Dip Founder Kate Assaraf on the Serious Lady Business Podcast: The “Trust Recession” in Modern Commerce

When Dip founder Kate Assaraf joined Leslie Youngblood on the Serious Lady Business podcast, the conversation centered around a phrase that instantly resonated with listeners: the trust recession.

It’s a concept many consumers recognize immediately—even if they’ve never heard it described that way before.

Think about the last time you bought something online that looked incredible in the ads, only to open the package and feel disappointed. The product didn’t live up to the promise. The reviews suddenly felt suspicious. The influencer endorsement started to look like a paid script.

That feeling isn’t rare anymore. It’s becoming the norm.

And according to Kate, that erosion of trust is one of the defining forces shaping modern commerce.

What the “trust recession” actually means

The trust recession describes a widening gap between how products are marketed and what customers actually experience.

In the past, buying something often involved a conversation with a real person. You could ask questions. You could touch the product. You could compare options with someone who knew what they were talking about.

Today, the path looks very different.

Customers encounter review farms, sponsored influencer content, paid endorsements, and algorithm-driven advertising before they ever see a product in person. Many of those signals are difficult—if not impossible—for consumers to verify.

The result is a kind of collective recoil.

Even when marketing is honest, consumers now approach it with skepticism. Ads are questioned. Reviews are scrutinized. Endorsements are assumed to be paid unless proven otherwise.

Kate’s response when launching Dip was simple: remove as many incentives for dishonesty as possible.

Instead of building the brand on paid influencer promotion or mass digital hype, Dip focused on authentic customer feedback and real retail environments where products could be experienced in person.

That decision turned out to be foundational.

Studying how people actually buy shampoo

One unusual part of Dip’s origin story is how closely Kate studied shopping behavior before launching the brand.

Her background in economics gave her a different lens on consumer behavior. Economics, she explains, is less about money than it is about choice—how people decide between options when they have limited resources and limited time.

So before finalizing the product line, she spent months observing how people shopped for shampoo and conditioner.

What she found was surprisingly consistent. Shoppers tended to follow similar patterns when comparing products, evaluating packaging, or deciding what justified a higher price.

Those patterns helped shape how Dip products were designed, merchandised, and explained to customers.

Instead of assuming what people wanted, the brand built around observed behavior.

That kind of groundwork is rare in beauty startups, where marketing often precedes product refinement. But it allowed Dip to solve a very specific problem that many sustainability-minded consumers had run into: most shampoo bars simply didn’t perform well enough.

Why Dip chose refill stores instead of Amazon

One of the most controversial decisions Kate made was refusing to sell Dip on Amazon.

Industry insiders warned that the brand would struggle without the massive reach of the platform. Some even suggested it was a strategic mistake.

But Kate saw something others overlooked.

For years, she had been shopping in refill stores herself—places where customers bring containers, refill products, and discover sustainable alternatives to everyday items.

These stores were run by passionate owners who carefully curated everything they carried. They weren’t just retail outlets. They were community education hubs for sustainable living.

Putting Dip on Amazon would have undermined those stores almost immediately. In many cases, once a product becomes available on Amazon, it becomes the default place to buy it.

Instead of strengthening the refill movement, Dip would have weakened it.

So the brand took a different path: encourage customers to shop through local stores first.

That strategy introduced a small amount of friction. Customers might need to visit a store instead of tapping “add to cart.”

But the payoff was enormous.

When customers entered a refill shop to buy Dip, they discovered dozens of other sustainable replacements—from reusable paper towels to refillable pantry staples.

The impact extended far beyond shampoo.

The economics of local retail

That decision also created meaningful economic impact.

Some small refill stores now sell tens of thousands of dollars of Dip products each year. In certain cases, those sales represent a substantial portion of a shop’s revenue.

Over time, the brand has redirected millions of dollars into local economies by prioritizing independent retailers.

For Kate, that outcome matters more than chasing the biggest possible numbers.

She’s less interested in building the largest beauty brand imaginable and more interested in building a brand that means something to the communities where it’s sold.

That perspective has shaped nearly every decision Dip makes.

Influencers vs. store owners: who do you trust?

The conversation also touched on influencer marketing, which dominates much of the beauty industry today.

Kate doesn’t criticize influencers themselves. Many are simply trying to earn a living.

