Can Allergy Care Be Sexy? Wizard Wellness Is Betting on It

When Lorne Lucree first met with investors to pitch his allergy care brand Wizard Wellness, he included an organizational chart in his presentation. Lucree, a 20-year veteran of product development for brands like Tatcha, Clinique and One/Size, had to find a way to get people interested in a deeply “unsexy” category. Through the flowchart, Lucree sought to explain the deep connection between allergies, beauty, and wellness—a connection so important that it became the basis for her first solo venture. So he gave the board a title: Hot Girls Nasal Rinse.

“When you have allergies, it causes inflammation, inflammation causes dehydration, dehydration causes a puffy face and dark circles,” Lucree explains over Zoom. “Allergies disrupt your sleep, and sleep disruption affects your mood. So it’s this whole vicious cycle that happens that you don’t think about until you connect the dots.”

It turns out there are a lot of things we don’t think about when it comes to seasonal allergies. For 25.7% of affected adults in the United States, it’s a nuisance that we deal with with every over-the-counter medication we can get our hands on, sometimes with limited knowledge of how these medications actually work. For others, allergies can be crippling, with research suggesting they can even lead to mood disorders like anxiety and depression.

Lucree, who has suffered from allergies her entire life, has always been disappointed by the offerings available. “If you look at the allergy aisle right now, it’s mostly pharmaceutical options, ‘over-the-counter,’ as we call them,” he says. “Then it’s a fragmented line of natural or homeopathic brands. There’s not much in between that’s clinically backed, scientifically backed, and has testing to back it up.”

He was not alone. In a study of 600 people commissioned by Lucree, data revealed that only 7% of consumers were “extremely loyal” to their current allergy solutions. Other data revealed that an overwhelming percentage of people were dissatisfied with OTC offerings in key areas.

“84% of people would switch for better performance, but 78% would switch for a better experience,” says Lucree. “So it’s the packaging, the texture, the flavor. The pharmaceutical industry hits you in the face with its effectiveness, but the experience is where it’s lacking. Allergy is siled into this reactive room, as opposed to this holistic, proactive room because you probably don’t want to use the products at the end of the day.”