OoM 010： How to Grow a Beard Like a Boss with Eric Bandholz
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Summary
It seems that the beard has become the universal sign of manliness. And I ve got Eric Bandholz with Beardbrand to talk with us about what a beard says about the men who wear them, why beards are becoming more acceptable, and how you can grow a killer beard of your own.
Transcript
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All right, guys, it's time to cover a topic that we have not yet addressed, and that is
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the beard. It seems that it has become the universal sign of manliness, and I've got
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Eric Bandholz with Beardbrand to talk with us about what a beard says about the men who wear
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them, why beards are becoming more acceptable, and how you can grow a killer beard of your own.
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You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest, embrace your fears, and boldly chart
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your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.
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You are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is
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who you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,
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you can call yourself a man. Men, welcome to the Order of Men podcast. My name is Ryan
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Nickler, and I am glad that you're tuned in today. I hope that you enjoyed your Memorial Day and your
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Memorial Day weekend. Hopefully, you got a barbecue in, but most importantly, I hope that you're able
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to pause and reflect for at least a minute on the men and women who have given their all to build and
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protect this country and give us the opportunity to do everything that we do, our jobs, and be with
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our family, and this podcast, and all of the things that we enjoy. Now, today is going to be a great
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episode on a topic that we have not yet covered, but before we get too far into the conversation,
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I do want to give you the quick heads up and let you know that you can check out all the notes for
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this show because there are a lot of notes. There are a lot of things and resources that
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you'll want to take advantage. You can find those at orderofman.com slash 010. Now, let me introduce
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you to my guest, Eric Bandholz. Eric is a leading grooming expert entrepreneur. He's a husband, a
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father, a designer, and an urban beardsman, and we'll learn more about that, but he's also the founder
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of Beardbrand and Urban Beardsman. I've talked with him now on two different occasions, and I know that
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he has a vision for building a community of urban beardsmen. Since launching his e-commerce site
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in January of 2013, Beardbrand has grown from zero to over $120,000 per month built primarily
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on branding. He's appeared on Shark Tank. His YouTube channel has been viewed nearly 4 million
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times. He's been featured in Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Details, Business Insider, Fast Company,
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Forbes, you name it, he's been there, and I'm excited to have him on the show today.
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Hey, Eric, I'm glad to have you on the show. Thanks for joining us today.
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It's going to be exciting. We met a couple of weeks ago briefly. We didn't have very long
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to talk, but we met at StyleCon. I was impressed with you. I'm impressed with your beard. I'm
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impressed with your brand, so I'm stoked to have you on the show today.
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Well, thank you. I'm glad that I was able to impress you, and StyleCon was a great time,
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and it met really a lot of really incredible people, so it was definitely a time well worth.
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Absolutely. So what I want to know, the first question I want to know is you and I have a
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very similar background in financial planning. How does a financial advisor get into beard brand,
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growing beards, beard maintenance, all the things that you're doing right now?
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Well, you know, I think the beard has always been part of me, and it's not a question of
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how do you get into beards, but it's how do you just do the things that you love rather
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than doing the things that just pay you money. And when I was a financial advisor, I took that
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job explicitly to get paid. I was in the midst of a few other business startups that weren't
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getting off the ground and decided to cave my morals to work for the man for a while. And then
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I kind of had, you know, I couldn't stand it, so I quit. And, you know, growing the beard was always
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just something that meant something to me. It wasn't just like a thing of laziness. Like, it was
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always, I always just enjoyed the process, and it's just been an extension of really my passion in life.
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Yeah. So did you have the beard at all while you were a financial advisor, or were you beardless?
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Well, you know, when I interviewed there and got started probably the first few months of training
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when I was still, like, really concerned with the job and trying to do my best, I definitely fit the
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mold that they wanted, which was, as you said, beardless or completely shaven. I appreciate you
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using that term over clean shaven. And it was, as I started to get a little more disgruntled,
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then I would be a little more confident with growing out like a little bit of scruff or
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like a five o'clock shadow, something like that, two-week beard, something short.
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Right. Yeah. The reason I bring it up is I'm still in the business, and so I am meeting with clients.
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I'm a financial advisor, but I've got a probably about a month and a half to two-month beard
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right now. So I was curious what your perception on that was as far as what's to be, you know,
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quote-unquote, expected as a financial advisor, right?
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Yeah. You know, there's always these pressures in society that may or may not accurately reflect
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the majority of people. And I think it's kind of changing with beards. Like, there's a lot more
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acceptance for a guy wearing a beard, especially a, you know, two or three-month-long beard that's
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well-groomed, that the neckline and the cheek lines are taken care of, you know, applying beard
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oil, it's washed, it smells good. Like, you know, people aren't really going to be concerned, even in
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a role of financial advisor. And if you can, you know, dress up that part, if you, you know, wear your
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suit, wear your tie, then I don't think it's really going to be a concern to any of your clients out
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And that's one of the things I've noticed, is it actually is pretty cool when I wear my suit to have
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that contrasting, you know, you've got your beard and maybe a little bit rebellious or whatever that
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might mean, and then you've got your suit, which is, you know, what is expected. And so to have that
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contrast and that something to compare, that's been a pretty interesting, kind of a fun thing as well.
