or oily, or that will also lead to itch and irritation.”

Over the course of two years, ASSET worked several chemists and a board-certified dermatologist to develop a formula suitable for the butt’s very specific ecosystem. In addition to moisturizing ceramides, anti-inflammatory vitamin E, and itch-fighting allantoin, Hole Serum contains a proprietary botanical blend containing “five known extracts that have been used to combat hemorrhoids and fissures,” according to a statement from Sohab Waheed, ASSET’s head of cosmetic formulations. “Instead of using typical ‘fairy dust’ levels as many competitors do, the formula was developed with a high level of these botanical components.”

ASSET launched in December 2023 and is already building a dedicated customer base. “Reception has been phenomenal. I've actually had to pull back on our marketing efforts,” O’Connell says. In addition to the fact that Hole Serum offers a practical solution for a widespread problem, O’Connell also attributes ASSET’s success to its messaging. “I want to build a brand that's beautiful and exciting and inviting to men and women, gay or straight.”

Slowly, the beauty and wellness industries have set the stage for a brand like ASSET to enter the spotlight. Since the early 2020s, we’ve witnessed the “bidet boom,” which ushered in newfound awareness of butt health and hygiene. We’ve also seen an increasing number of beauty brands confront “unsexy” woes, like gut health, dandruff, and thigh chafing — areas that “historically, legacy brands haven’t touched,” O’Connell notes. 

The butthole is just the beginning for ASSET. In the near future, the brand plans to introduce products that will take a more holistic look at our backsides. “The Hole Serum is the foundation. If you have an irritation, you're not worried about beauty,” O’Connell says. But at the end of the day, ASSET knows that appearance is important: Everyone wants to look good naked. That’s where “ass-thetics™,” a word that ASSET trademarked, comes in. O’Connell hints at the brand’s next release: “It's about having good-looking buttcheeks.”