Men’s grooming is a term that hasn’t really been on the typical Irish mans radar in recent times. Shopping for moisturisers and styling products just isn’t the done thing. Grooming has traditionally meant a can of Lynx (Africa!), a Tesco shower gel and a tub of Brylcreem - bought by either the Mrs or the mother!

But gradually things have changed. Men are becoming more aware of their appearance and looking well. However, this doesn’t mean that men are suddenly swarming the chemists and spa’s and spending thousands of euros, and hours of time. Men’s grooming is a very different thing to women’s grooming. Speed and ease of use has always been key - but now reliable and effective products which will aid a man to look well are just as important; and no, this doesn’t mean sweet scents, soft skin and flickable hair(!!). But, masculine scents, soaps to clean out a days hard work, hair products that give control and style without needing a hairdryer, straightener and a stylist! This is modern mens grooming.

For an example of this you need look no further than the current (and seemingly here to stay) beard craze. Whilst some women believe it is laziness on behalf of men I beg to differ........kind of........it is men actually thinking about their appearance and liking the idea of a new bearded them - it is a way of defining ones masculinity and style. Plus, not having to shave every day is just awesome!

The problem is how do you look after a beard? An unkempt, dirty and scratchy beard can be a pretty awful thing. This is where Beardsmith Beard Care & Mens Grooming comes in. Our range of products is simple, effective and designed with natural and masculine scents. They will keep men, and there beards, clean, healthy and stylish. These high quality and natural products are handmade on the Wild Atlantic Way in Kerry and contain no chemicals. Exceptional product reviews, a rapidly growing customer base and stockist list, show that Beardsmith is getting modern mens grooming right.

The full Beardsmith range, and stockists, can be viewed and purchased at www.beardsmith.ie.

Beardsmith can be followed on Facebook and Instagram @beardsmithbeardcare and Twitter @MattBeardsmith 

No shave November is almost here, and if you want to have an awesome beard at the end its probably time to start planning. Here are some quick Beardsmith tips on how to make the most of November this year.

First up, it takes a lot longer than 1 month to grow a beard. In reality you are looking at more like 2-3 months, at the end of the first month its just

gonna be untidy, thick stubble (unless you are one of these lucky wild men of Borneo who can grow a full beard in a week!)  By doing a bit of groundwork now the month of November can be a lot more effective.

That means starting to grow now! People won’t really notice anything out of the ordinary until 2-3 weeks in, and by then you can say you're taking part in No Shave November anyway! So my biggest tip is if you have ever wanted to grow a beard but are afraid of what people may say is start now and then claim/blame No Shave November!

The next problem you are probably going to have is that the damn thing will start being itchy and uncomfortable as it grows out. The best thing you can do for this is start as you can to go on with good habits. This means good quality beard soaps and a moisturising beard oil. So go ahead and order a Beardsmith Combo Box at www.beardsmith.ie to cover all your beard care needs. You can also contact Beardsmith via email or on Facebook for any further advice or beard growing support!

By the end of NoShave November you should have a decent purposeful looking short beard. You will have had 6 weeks of support and the itch should have passed too! Result! You've successfully managed to slip that handsome beard past you're disapproving family and friends; and now they are used to how handsome you now look and won't let you shave anyway!

Of course if you are doing this then it makes sense to raise some money for charity too. No Shave November was invented with Men's Health Awareness in mind so a charity linked to that makes the most sense.

#makingbeardsbetter

I’ve been asked a load of times, about dry skin under the beard and how to deal with this and other skin/beard related complications. I’m going to try and talk about what might be going on and what can help - I’ll start by saying I will be talking about my Beardsmith products! (As they’re awesome!) I am also a nurse so have a little extra knowledge (but not much!) from this. But otherwise this is based on the experiences of myself and Beardsmith users, coupled with the science and common sense. So, it seems quite prevalent that guys end up with dry skin under there beards. This can range from: just a bit dry and itchy, to dry and flakey (beardruff!), to dry, red and cracked skin. Sometimes they have always had dry skin, and sometimes it is a new thing.