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Yeah. And, uh, you know, that's kind of, uh, like our, we're, we're style for the urban beardsmen
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and the urban beardsmen is kind of that dichotomy of, you know, maybe slightly edgy, uh, with like a
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more traditional kind of clean look. Um, so it's, I think that really like the beard tells, tells a
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very, uh, important story for a lot of people. And it means a lot of different things, whether it's
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known consciously or, or sub subliminally. Um, but it does strike like wisdom and strength and power.
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Um, but it doesn't necessarily shrink like friendliness. So as a financial planner or
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financial advisor, like you don't necessarily want to be that friendly guy. You want to be the guy who
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knows what he's talking about, who can lead, who, you know, is, is someone that people will look up to.
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Um, so I think there's, there's a lot of strength in having facial hair in the, the financial advising
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world. Um, but, um, you know, I guess politicians still don't wear a beard. So, so maybe publicly
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speaking or, or the majority of public still isn't a hundred percent favorable to the idea of it.
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So I've got this question because you had talked about completely shaven versus clean shaven. And I
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know that you did a debate at style con and it was, I think three or four of you with beards debated
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guys who are completely shaven. Tell me a little bit about the terminology, why you, why you use the
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word completely as opposed to clean shaven. Well, so the clean shaven word, I was doing a little bit
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of research on it, came to us in, uh, the late 1860s, uh, pretty much coinciding with the invention
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of the safety razor. So you see a brand new product come out, the safety razor. It's getting a lot of
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momentum. One of the marketing speaks that I would imagine they use is the term clean shave. So it's
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totally like a propaganda from, from a razor company like years ago to tout how a shave is going to be
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hygienically cleaner than, than not shaving. And, uh, you'll see that that word just kind of took,
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took, uh, hold within society, but that word was totally fabricated by people. And we only use it
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because it's just been in our vernacular for so long, but as a, as an individual and as a leader
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of a company, you know, I make it in my mission to simply change that word from, you know, uh, pro,
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um, pro beardless to, uh, to, uh, pro beard or, or actually I'm not even trying to go pro beard.
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I'm trying to just have a neutral term where it's just completely shaven. It's an accurate term.
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So, uh, I think beardless is the pro pro beard term.
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Well, and I liked what you said in that debate because you talked about the fact that a beard's
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not necessarily for everyone. So you're not out there to convert the world and say that every man
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has to wear a beard or should wear a beard, but you're saying, Hey, there's validity in,
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in having facial hair, right? Yeah. You know, it's, it's people, if they want to choose to wear a
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beard, they should be able to do it without the, the pressures from society or, or like just the,
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the traditional, um, negative stereotypes that are perceived with a lot of individuals when,
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So let's talk about stereotypes and propaganda because right now there's this article that's
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gone viral, right? About beards are, are full of poop or whatever, whatever it is. And I've read
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through that article and it's actually kind of funny to read through because it's not really
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that valid, but tell me a little bit about that article. And then also the rebuttal. I'm not sure
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if you wrote the rebuttal to that or if it was somebody else, but I read that on your Facebook page,
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The whole saying is there's this article out there that there's poop in beards. Uh, and it's
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not actually poop in beards. It's the bacteria that's found in feces is also found in, in some
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people's beards. Um, but that kind of argument could be said, like there's a water found in poop
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and also found in beards. You know, it's, it's kind of like a, um, just a slanderous type of,
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of article. And, and what was found is, you know, this type of bacteria is, is around
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everything. And it's, uh, not only in your beards, but it's also on your skin and it's
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on your hair. And it's, if you're going to the bathroom and, and, you know, using the
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bathroom, then not washing your hands, then that's going to be the biggest issue. Um, so
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it's for people really who don't wash their hands, who are, uh, who are spreading, you
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know, bacteria around and there's, you know, billions of different kinds of bacteria on
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you at any given moment. Uh, many of which, which are also, you know, healthy and, and
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help fight off, uh, against bad things. So, I mean, there's, there's a lot of rebuttals
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in there and the science just doesn't add up in terms of beards being unclean or unhealthy
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as it's no, no worse or better than, than not having a beard.
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Right. Yeah. Of course. If you're not washing your hands, you're not hygienic. Of course,
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there's poop all over your body, let alone your beard. Right.
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Absolutely. And what's the, I mean, what's the, what's funny. You talk about kind of like,
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uh, the mindset and propaganda out there. And, uh, um, we just had an article posted on Yahoo,
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which I think is kind of the last, um, maybe a really true representation of like your average
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individual out there. You know, it's not very, you know, specific is very broad type of people.
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And there's, you know, the amount of like hateful comments that we received on the post about
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beards, how people think was gross or dirty or, you know, unclean or, you know, not stylish. Like
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it's still very pervasive in our society for these people to have these negative stereotypes of guys
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with beards. So why is that? Why? Cause I've obviously there's been a resurgence of, of,
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of it being acceptable to have a beard, but why, why some of that negativity? What's up with that?
