This shaving brand was banned on TikTok, so it started an OnlyFans

How can a razor brand market their products online when the word “razor” is shadowbanned. Start an OnlyFans, of course. 

London-based razor brand Nimbi, which launched at Erewhon in January 2024, began posting on TikTok last summer but noticed their views were disappointingly low. Turns out, it’s because they were using the word razor, which is on TikTok’s list of shadow-banned (meaning TikTok was limiting who could see their content). So, Nimbi got creative. 

Co-founder Anna Reid first suggested the idea of making an OnlyFans account as a joke. But it made a lot of sense. Most brands would steer well clear of posting on a platform infamous for sexually explicit content. But OnlyFans is not just a site for adult creators, and brands might just be missing out on its marketing potential. 

Rather than posting sexualized content for a male audience, Nimbi’s OnlyFans content is instructional and made to answer questions consumers might never have the courage to ask. One of their posts, for example, is an in-depth shaving tutorial. “It’s much more like, ‘How do we show that we all share a lot of the same needs?’” Reid told Inc. in a recent interview. “Let’s share better educational techniques that aren’t [for] our skin on our face, but other body parts that we just can’t show on social media.”

While OnlyFans isn’t the brand’s major marketing channel, still with under 100 subscribers, Reid tells Inc. they’re “having a lot of fun with it”. Their bold approach appears to be paying off. Nimbi is now Erewhon’s number one seller in the personal care category, and is expanding into more than 900 Target stores March 1. Unlike traditional razors, Nimbi’s plastic-free disposable razors are made from a first-to-market material made of waste wood pulp, pine oil and clay.

OnlyFans might not work for the Estée Lauders of the world. But for a razor brand, it simply makes sense.