RÅ Skincare

RÅ Skincare is a Norwegian skincare company based in Bergen, founded in 2014 by cosmetic formulator Torhild Næss together with her eldest daughter, Amanda Næss Leonardsen [1]. The company develops and manufactures fragrance-free products for sensitive and reactive skin, and trades under the registered company Hansen & Næss AS [2]. Its defining idea is freshness: formulas are made in small, refrigerated batches without traditional preservatives, on the reasoning that skincare should be, in the founder's words, "fresh and potent, yet gentle."

The brand remains active, running a live Norwegian storefront with a current product range and rotating bestsellers.

Næss came to the idea from personal experience. Two of her daughters developed atopic eczema as infants, and after years working in the cosmetics industry she herself became sensitive to perfume [1]. According to earlier editorial coverage, she had roughly nineteen years of experience as a skincare formulator before starting the project in 2014 [3]. Her daughter Amanda joined as a cosmetologist and the brand's professional lead; the two built the line together in what the company calls its small laboratory in Bergen.

The name has shifted over time. In its early years the brand traded as RÅ Organic Skincare, the form used in 2016 press coverage and reflected in its former web address and social handles [3]; the live site now presents it simply as RÅ Skincare [4]. Both refer to the same company.

RÅ Skincare positions itself as fresh, fragrance-free skincare for sensitive skin. Rather than formulating for a long shelf life, the company makes smaller quantities kept refrigerated, describing this as prioritising quality and potency over longevity. It says its formulas avoid traditional preservatives and use ingredients the skin recognises and "works well with," including pre- and postbiotic components intended to support the skin's microbiome. Danish editorial coverage has described the brand as a meeting point of clean beauty and biotechnology [5].

The intended audience is people with reactive or condition-prone skin — eczema, rosacea, perioral dermatitis and perfume allergy among them. The company collaborates with the Norwegian Psoriasis and Eczema Association, and in Denmark works with the certification body AllergyCertified [5].

The range spans facial care, body and hair, organised on the site both by product type and by skin concern. Products the company highlights include the Ectoin Light Moisturiser, the Ceramide Rich Moisturiser, a Correcting Serum combining bakuchiol and vitamin C, the Pure Lipid Cleanser, and the Sevje hand and body wash. Formulations draw on active ingredients such as ectoin, niacinamide, vitamin C, ceramides, bakuchiol, squalane, hyaluronic acid and panthenol.

On sustainability, the company states that its products are fully biodegradable and that packaging is made in part from recycled ocean plastic; it has also used dried eelgrass as biodegradable packing material [5]. Editorial coverage reports the line as vegan, gluten-free and not tested on animals [3][5].

The brand has been profiled in Nordic beauty press. The UK-based Scan Magazine, which covers Nordic brands, featured it in 2016 under the RÅ Organic Skincare name, describing its freshness concept and natural positioning [3]. In 2021 the Danish beauty writer Lise Grosmann covered the brand in an article titled "De er norske og de er RÅ" [5].

RÅ Skincare is active. It operates a live Norwegian-language e-commerce site with current bestseller merchandising and recent active ingredients in its formulas, and describes growth from two clinics to more than forty clinics and spas in its early years [3]. Its primary market is Norway, with some retail presence in Denmark.