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You know, I think it's, uh, some of it is just based on like simple things that people aren't
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aware of like the term clean shaven and thinking and that, well, if he's clean shaven, if he has a
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beard, he must be dirty. Uh, and then a lot of it will be, you know, just like the stereotypical
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thing that's played off in society where, you know, things in movies where all the bad guys have
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beards and then all the heroes are beardless. And I think, you know, one example of how that's
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shifting is if you watch like the Lord of the Rings, where all the, the, the leading roles and a lot of
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the, the heroes in the story have facial hair, whereas the negative people like all the orcs
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and, um, uh, Sauron and, and all the, the enemies are actually beardless or completely shaven. So
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there's like a shift where this perception is if you have a beard, then, then you're the hero now,
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uh, which I think is, uh, kind of interesting as well. Well, the other thing that you see a lot
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is that, and this might be in movies or even just ordinary life is, is, you know, somebody who's
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homeless, for example, might, might be more prone to have a beard, right? Right. Absolutely. So,
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I mean, there's, there's been these negative stereotypes that have existed, uh, and some
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of them are based on, uh, you know, uh, uh, like stereotypes, stereotypes come from factual
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events. Now they don't define everyone. Uh, but there's definitely been a lot of, uh, negative,
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uh, perception for, for beardsmen. Uh, but the majority of people who wear a beard are,
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you know, loving, caring members of the community and, and, uh, society and of their family. Um,
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so it's, you can no longer define an individual based on their beard, you know, like you have
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to go deeper than that to see who they really are. So let's talk about the opposite of this
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because we just got done talking about why people may have a negative stereotype. Why do
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you think beards have become so popular as of late? Is there something culturally? Is there,
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what is it that, that makes beards so popular now? Obviously there's probably certain trendsetters
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and people see that and they want to, want to emulate that. What do you think that is?
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You know, the, the, the shameless self-promotion, I would say it's a hundred percent because of
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beard brand, you know? Absolutely. I mean, that goes without saying, I'm just talking about,
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about above and beyond that because we all know that. Yeah. I'm kidding. Of course. Uh, but I really
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think what, um, what I would attribute it to is the shift in culture America to value people as
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individuals more than seeing them as simple cogs in the machine. So what happened is over the past
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hundred years, you'd have these corporations that would look as individuals as, um, cogs. So they
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would hire them, they would train them up. They would have that certain look, you know, it was like
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the whole IBM big blue, you'd wear your suit, your white shirt, you had the dress code. They train
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you up, they put you in this spot, you look a piece and then you just go on your way doing exactly
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what they tell you. But now like, uh, the corporate environment shifted where it's all about execution
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and being able to solve problems and reacting quickly. So what they're valuing are people who
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are like entrepreneurial, who can solve these issues, who can react quickly, who can, you know,
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function and take, uh, initiative without direct instruction. So they're looking for people who,
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who really have the talents and skillsets to improve the business. And they don't really care
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what you look like as long as you're getting stuff done. And now that people are free to just focus on
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their talents and their merits, then they're doing what they've always wanted to do, which is to have
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facial hair. And so why does a guy, I can, I mean, I can talk about why I've chose to have it,
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but why, why do you think, are there certain, uh, reoccurring reasons that men decide to grow a
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beard? You know, it's, it's really, it's, it's ingrained in our DNA. You know, it's part of who
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we are. It's like saying, you know, why do you choose to grow your hair? I mean, it's, it just
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comes out of your head. That's, that's who you are. If you do nothing by default, you're going to have
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facial hair or you're going to have a beard. So like, I think many men are tied to this part of,
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of who they are as individuals. And they're like, this is who I am. My beard is part of me. This
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is, uh, how I am as an individual. And all these years I've been being someone else. I've been
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hiding myself from the world by, you know, shaving off my beard. And then finally I've got the ability
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to, to share with the world, you know, what I really am, you know, who I really am and what my
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DNA really shows to the world, you know? Uh, so I think, you know, that's really empowering for people
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is like, uh, they look into that, but I think there's, there's just a lot of emotion for
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men in both growing a beard and shaving. Like it's this process of becoming a man. Like
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as a boy, you can't grow a beard. Um, but once you pass through puberty and, and, uh, those hairs
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change to terminal hairs, then you can start growing a beard. You've got, you know, hair in
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your armpits. All that stuff is just like part of becoming a man. And I think that's just really
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deeply ingrained with, with a lot of men, you know, across the world.
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One of the things that I think about is like the samurai warrior where he's got that top
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knot, right? That's, that's one thing. I also think about like Samson was power comes from,
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from his hair. I mean, do you, do you see that at all as being a reason why, why men will want
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to have a beard? Do they, do they gain some sort of power or does it make them feel different?
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What are your thoughts there? Yeah, it's, uh, you know, kind of going back to earlier in the
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conversation, it's about, uh, a lot of the traditional, uh, perceptions of what a man with
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a beard looks like, you know, he's stronger, he's healthier. Like you can't grow a good beard
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if you're malnourished and you don't have food, you know, like it's an indicator, uh, to your
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strength. And it's also an indicator to like your, your sexual, uh, viability with, uh, women. So
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it's a section, secondary sexual organ, um, that women don't have. So it's equivalent
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to, to boobs. Uh, the beard is equivalent to boobs for women. Uh, so, uh, there's, there's
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that aspect of it, which is just, you know, ingrained in, in humanity and humankind and being
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a, uh, a homo sapien and, and, you know, kind of like the evolutionary process when you look
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at like the amount of animals within the animal kingdom that can grow facial hair or grow beards,
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there's literally like 10 or 20 of them of the hundreds of thousands or millions of animals
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that are out there. So it's something that's very unique. I mean, even other chimpanzees,
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they, they don't have the same kind of, uh, indicators that men have. So it's really unique
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to humanity. And it's something that, you know, for us to, to, to shave it off, to hide it is,
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is almost like denying like our, who we are as, as humans. I've also heard that different levels
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of testosterone inside of your body is, is part of the reason or part of what creates a full,
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healthy beard. Is that right? Yeah, there's, uh, ironically the, the thing that drives a really
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full, thick, dense beard is also the, the thing that makes guys go bald, uh, pretty early. So it's
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almost like a, a, a main twist of fate to be able to grow an awesome beard. There's a high percentage
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of chance that you're going to be losing your hair. Um, so it's just kind of like everyone's
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genetics, uh, are, are slightly different. Uh, but there is a big testosterone factor and, and being
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able to boost your testosterone naturally will, uh, maximize your beard growing potential that's
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already harnessed within your own DNA. So you can't change your genetics of what you're going to grow,
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but you can maximize your genetics. So let's talk a little bit about beard brand because you brought
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it up and obviously I want to talk about, tell me what beard brand is all about, what you guys are
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doing, what help, what services, what products are you offering? So beard brand is a men's grooming
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company that focuses on beard care products. So our, our top seller is a beard oil, which is a leave-in
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conditioner. It's going to help soften up the beard, uh, minimize or eliminate beard flakes or dry skin
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under the beard. And then it just has like this beautiful smell to it. So it's just like an
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enjoyable experience. It's nothing that's, that's necessary or it's, uh, required to grow a beard.
