Like so many of her friends, in and out of professional tennis, Jessica Pegula has developed a fascination for skincare and beauty products.
“When I was growing up, for the most part, I had troubled skin,” Pegula said recently, a few days before the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic began. “I tried a million different things and didn’t always give it the time to work. Your skin freaks out because there’s too much going on.
“So I was always interested in trying to figure out what helped and what worked. Like a lot of people, I was always looking for the quick fix.”
And so, Pegula – now 27 and ranked No.24 among WTA players – came up with a solution: Her own line of skincare products, Ready 24.
It grew out of her love for the variety and subtleties of the skincare game, along with some downtime from tennis. After surgery to repair a torn labrum in her right hip, Pegula was forced to miss eight months of the 2016 season.
“I wasn’t doing anything besides rehab, which gets pretty boring,” she said. “So that’s basically how it started. And it took a little bit over a year to officially launch it, for everything to come together.
“Over time, I started to realize the more simplified I made my skincare, the better it seemed to work. So that was kind my thought process behind Ready 24.”
As in ready 24-7. That and a birthday of 2/24/94, seemed to make the name a foregone conclusion.
Tennis takes a terrible toll on skin. Sweating through matches and lengthy practice sessions, in all kinds of climate conditions, is tough enough. And then there’s travel and the overall stress that comes with the profession. Not to mention the damage sun can cause. Pegula’s line offers products in four basic categories: Square One (cleansers), Balance (essence water), Defense (moisturizer) and Recovery (face mask, eye cream).
Teaming up with The Advantage Co in her hometown of Buffalo, Pegula worked out all the logistics, then put her ideas to a demanding test – with her own, personal focus group comprised of close friends.
“They’re all into that stuff, too, and were more than happy to get free skincare shipped to them,” Pegula said. “I picked the ingredients …….
