Millions of people around the world suffer from hyperhidrosis, managing uncontrollable excessive sweating every day while trying to go about their normal lives. 

Jack, the founder, and CEO of Duradry is one of these people. And back in 2014, he decided to do something about it — for himself, but also to help everyone else who was struggling with severe cases of hyperhidrosis. 

This is the story of how Duradry was born, what makes it unique, and why it has become one of the most widely-used hyperhidrosis treatments in America today.

It’s a story of how Jack used his own experience to develop a formula that actually works.

Battling an Unsolvable Problem: Hyperhidrosis as a Teenager

 

“I started experiencing heavy underarm sweating when I was a teenager,” Jack says. “It was something I had to constantly manage. I tried to minimize sweating by washing regularly, and hide it by wearing loose dark clothing.”

And Jack remembers he developed lots of little tricks to minimize his exposure and limit the possibility that people around him would notice his sweat.

Early on, Jack was diagnosed with hyperhidrosis, and his treatment rollercoaster began. In the years that followed, he would try everything to combat his condition — without much luck.

Store-bought antiperspirants wouldn’t keep him dry, and home remedies never had a hope. And the prescription antiperspirant he got was tricky to apply, and it irritated his skin to the point of being painful. At this point, his hyperhidrosis had started to feel like an unsolvable problem. 

“I also began to notice more of my peers having similar issues,” Jack remembers. “Luckily for me, I was never really bullied for my sweating — but other people weren’t so fortunate.” 

His excessive sweating continued into adulthood, and eventually, after trying lots of different treatment options, Jack paid for botox injections. These injections were painful, expensive, and temporary — only giving him 3 months of respite. Like many other people, he was unsatisfied. 

It was the long-term emotional impact he’d felt himself and seen in others, coupled with the lack of good treatments available, which got Jack thinking. Could he create a cost-effective and pain-free hyperhidrosis treatment? One that offers genuine relief from excessive sweating?

This is when the seeds of Duradry were sown.

Putting a Stop to Excessive Sweating, for Real

Jack graduated with a degree in Systems Engineering. And this natural penchant for technical detail powered his research into the mechanics of hyperhidrosis — adding to his years of living with the condition, plus his personal experience of using the various unsatisfactory treatments. 

So, Jack took a deep dive into every treatment on the market, what it contained, and what it got right and wrong. He read hundreds of peer-reviewed medical studies. And he meticulously researched every compound that had sweat-blocking characteristics, as well as the regulatory protocols (e.g. FDA) and compliance standards that surround over-the-counter treatments. 

Getting the Ingredients Right and Developing Duradry’s Formula

After months of detailed research and preparation, Jack enlisted the help of a chemist to work on Duradry’s unique formula. And the parameters he gave to his chemist were designed to develop a product that worked better than anything else out there at the time.

“First, there was the active ingredient in Duradry PM, Aluminum Chloride, which had to have a certain atomic ratio, and a pH in a strict range,” Jack says. “And we had the challenge of adding in Salicylic Acid, which is what boosts effectiveness and makes the product kinder on the skin.”

Jack also wanted to make sure his formula didn’t contain any alcohol (ethanol), unlike many other strong antiperspirants out there, because it added extra risk of causing skin irritation.

He and his team had to figure out how to blend the active and supportive ingredients into a formula that would stick together in one solution. This demanded months of trial and error and stability testing. 

Another big challenge was sourcing the active ingredients in the first place.

“Much of what was available on the market wasn’t up to standard,” Jack says. “Basically, it wasn’t as pure as it should be — meaning during testing we would see particles separate from the solution. The impurities would precipitate, which wasn’t acceptable for our product at all.”

Sourcing Active Ingredients and Finding Willing Manufacturers

Jack went back to the drawing board and attempted to source better-quality active ingredients himself. “I needed to find the purest compounds out there. And they weren’t available through ordinary suppliers,” he says. So, Jack looked beyond the standard compliance certifications to find products that excelled in tests. He found one, available through a supplier based in Europe. 