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It's just something that makes it much better. Um, so we, uh, we focus on the urban beardsmen, which is
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the guys who don't fit the traditional stereotypes of beardsmen, whether they're the, the bikers or the
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outdoorsmen or the hippies or the homeless guys, like they just don't identify with that. Um,
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so they're going to be guys who are similar to you. They're financial advisors, they're graphic
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artists, they're, they're quote unquote urban. So they're in an urban environment. You know,
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they have professional jobs and they care about their style and they care about taking care of
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themselves and grooming and looking good and, and presenting the themselves to the world and the
00:21:02.260
best possible line. So, um, that's really our audience. And we've developed like this really
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great bond with them because no one, uh, before beard brand was, was talking about how you could
00:21:12.880
have a beard and also be, you know, like a, a polished part of society. So it's, uh, it's been a
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lot of, uh, fun connecting with our audience. And so obviously you've got a lot of passion around what
00:21:25.280
you're doing and you're able to make this transition. One of the things that you had a pretty
00:21:28.660
cool experience is you were on shark tank to talk about beard brand, right? Oh yeah. I mean,
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anytime you can share your passion with millions of people, that's an incredible experience. I mean,
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I love like even doing like, uh, I don't know your viewership, maybe it's just a million people,
00:21:43.360
but, uh, it's, uh, I just love sharing our story, whether it's, you know, an audience of one person
00:21:50.060
or if it's an audience of millions of people. So how, how was that experience? What were some of the
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things that you walked away with and said, Oh, that was a good experience. Or was there some
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things that, that, uh, you know, what was your overall experience of the shark tank?
00:22:01.800
Well, I mean, I, I loved it. You know, I, I love being on the big stage and, and having that
00:22:06.560
opportunity to, to meet with such high profile people. Like it truly is a once in a lifetime
00:22:12.780
opportunity, uh, or maybe twice in a lifetime if I can get lucky again. Uh, you're going to try it
00:22:18.540
again? Uh, no, no near term plans for that. But I mean, I think, uh, you know, just being able to,
00:22:25.100
uh, to share the passions. Uh, but it is like a lot of what you see on the shark tank is
00:22:30.560
accurate. It's a very intense situation. You get very nervous, uh, not just because of the people
00:22:36.800
you're pitching to, but because the fact that this pitch is being recorded and shown to millions
00:22:41.780
of people, it's, it's very intense. And, um, you know, a little bit of, I wish we were to, uh,
00:22:48.160
have gotten an offer or to gotten a deal. I think that would have been great. Um, it would have
00:22:52.380
probably silenced a few haters. Um, but, uh, for the most part, uh, it's been a great boost to our
00:22:59.020
business and great boost to, to spreading awareness for what we're working on. I agree
00:23:04.840
that when, anytime you put yourself out there, whether it's through this podcast or on, you know,
00:23:10.240
you're what you're doing or shark tank, whatever it may be, you're going to have some people push
00:23:15.440
back. And really what you're doing is you're opening yourself up to not only exposure and positive
00:23:19.720
exposure for the brand, but you're also opening yourself up to criticism and negativity as well.
00:23:24.860
Have you, and it sounds like you've got some, some haters out there. What's some of the backlash
00:23:29.040
or what's some of the things that you keep hearing as to why maybe what you're doing is not valid or
00:23:34.580
whatever it may be? Oh, you know, it's, it's a lot of the same stuff that I've been dealing with
00:23:39.120
since we started. Like, you know, growing beards is a fad, which I think is a little silly because
00:23:44.820
like the default is to have a beard. So the, the, the unnatural thing to do is to shave off the beard.
