The name ‘Ao’ comes from the indigenous New Zealand Maori word for ‘earth’. For us, it references our home from which we draw inspiration for our unique formulas and approach to skin health.

“The problem sits largely with people’s use of, and ultimately their skin’s addiction to skincare products. The biggest culprit? Moisturizers”.

Ao was born from the belief that most skincare does more harm than good. Dr. Gray sees the impact first-hand - products full of toxins, heavy emulsifiers and barrier-degrading ingredients.

Your skin barrier is rebuilt, then self-regulated

For us, it’s always been about restoring skin to where the skin’s barrier is performing to its optimum and moisture is self-controlled – restoring your skin’s own dynamic barrier to make it optimally adaptive to its environment. That’s why we think it’s important to change the way people think about skincare.