“I knew that all the specifics of the active ingredients — the atomic ratio, the pH, and the purity — are the difference between something that works and something that doesn’t. It was worth the effort and cost,” Jack says. “And this is something that set us apart from the get-go; we optimize for performance, not for minimizing cost. If an ingredient is 20% more effective, but double the cost, that’s fine, because effectiveness means everything to hyperhidrosis sufferers.”

Even after sourcing a great supplier, Jack ran into obstacles with manufacturing partners, because they’d usually only handle vast quantities of units. He was asking them to take a risk on a smaller run for his self-funded business — and eventually managed to convince one of them with his vision, determination, and understanding of the demand for a product like his. 

“They had to trust me and what I was doing,” Jack says. “So I kept knocking on their door until they agreed to work with us, and finally managed to persuade them with a clear roadmap.”

Seven years down that road (and counting), the risk looks like it was worth taking — Duradry helped more than 130,000 people last year, and 97% of those who tried the 3-step system using Duradry PM, Duradry AM, and Duradry Wash experienced full dryness within one week.

Duradry Now and in the Future

According to Jack, bringing Duradry to market has been challenging and rewarding in equal measure. And he says that he feels great responsibility as part of the hyperhidrosis community. 

“I’m very obsessive about the things I do,” Jack says. “I know you can’t achieve perfection, but I want to get as close to it as possible. People are trusting us with something very important, very personal, and very intimate. We need to keep providing flawless treatment, and giving people something that’s safe and affordable — and something that works without fail.”

His bigger mission is to remove the stigma surrounding excessive sweating, which he discussed during an interview with Lisa Pieretti from the International Hyperhidrosis Society, available to read in Duradry’s article about hyperhidrosis and anxiety. He wants hyperhidrosis treatments to be accepted in everyday life, much like someone would take a painkiller if they had a headache. 

And he wants Duradry to be synonymous with hyperhidrosis treatment. “If someone wants to search something on the web, they use Google. And if someone has hyperhidrosis, I want Duradry to be in that same bracket. This means we must continuously work on our formulas — just like Google keeps developing better algorithms and improving user experiences,” he says.

To do this, Jack draws on his technical background again. “It’s all about iteration and development. Improving the product with each version launch. Making sure we keep listening, learning, and boosting our performance — while developing new solutions too,” he says. 

And with Duradry PM, Duradry AM, Duradry Wash, and Duradry Body Deo currently in the range — and more launches planned soon — there’s plenty for his team to keep an eye on. 

Final Thoughts: Enjoying Duradry’s Positive Influence

As founder and CEO of Duradry, Jack is focused on building a successful and sustainable business — but it’s actually the real-life impact of the product he created which motivates him every single day. 

“Without a shadow of a doubt, the most rewarding thing about this whole journey has been reading the messages that come in about how Duradry has changed people’s lives,” Jack says. 

“I’ll never get tired of hearing these stories,” he continues, “because they tell us that people can start new hobbies, take career opportunities, reduce stress and anxiety, and generally just live a more fulfilling and enjoyable life without the constant burden of uncontrollable sweating.” 

If you suffer from hyperhidrosis, try Duradry’s simple 3-step system for just $20. You get the full package, including Duradry PM, Duradry AM, and Duradry Wash. 97% of our customers experience full dryness within one week of use. Money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied. 

Other helpful articles for hyperhidrosis sufferers:

• Choosing the Best Hyperhidrosis Antiperspirant: Whether you have primary focal hyperhidrosis or secondary generalized hyperhidrosis, there are robust antiperspirants out there that can prevent the production of sweat from the sweat glands.
  
  
• Can You Get Hyperhidrosis Medication Over the Counter?: Topical treatments, which you apply to the affected area, are considered an OTC medication. But you can’t get oral meds without a prescription. Our article explains more about your healthcare options.
  
  
• What are Your Options for Hyperhidrosis Treatment?: This article takes a deep dive into medical treatments, their side effects, and their benefits. From using an electrical current for iontophoresis to botulinum toxin injections to surgery (i.e. endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy). We also look at Miradry’s microwave energy treatment.
  
  
• Comparing Drysol with Certain Dri and Duradry: Here we look into why prescription treatments don’t always work for axillary hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating in the armpits) and compare them against OTC solutions like Duradry and Certain Dri.