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Read ReviewOwnership Expose
Who Really Owns Dr. Squatch?
Dr. Squatch is owned by Unilever. They bought it in January 2025 for $1.5 billion.
The brand that built its identity mocking Big Soap is now owned by the biggest soap company on Earth.
The Ownership Timeline
2013
Founded by Jack Haldrup
Jack Haldrup founds Dr. Squatch as an e-commerce natural soap company. The brand targets men who have never thought about what's in their soap. The early products are cold-process bar soaps made with natural oils and scents.
2018–2021
Viral YouTube Marketing Explodes
Dr. Squatch's irreverent YouTube ads — featuring a bearded "Dr. Squatch" character dunking on mainstream soaps — go massively viral. The ads rack up hundreds of millions of views. Revenue surges into the hundreds of millions. The brand becomes the poster child of viral DTC marketing.
2021–2024
Rapid Product Expansion
Dr. Squatch expands from bar soap into body wash, deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, and cologne. Limited edition "collab" scents (Star Wars, video games) drive cultural buzz. The company grows beyond $200 million in annual revenue.
January 2025
Acquired by Unilever for $1.5 Billion
Unilever acquires Dr. Squatch for $1.5 billion. The same company that owns Dove, Axe, Suave, and Degree now also owns the brand that built its identity mocking mainstream soap companies. Dr. Squatch joins Seventh Generation, SheaMoisture, Schmidt's, and a dozen other "natural" brands in Unilever's portfolio.
What This Means for You
Dr. Squatch was the ultimate viral DTC brand. Those YouTube ads. That bro-friendly marketing. The bearded character dunking on Dove and Irish Spring with lines like "You're not a dish, you're a man." It worked spectacularly — the company grew to over $200 million in annual revenue.
Now it's Unilever. The same company that owns Dove. And Axe. And Suave. And Degree. The company Dr. Squatch built its entire brand identity by mocking now signs the paychecks.
$1.5 billion is a staggering number. It's also a clear signal about what Unilever is buying: not the soap, but the audience. Dr. Squatch captured young men who don't trust mainstream brands. Unilever couldn't reach that demographic through Dove or Axe — those brands have the exact corporate image Dr. Squatch was created to reject. So instead of competing, Unilever bought the competition.
This is the playbook: let indie brands build trust with skeptical consumers, then acquire the trust. The YouTube ads will keep running. The branding will stay the same. But the profits now flow to the same corporate treasury that funds Axe body spray commercials.
Dr. Squatch joins an expanding Unilever roster of formerly independent "natural" brands: Seventh Generation ($700M, 2016), SheaMoisture (2017), Schmidt's (2017), Paula's Choice (2021), Tatcha (2019), Living Proof, and Dermalogica. Unilever doesn't buy one natural brand — they buy all of them.
Independence: gone. The ads were great though.
Independent Alternatives
Soap Brands That Haven't Sold Out
These body wash and soap brands are still owned by their founders. Clean formulas, real independence, no Unilever parent company.