00:23:50.960
So, uh, shaving in my mind has been a hundred year fad, but, uh, you know, so, I mean, I think
00:23:56.260
it's, people don't understand, uh, what this movement is about and, and they don't see the
00:24:02.580
sustainability in it. Um, that's what most of the haters say. And then the other haters are,
00:24:08.240
they just don't like beards and they just, they, they don't find them appealing. They find them
00:24:12.620
gross. They, you know, they, or they're, or they do grow beards. They like beards, but they,
00:24:17.640
they view grooming as something that's very feminine or, you know, like you can't be a man
00:24:24.300
and take care of your beard. You know, it's like, you can't be a man and use soap and wash yourself
00:24:28.820
in the shower. Like that's, that's, that's not manly at all, you know? And it's like,
00:24:33.940
these people don't always think out like the hypocrisy of their statements. Like I'm sure
00:24:39.460
you're using deodorant. I'm sure you're using like aftershave or a cologne, or I'm sure you're
00:24:44.280
using hair product, like all these things that these guys are using. And then all of a sudden
00:24:48.380
you have a brand new product that they've never heard of before. And they're like, no, no, no,
00:24:52.720
I'm not doing that. It's, you know, grooming. And so, so, well, we've got to wash the poop out of
00:24:59.700
our beard though, right? I mean, yeah, exactly. You know? So, and then, uh, I guess, uh, the other
00:25:06.760
thing is like, we do premium products as well. Like, so a lot of guys aren't used to, uh, shopping
00:25:12.760
for or purchasing a higher end premium product and, and they just, they're a little, uh, overwhelmed by,
00:25:19.500
you know, the costs involved of, of making that type of product. So, uh, there's those hurdles as
00:25:25.020
well. I know I've got beard oil and I, one of the beard oils I use has like a, like a
00:25:29.580
pine scent to it. And I really like it. Like it makes my beard feel soft. It feels good on my
00:25:35.460
skin. And then my wife, which is another benefit, my wife really likes it as well. So I'm, I'm all
00:25:40.280
for beard oils. Yeah. I mean like beard oil is like, it's one of those products that's like
00:25:44.440
legitimately awesome. Like you use it and you're instantly going to see and feel a different
00:25:51.340
beard. And a guy strokes his beard on average every day, 720 times. That's probably true. That's
00:25:58.760
probably me too. So you're touching your beard like that frequently. And to be able to feel the
00:26:02.600
beard being that much softer, uh, and to smell nice and to be around people who notice it and
00:26:08.540
they notice how healthy it looks. I mean, it's like, it's a no brainer to, to buy a product like
00:26:13.760
this cause it is so much, uh, beneficial to, to a lot of people out there. So is urban beardsmen a
00:26:20.580
spinoff? Is that your magazine? Help me understand the relationship with urban beardsmen and beard
00:26:24.640
brand. You know, uh, we started beard brand as a content website. So for the first year of beard
00:26:30.540
brands existence, it was a blog and it was a YouTube channel and a Tumblr page. And then it was
00:26:36.640
after a year that we saw an opportunity to, to sell some products to help, uh, with our cause to change
00:26:43.480
away, uh, society views beardsmen. And it's always been a big part of our, our growth is, is just the
00:26:49.780
content aspect of it. Um, so we've, we sat back and forth on, you know, do we make this as a blog
00:26:57.200
that beard brand.com or do we spin it off on urban beardsmen? And it was a hard decision, but we,
00:27:03.480
we wanted to talk more about the lifestyle of being an urban beardsman than, uh, you know,
00:27:10.460
just talk about kind of like grooming products. So, uh, that was the reason we went to urbanbeardsmen.com
00:27:16.440
so we could talk about more about, uh, what it means to be an urban beardsman than just simply
00:27:21.180
the grooming process. I want to go back to the debate that we had or that we listened to at
00:27:28.200
StyleCon. And you said that, and I really appreciated you saying this, that a beard isn't
00:27:33.080
for everybody. When do you see it making sense that a guy should grow a beard and when maybe
00:27:37.540
should he not grow a beard? When do you see that fitting in? You know, I'm not going to be the person
00:27:41.940
to, to tell anyone whether or not they, they should or shouldn't grow a beard. Really the,
00:27:46.940
the person that you should listen to is the guy looking back at you in the mirror and coming
00:27:51.860
down to what you feel is, is the appropriate thing to do for your situation and, and how it affects your
00:27:58.040
confidence or, or your self image. You know, ultimately you want to, to become a more confident
00:28:03.380
person and whatever, um, you do, uh, to help with that is going to be beneficial. Um, the, the thing
00:28:12.660
that I really encourage people to do is, is to, to garner feedback, not, not just from like those who
00:28:20.220
are close to you or those who, you know, but also those who like interact with, with facial hair a lot,
00:28:25.960
you know, because you want to have both like that negative or that constructive criticism,
00:28:30.080
as well as that positive criticism to get like a very full picture of, of how it looks. Cause we
00:28:36.240
can't always like, uh, determine how we look to the world without, you know, getting that feedback.
00:28:41.660
But I mean, really it's just do what you want to do, right? Like that's what it comes down to.
00:28:45.680
Whatever you want to do in life, you do, it's your life and only you spend a hundred percent of your
00:28:50.540
time with you. So, uh, don't let others dictate, um, and, uh, you know, like love what you got.