Her concern is with brands that rely almost exclusively on paid influencer promotion while neglecting other forms of credibility.

The difference comes down to who is taking the risk.

An influencer is typically paid to promote a product. A store owner, on the other hand, must purchase inventory upfront before putting it on their shelves.

That investment forces a higher level of scrutiny.

Retailers test products. They compare alternatives. They observe customer feedback. If something doesn’t perform well, they remove it.

In other words, store owners function as curators and validators long before the product reaches the customer.

For many consumers, that makes a shelf recommendation far more trustworthy than a sponsored post.

Convenience vs. honesty

Another theme from the podcast was the complicated relationship between convenience and trust. Online shopping is undeniably efficient. You can buy almost anything from your phone within seconds.

But that efficiency comes with tradeoffs.

When products are purchased entirely through algorithms and ads, the human feedback loop disappears. Returns become automated. Customer support becomes chatbot-driven. The process becomes less accountable and more anonymous.

Kate believes that environment makes dishonesty easier.

When no human interaction exists between seller and buyer, accountability weakens. Marketing becomes more exaggerated. Returns become harder to resolve. Frustration grows on both sides.

That dynamic contributes directly to the trust recession.

Why shopping used to be social

Another interesting observation from the conversation: shopping wasn’t always a solo activity. For many people, shopping used to be a social ritual. Friends browsed together. Families compared options. Parents and children smelled shampoos or tried on clothes.

The experience was about being together, not just acquiring things.

Dip intentionally reintroduces that element.

The product boxes include small scent windows so customers can smell each conditioner or shampoo bar in the store. Watching customers compare scents and discuss preferences with each other is one of Kate’s favorite parts of seeing the brand in action.

That interaction is impossible in a purely digital environment.

The hidden value of human customer service

One of the simplest ways brands can rebuild trust, Kate argues, is by maintaining real human customer service.

Many companies replace their support teams with chatbots because the cost savings are significant. But customers notice the difference immediately.

Waiting a day for a thoughtful human response is often preferable to navigating an automated system that cannot solve the problem. At Dip, customer service is handled by real people who take time to understand what went wrong and help customers resolve it.

That level of care may not scale as easily as automation—but it builds lasting trust.

Why virality isn’t always good for brands

The conversation also explored social media and the obsession with going viral.

Counterintuitively, Kate prefers smaller audiences.

When a post reaches a few thousand people, it usually connects with the exact community it was meant for. Engagement is positive. Conversations are thoughtful.

But once posts reach massive audiences, the tone often shifts. Comments become more negative. Criticism intensifies. Trolls appear. For a brand focused on genuine connection, that kind of exposure isn’t always beneficial.

A smaller, loyal community often creates more sustainable growth than chasing viral attention.

The future of trust in commerce

So what would an economic recovery from the trust recession look like? Kate believes it starts with people reconnecting with the physical world.

Spending less time glued to screens. Visiting local stores again. Talking with shop owners. Seeing products before buying them. Digital commerce will never disappear—and it shouldn’t. But the pendulum may begin swinging back toward experiences that feel more human.

As artificial intelligence makes marketing even more convincing, consumers may begin seeking environments where authenticity is easier to verify.

Places like refill stores, salons, surf shops, and independent retailers could become increasingly important.

A final reminder for founders

One of the last points Kate shared was directed at entrepreneurs themselves.

Building a brand can easily consume every hour of the day. But life cannot come second forever.The business matters, but the people and experiences around it matter more.

For founders navigating the pressure of growth, that reminder is worth hearing.

Where to find Dip

If you’re curious about Dip’s plastic-free shampoo and conditioner bars, visit DipAlready.com.

Use the store locator on the site to find refill stores, salons, and surf shops that carry Dip near you.

You can also follow @dipalready on Instagram to see the brand’s latest releases, community stories, and retailer features.

Final takeaway

The trust recession didn’t happen overnight.

It grew slowly as marketing became more automated, endorsements became more transactional, and the distance between brands and customers widened.

Dip’s story suggests a different path forward.

One where trust is rebuilt not through louder marketing, but through real people, real stores, real conversations, and products that deliver on their promises. In a world of increasingly synthetic signals, that kind of authenticity might become the most valuable currency of all.