Founder Files
Body Care· Los Angeles, USA · Updated 14 May 2026

Nick Axelrod

Former Into The Gloss editorial director Nick Axelrod-Hamilton co-founded Nécessaire in 2018 with Randi Christiansen to elevate body care to the formulation rigour of facial skincare — clean, fragrance-optional, and unapologetically design-led.

"Body care had been treated like a category of afterthoughts. We refused that."

Nick Axelrod
Background

Axelrod was an editor at New York Magazine before joining Into The Gloss as editorial director, where he worked closely with Glossier in its early years.

He co-founded Nécessaire in 2018 with former Estée Lauder VP Randi Christiansen, positioning the brand as 'the body care' — clinically formulated washes, lotions, deodorant, and serums in design-forward packaging.

Philosophy

Body care deserves the same formulation literacy as facial skincare.

Fragrance-optional as a respect signal to sensitive customers.

Career timeline
  • Pre-2018
    Editorial Director, Into The Gloss
  • 2018
    Co-founds Nécessaire with Randi Christiansen
Press & appearances
  • How Nécessaire Built the Modern Body Care Category

    feature
    Business of Fashion
  • Nick Axelrod-Hamilton on Editorial-to-Founder

    interview
    Glossy
More from the index
Graph relationships
Timeline