00:28:57.680
How do you get that feedback? Because if you just went up to somebody and you said, Hey,
00:29:01.600
what do you think of my beard? You know, the natural response might just be, yeah,
00:29:05.460
it looks nice. When really I've only had one person and she came right out and she's a close
00:29:09.220
friend. She's like, what is with that beard? I don't like your beard. But for the most part,
00:29:13.880
I was like, yeah, yeah. I don't know what they say after the fact, but they say to your face,
00:29:17.020
they love the beard, right? Yeah. And I think, uh, you know, uh, well, that's the thing with
00:29:22.060
growing a beard is most people are like genuinely positive for it. Like beards are a net positive,
00:29:27.520
look for people. Uh, whether it's scruff five o'clock shadow to a couple of week beard, like
00:29:32.900
you are going to be perceived as more attractive than not having a beard. Um, but there are some
00:29:38.900
guys out there who like, just, they, they literally, they cannot grow a beard. Like it
00:29:43.960
does not come out of their face or it comes out very sparse. Um, there are communities out there
00:29:49.400
like the beardboard.com where you can kind of upload photographs and show progress photos of how
00:29:55.400
your beard's coming in and kind of give you like an honest feedback on, you know, what are going to
00:30:00.860
be the best strategies for grooming it? Or, you know, maybe you should keep your sideburns or just
00:30:04.940
keep your mustache or shave off your mustache or, you know, just do the chops. Like just kind of like
00:30:10.580
a good insight from people who like, just, they see beards and they take care of beards like all the
00:30:16.780
time. That's cool. I like that. I'm gonna have to jump on there and I'm gonna, and, and check that
00:30:21.040
out and see if there's any advice for me. So what are some of the other mistakes that guys are
00:30:24.280
making when they consider growing a beard? You said if it grows in patchy or just kind of thin,
00:30:28.540
is there some other mistakes that we should be aware of? Yeah. I mean, if you're thinking about
00:30:31.640
growing a beard out, really you want to give it like one or two months of good growth without
00:30:35.260
trimming or shaving to see what you, you have to work with. Cause not all beards grow, or not all
00:30:41.260
beard hairs grow at the same speed. And what may seem like a patchy area is actually just a slow
00:30:47.400
growing, uh, area. So give it a little bit of time before you shape it up or trim it. And then, uh,
00:30:53.540
probably like my biggest tip is when you do actually have a beard, let's say you've
00:30:57.680
been growing it for, uh, one month. I always recommend that you give it that amount of time
00:31:03.860
in days, uh, before you shave it off. So if you've been growing for a month, give it a
00:31:08.700
day before you shave it off. If you've been growing for six months, give it six days to
00:31:12.760
think about it before you shave it off. And then that way, you know, you've come to the
00:31:15.980
right decision on what you think is right for you. So there's a lot of emotions that a guy
00:31:20.280
will go through when growing out their facial hair and a lot of self doubt, um, that those
00:31:25.220
emotions kind of go in, uh, ebbs and flows. And you don't want to trim off like seven months
00:31:30.140
of work and energy just because you're on a downflow.
00:31:33.880
Right. I've got a friend who grew his beard for two years and he shaved it off. And every day
00:31:39.780
since he shaved it off, he's like, Oh, I shouldn't have shaved. And he has such regret for shaving
00:31:46.420
Yeah. So, I mean, if, if he just, you know, thought about it for, you know, uh, two weeks
00:31:50.960
and like was really committed to it. And I don't know his case, if he just kind of like
00:31:54.920
woke up and was tired of it one day and just did that or, you know, but there's a lot of
00:31:59.700
process and you can trim the beard. Like once it grows long, if you haven't trimmed it for
00:32:03.400
a while, you can head into the barber and have it trimmed up and really kind of give it a
00:32:07.500
new look and new life without completely taking it off.
00:32:11.160
Right. You know, that's funny. I never even thought about that, but that's, yeah, that's a good
00:32:14.320
idea. I never even thought about that. I want to talk a little bit about the practicality
00:32:19.140
and functionality of a beard besides just the look and the feel and the level of confidence.
00:32:23.660
What are some of the things that, that are practical about beards or functional about
00:32:29.780
Well, you know, a beard is going to help with, uh, minimizing your risk for sun cancer. It's
00:32:33.820
a great way to block the UV rays, uh, on a daily basis. So guys who grow beards are actually
00:32:39.740
going to have healthier looking skin, um, as they age. Uh, in addition to that, uh, during
00:32:46.360
the winter time, it's going to help keep you warm. So you have a longer beard that covers
00:32:49.620
your neck, your neck, uh, um, uh, you'll see it when they, with football players, they're
00:32:55.480
always blowing like cool, cool air on someone's neck because the veins, uh, go right to the surface
00:33:02.120
of the skin. And it's a great way to kind of, uh, monitor it. So in the winter, you're able
00:33:06.900
to, to keep that heat in with the beard. And then in the summer, you're able to block
00:33:10.740
away like the sun's rays and shade the neck and keep yourself a little bit cooler with
00:33:15.720
a beard as well. So there's, uh, the physical benefits of it as well. And then, uh, what
00:33:21.740
else, you know, it's a barrier for, uh, like pollen and dust and just a lot of different
00:33:29.200
So what are some other tips? I mean, obviously beard oils are big. You can go to the, uh, and
00:33:33.600
groom your beard. What are some other tips to, to keep your beard looking healthy and
00:33:39.080
Yeah. My, my, uh, kind of big pillars of advice is, uh, a regular trimming, like every
00:33:47.000
