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DURHAM, North Carolina — Do your hands sweat when you get nervous? Do you dread giving high-fives or shaking hands with people? A Utahn joined with another student to create a product they think will help.
Kasper Kubica grew up in South Ogden and currently attends Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
"College admission interviews during my senior year were one of the first times I realized just how much of a problem sweaty hands are," Kubica said.
Kubica met University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill student David Spratte in the summer of 2014 while the two were in the Robertson Scholars program. Spratte shared an idea with Kubica of creating an antiperspirant lotion to help with sweaty hands. Spratte said he first saw a need for the product when he was in high school.
"I went to a Catholic high school, which meant that we had mass every month," Spratte said in a news release. "The mass was in a gym with little air conditioning. The idea was born from the awkwardness that so many others and I experienced holding and shaking hands during some parts of these school masses. Everyone would try to wipe their hands off frantically on the chair in front of them, but it would never be enough."
Kubica gave Spratte feedback on his product idea, and the two decided to launch a company. They recruited fellow University of North Carolina student Chris Jenks to help them with their formula for the antiperspirant lotion. Jenks, a chemistry major, developed more than 50 prototypes throughout the 2014-15 school year before the team discovered their ideal formula.
Courtesy of Kasper Kubica
"We chose the hard path, using well-tested ingredients and having to pass certain FDA-required trials, and I really think it's paid off," Kubica said.
Carpe Lotion was founded in December 2014 and aims to reduce palm sweat by combining active ingredients found in many prescription antiperspirants, the news release said. While it's not the first product of its kind, the founders believe it will keep hands from sweating without drying them out or leaving residue on the skin.
"The goal was always an unnoticeable solution — one that makes your hands feel natural with no visible signs of use," Kubica said. "That's why we didn't make something that dries your hands out like crazy, but added moisturizing ingredients and focused on actually reducing the activity of sweat glands themselves."
The product will launch Thursday and will be available on the Carpe Lotion website.
