Yris Palmer’s siiiba Aims to Make Hygiene and Puberty Talks Less Awkward for Kids and Parents
The Hulu star and entrepreneur teamed up with SEV Skin founder Sevana Petrosian to launch siiiba, a personal-care brand for growing bodies. In an exclusive interview, the co-founders discuss raising confident kids, making hygiene less awkward and rethinking everyday essentials.
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Yris Palmer started looking for personal-care products for her daughter, Ayla, and realized there weren’t many options that felt right for her age.
Ayla was constantly on the go, heading from school to sports and other activities. Palmer began thinking about the practical side of growing up, including how kids learn to take care of themselves as their bodies change. She searched mommy blogs for advice and looked for products designed for children like her daughter, but kept finding gaps.
“She’s a super active kid, she goes from school straight to sports and activities, and I started realizing that no one is really teaching kids about hygiene during that transition,” Palmer tells LA Times Studios exclusively. “Ayla really became my inspiration for siiiba because I was creating what I felt like she needed, and I knew other parents had to be looking for the same thing.”
That search eventually led Palmer to launch siiiba with Sevana Petrosian, the founder of SEV Skin. The new wellness and hygiene brand is designed for the often-overlooked stretch between childhood and adulthood, starting with a natural, dermatologist-tested deodorant made for growing bodies.
The idea behind the brand can be summed up in four words… “don’t make it weird.” For Palmer, that means treating conversations about hygiene, puberty, and changing bodies as a normal part of growing up, rather than something kids should feel embarrassed to bring up.
“It literally means exactly that, don’t make it weird. These are normal things every kid goes through,” she says. “I want Ayla to feel like she can ask me anything without feeling embarrassed or judged. The more normal we make these conversations, the more comfortable our kids are going to be having them with us.”
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A Different Kind of Growing-Up Conversation
Palmer’s approach is shaped in part by her own childhood. She says conversations about personal topics weren’t always open when she was growing up, something she wants to change for her children.
“Growing up, we didn’t really have these open conversations. A lot of things you just figured out on your own,” she says. “So as a Latina mom, I wanted to do things differently. I want my kids to know there’s nothing embarrassing about growing up and that they can always come to me.”
That starts with everyday habits. Palmer sees a personal-care routine as a way for kids to gain independence and feel more prepared as they move through their day. “I think there’s something really empowering about having your own little routine,” she says. “It teaches kids how to take care of themselves and gives them independence. And when you feel clean, fresh, and prepared, you naturally feel more confident.”
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She also wanted siiiba to feel like something kids would choose for themselves, not another product handed to them by a parent. The packaging and overall feel needed to be fun and approachable, without losing sight of what families expect from personal care. “I didn’t want it to feel clinical or boring,” Palmer says. “I wanted siiiba to feel fun, cool and approachable, something kids actually want to have in their bathroom or backpack. And at the same time, something that helps parents start conversations naturally.”
Ayla has helped Palmer think through what that looks like in practice. Palmer regularly asks her daughter what she likes and what she would actually use, bringing her perspective into the process. “Ayla has been a huge part of it. I’m constantly asking her what she likes, what she would actually use, what feels cool to her,” Palmer says. “Kids are very honest, so she’s basically our little focus group.”
Designing for Growing Bodies
For Petrosian, siiiba builds on a philosophy she’s carried into her work with SEV Skin, which has grown from a single location into a nationally recognized medspa brand with more than 70 locations. “Building SEV Skin taught me the importance of creating a space where everyone feels considered,” Petrosian says. “From the beginning, it was important to me that SEV Skin offered services for all skin types and made beauty and self-care feel inclusive and approachable.”
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She saw an opportunity to bring that same thinking to a younger audience, particularly kids navigating a stage of life that doesn’t always get much attention from personal-care brands. “Growing bodies deserve to feel considered too,” she says. “I wanted to create something specifically for this stage of life. Something parents could trust, kids would actually want to use, and that made taking care of yourself feel normal rather than something to be embarrassed about.”
That meant thinking about the product from two perspectives. Parents want to know what their children are putting on their skin, while kids care about how a product looks, smells and feels. “I never wanted siiiba to feel like something a parent bought for their child that they were being told they had to use,” Petrosian says. “I wanted kids to be excited to pick their scent, throw it in their backpack, make it part of their routine and really make it their own.”
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The same attention went into the packaging. Siiiba uses calcium carbonate, a naturally occurring mineral found in materials such as limestone and marble, and incorporates post-consumer recycled resin. Petrosian says the materials were part of a broader effort to think beyond the formula itself.
“From the beginning, I knew being thoughtful couldn’t stop with the formula,” she says. “We’re always taught to look at what’s inside a product, but we don’t always think about what it comes in. I felt that parents deserve the full story.”
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For Petrosian, those choices reflect the kind of everyday habits she hopes the brand encourages, from how kids care for themselves to how families think about the products they bring home. “Siiiba is ultimately about creating better everyday habits for the next generation, and I felt like the product should reflect that from the inside out,” she says.
Starting With the Little Things
Palmer hopes siiiba helps make conversations about growing up feel less daunting for both kids and parents. She knows the subject can be uncomfortable, particularly when children aren’t sure what questions to ask or parents aren’t sure how to start the conversation.
“I hope we make these conversations feel normal,” she says. “I want kids to grow up feeling confident about their bodies instead of embarrassed by the changes happening to them.” She also hopes that making the smaller conversations easier will help children feel comfortable turning to their parents when bigger questions come up. “And I want parents to feel like they have an easy way to open that door because once your kids know they can talk to you about the little things, hopefully they’ll come to you about the big things too.”
For Palmer, that is the point of starting early. Growing up comes with enough unfamiliar moments. Talking about them shouldn’t have to be another one.
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