few months will help keep it in line and having a beard that's well groomed in terms of like
00:33:52.380
a trim is going to help it look very presentable and look very full. Uh, so that's a good option
00:33:59.160
for that. Uh, in terms of washing, there's, uh, these didn't exist five years ago, but
00:34:04.640
now on the market, there's a lot of beard washes and beard softeners, and that's going
00:34:08.360
to be like a, a hair shampoo and a hair conditioner, and they're going to help, um, wash your, you
00:34:14.580
know, it's, it's designed for the softness of your face rather than the, the scalp, which
00:34:19.840
is a little more tolerant of harsher washes. So it's going to be a more gentle wash. And
00:34:25.040
it's also designed for like the curly hairs that come out in the beard. So there's beard
00:34:28.640
washes, beard softeners that you can use to, uh, to make sure that your beard's clean
00:34:33.360
and then like to take care of your mustache. There's mustache waxes to help keep everything
00:34:37.140
in line. Or if you want to do a, a handlebar. Um, and then from there, let's see what else
00:34:43.000
a comb and brush. Uh, you know, those are kind of my go-tos as well. I just, I can't go too
00:34:48.660
far away without one of my, my combs. I want to back up a little bit because one of the things
00:34:54.600
that a lot of the guys give me is feedback. They listen to this podcast and they're on the
00:34:58.220
YouTube channel and blog is they feel like they're stuck. And I think you had a little
00:35:05.060
bit of that too. When you talk about the financial planning practice, of course, you know, I've,
00:35:09.300
I've explored another area by starting this project. What are some of the things that you
00:35:13.860
did when you decided, Hey, I'm going to leave financial planning and I'm going to chase
00:35:17.840
and pursue this, this passion. What are some of the steps that you took to get you to where
00:35:22.240
you are today? Yeah. I mean, that's a, that's a really good question. Um, and not one that I
00:35:28.260
don't think I've ever been asked before. It's so my, my career was pretty much shit. Like, um,
00:35:35.220
from 2008 or nine, uh, until really beard brand started taking off in, in 2013. And, um, you know,
00:35:45.080
it was pretty dark. Like in, in my wife and I were also struggling with, with infertility. So it's
00:35:50.180
like, uh, I was really not getting a lot of traction with my career, my personal life.
00:35:56.120
And, uh, the beard for me was, was kind of one of those outlets of, of like, just, uh,
00:36:02.180
bringing new life into me and experiencing new things and having a little bit of positivity and
00:36:06.940
being able to like, uh, grow and go through these motions and, and this, uh, journey toward, uh,
00:36:12.520
what's called a year, which has grown a beard for a year. Um, so it's, it's for a lot of guys,
00:36:18.180
uh, it's a way to, to kind of get re renewed. One of, uh, I talked with, uh, one of our, our fans
00:36:24.380
and, uh, he was going through a divorce, uh, or just had gotten divorced with his wife and,
00:36:32.460
and he used the beard as a way to kind of start afresh and start new. And it was really like a good
00:36:38.940
experience for him to kind of get that re rebirth and find himself as a man and just kind of like
00:36:46.400
bring positivity into his life. Uh, so a lot of guys really do that is, uh, you know, use that as
00:36:52.960
a transition to, to become a new person. So was this a, was this a, a passion project,
00:36:58.980
just something you enjoyed doing or from the minute that you started beer brand as, as the blog,
00:37:03.400
is it something you said, I'm going to monetize this and I'm going to make this work and this is
00:37:07.440
going to be my career? No, it was, uh, so I'm an entrepreneur at heart, so I always have ideas
00:37:13.200
for businesses and I have a, I have a lot of good ideas that have failed. Um, so I know execution
00:37:18.580
is, is really the key. And, uh, when I, I got the idea for beard brand, for the blog, for the urban
00:37:25.400
beardsman, um, I always had this vision of, of it supporting the lifestyle, you know, of being this
00:37:32.180
company. Um, but I didn't have any of the, the monetization keys in place for, for a whole year.
00:37:40.200
And it was really like what I was searching for, uh, wasn't necessarily the ideas. It was the team,
00:37:46.120
um, the co-founders to, to take it to the next level. And it was through, um, uh, partnering up
00:37:53.440
with Jeremy and Lindsay that really made beard brand become what it is today. I think it's
00:37:58.580
incredible. I think that the, the, where you've taken it and how unique it is and how unique you
00:38:03.080
are and it stands out. I think it's awesome. I love it. That's why I'm so excited to have you on the
00:38:06.640
show. Uh, let's see. I was going to ask you one of the things that you mentioned at style con is you
00:38:12.060
said that sometimes guys feel like, I don't know how you word that worded this, but they almost don't
00:38:17.900
have permission, I guess you'd say to grow a beard. And you offered some suggestions on some reasons
00:38:25.320
why you may come up with an excuse or something to say if a guy wants to start or wants to try
00:38:31.640
growing a beard. You know, if you feel those, those negative stereotypes, uh, uh, at work,
00:38:38.580
you know, you don't think work will allow you to grow facial hair or if your spouse isn't exactly
00:38:43.420
the idea or whatever it may be. I'm a big fan of growing in November during no shave November or
00:38:51.100
Movember and using that growth as a way to raise money for charity. And it also gives you an excuse to,
00:38:58.100
you know, grow your beard out, uh, without like the hassle from, from others and kind of get a good
00:39:05.760
feel for, for what it's going to look like. So, um, when you grow in no shave November, like the whole
00:39:11.240
point is like, it's a change in your look and image to be able to spark that conversation and, uh,
00:39:17.460
really start generating, uh, money for a wonderful cause. And, uh, you know, like people can't hate on you
00:39:24.500
for that. If you say, Hey man, I'm growing my beard for a great cause, you know, I'm not going to
00:39:29.180
shave like, and then they're like, Oh, okay. Well, yeah, you're right. You know? And I think
00:39:35.240
Movember is, is awareness for testicular cancer. I believe, is there some others that are out there
00:39:40.780
too, that you know of? Yeah. Uh, well, Movember is, uh, I actually, I think it's, uh, like just men's
00:39:45.880
health in general. I know they do, uh, like prostate cancer as well. And, um, so there's a
00:39:51.580
lot of, uh, local kind of clubs and communities that put on events, uh, and, uh, and no shave
00:39:58.220
November is, you know, kind of like, it's not an official organization. Um, but if you go to your
00:40:04.460
local club, they'll usually participate that and, uh, put together some teams for it. So, um,
00:40:10.560
really, really it's more of a local kind of grassroots thing. So are there some, some
00:40:16.420
styles that you say, Hey, try, try these styles. Here's a couple of few popular styles, whether
00:40:21.380
it's full beard or, or just the mustache handlebar goatee, or do you have some sort of a guide
00:40:26.240
that guys can check out? Yeah. You know, uh, Antonio, uh, with real men, real style, he put a,
00:40:32.640
put together this cool little, uh, um, infographic of the different beards out there. You really can't
00:40:39.280
go wrong. Uh, assuming your beard comes in pretty good, then you can't go wrong with a
00:40:43.700
full beard, you know, and a full beard can be anywhere from like the five o'clock shadow
00:40:49.000
or the stubble all the way up to what we call a terminal beard is, is the longest it's ever
00:40:53.920
going to grow. So the full beard is like for forever, like a go to look. And then, uh, within
00:41:00.380
there, you know, my personal preference, I don't think, uh, um, goatees are as popular as
00:41:06.280
they once were. Um, um, but you know, like there's just going to be like kind of styles
00:41:11.380
that come and go. I think a mustache is, is really an underplayed look that, uh, uh, a
00:41:16.340
lot of people can pull off, you know, Brett from the art of manliness, he really pulls
00:41:19.760
off the mustache and he definitely doesn't do it for ironic reasons. And, you know, there's
00:41:26.100
the whole like connotation that if you grow a mustache, then you're a hipster. And that's
00:41:31.020
not true at all. Like you've just got to find your own kind of your look and feel and,
00:41:35.400
and, and just test it out. But it could be, you know, sideburns, uh, mustache, chops,
00:41:41.300
whaler, like there's a bunch of different styles. Really. It comes down to what you
00:41:45.180
have been and just playing around and testing it and seeing what you like.
00:41:49.260
So I'll make a, I'll make sure to put a link in the show notes on what Antonio put
00:41:53.540
together because I have seen that. And that is a pretty good guide. I didn't know that
00:41:56.720
there was what you said, you know, the terminal beard. I didn't know that there was a stage
00:42:00.060
where that would actually just stop and would, it would just shut off. I wasn't aware of
00:42:03.360
that. Yeah. Well, so the hair doesn't technically stop, but what happens is that
00:42:07.320
the hair will get brittle and they'll break off and then, uh, or you'll get like split
00:42:13.180
ends and then, uh, or you'll experience shedding. So like just your head, your head
00:42:18.380
hair does the same thing, but the beard will just eventually fall out after growing for
00:42:23.100
five years or something. So you just can't grow any further than that.
00:42:27.020
Right. Well, Eric, this has been a great conversation. How do men connect with you and
00:42:32.600
with Beardbrand and Urban Beardsmen if they want to learn more, if they want to purchase
00:42:36.480
some products from, from you and what you have to offer?
00:42:38.860
So, uh, if you Google my name, Eric Banholz, you're pretty much going to find me, uh, and
00:42:43.420
find all my, my platforms out there. I'm pretty active on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram.
00:42:48.660
And then with Beardbrand, it's beardbrand.com and urbanbeardsmen.com as a website. So hopefully
00:42:54.880
all the links are on the website and, uh, you guys can find us there, but just Google
00:43:02.180
Easy. Yeah. Easy. We'll make sure again, to have all those links available on the show
00:43:06.280
notes page so you can check that out. And, uh, Eric, it's been a ton of fun. I'm glad
00:43:11.100
Pleasure is all mine and thanks for having me and, uh, uh, happy to be part of it.
00:43:16.560
Man, what an awesome conversation about the ins and outs of Beards. I bet that when you
00:43:21.240
saw the title of this podcast, you did not know that we were going to go in.
00:43:25.120
As, as depth as we did, it just goes to show that Eric is a man who is passionate
00:43:30.420
and he knows his beards. Again, we mentioned quite a few links today. If you need to take
00:43:35.760
a look at those, you can head to order a man.com slash zero one zero, where you will find all
00:43:41.400
the links, the resources and the notes for this show. Now, next week, I've got an interview
00:43:46.040
lined up with a man who was going to talk with us all about how to find and work with a mentor.
00:43:51.620
So important for us as men to find people who are already doing the things that we want
00:43:55.900
to be doing and, and work with those, those gentlemen. So make sure you don't miss that
00:44:01.320
next week by subscribing to the show, head over to order of man.com slash iTunes. While you're
00:44:07.000
there, please, please leave us a rating and review. It really helps get the visibility
00:44:10.880
out for the podcast. And you can do that again at order of man.com slash iTunes. Thanks
00:44:16.400
again, man, for being here today. And I will look forward to seeing you next week.
00:44:21.180
Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your
00:44:25.440
life and be more of the man you were meant to be. We invite you to join the order at order of