I often see a lot of different advice: dry skin/hair properly, apply beard oil direct to the skin, don’t use any soap, dont wash(!) etc. A lot of this is helpful advice, but in most cases it doesn’t get to the root of the problem. For example, having damp skin/beard hair shouldn’t cause redness, itching and worse - but it could exacerbate an underlying problem. Also, putting oil on is of course a good thing (if it’s a quality oil) and can help with dryness - but why is it dry to start with? Well (and here’s the interesting bit!) our skin produces a natural oil called sebum. This oil keeps the skin (and hair on it) moisturised, and helps to maintain a healthy skin pH of about 5.5 - which is slightly acidic. If all this is working well then there should be no dry or sore skin issues. Problems can start with the use of modern soaps and shampoos. They are generally all created using chemicals, and contain nasty things like parabens and sulfates. Instead of just cleansing the skin and hair these detergents strip away all the dirt and all the natural oils. This leaves the hair brittle, coarse and dry. Also, as mentioned above, a healthy skin pH is slightly acidic. These detergents are destroying the acidic sebum, and the alkaline nature of these soaps is so intense that they can cause problems with the natural skin pH balance. This all can add up to dry skin and worse. So the first thing someone with dry skin needs to do is stop stripping out the good oils. We still, of course, need to wash, as dirt can cause problems of it’s own. The answer here is a high quality soap/shampoo which is chemical free and contains natural ingredients. This will be a gentler soap which will just cleanse away the dirt and not strip everything else away. It’s natural ingredients will not be so intensely alkali and so won’t affect the natural skin pH as much. By switching to natural soaps you will be able to treat the cause of the problem, not just the symptoms. If the skin is very problematic then you also may need something that is going to help undo the damage that has been caused. A well known and traditional remedy for all skin issues is pine tar. It can treat dry skin, eczema, infections and more - it is shown to be pretty miraculous stuff when it comes to the skin! The pine tar can be incorporated into a soap to gain the benefits easily. Once the cause of the problem has been remedied high quality beard oils, balms and waxes all have a part to play in maintaining beard and skin health. Now here’s where Beardsmith comes in! Beardsmith Pine Tar Beard Soap has consistently helped guys with skin issues. It has singlehandedly saved a number of beards and improved people’s skin and beard health.

It is chemical free and made using traditional soap making techniques. (By hand in my wife’s kitchen!) It has a total of 5 (natural) ingredients in the finished soap. Skin health is vastly improved with it and beards will be softer and much more comfortable (for everybody!). It is my flagship product and is amazing stuff! Follow this with some Beardsmith Beard Oil, which is designed to complement the soap and further maintain skin health, and you’ll never have a bad beard day again! All Beardsmith products can be found at www.beardsmith.ie 

In my local town, Tralee, we have a yearly festival called The Rose of Tralee Festival......sorry I should say The Rose of Tralee INTERNATIONAL Festival; they added the 'international' part in the last couple of years!

In very basic terms it's a beauty pageant, but one a bit more concerned about personality and talent, rather than simply looks. As Ireland is a relatively small country this is a pretty big national event. It lasts for a week and it receives full national television coverage. There are entries from all over the world (hence the use of 'international') who are known as 'The Rose of 'Insert Home Town Here', who are all vying to become the Rose of Tralee.

It's a great opportunity to have all this attention focused on our small town so I feel that I have to try to get some good out of it for me and Beardsmith. This is where my beginnings of connections are coming in useful. Sponsoring the festival, or a Rose, is a very prestigious, but expensive thing to do! The national (and international, don't forget!) exposure is quite awesome and would be amazing for a small business like mine.

But of course the chances of me being able to afford something like that are zero........so I've had to be clever!!

A local radio presenter Conor Halpin is a Rose Escort this year, and I have managed to convince him, through desperation I'm sure (!!) to let me sponsor him! Obviously the escorts aren't the main event and don't really get much exposure, but its a bit of a 'way in' to the festival for me and a connection to keep me there.

So i've been posting like mad and doing everything I can to get Beardsmith popping up all over the festival radar.

 Presenting Conor with his official Beardsmith t-shirt)

(Been getting lots of plugs and publicity on Spin South West. Here is Conor with a fellow escort and the Beautiful Limerick Rose.)

The presenter for the main show is a guy called Daithi O Se and he used to have a great beard, so i've been running a tongue in cheek campaign to get him to start using Beardsmith and grow his beard back - no success so far! It's like he's famous and difficult to reach or something (and probably sick of people trying to use him for free publicity.....although it wouldn't really be free as he'd be scoring a gift box of the entire, and amazing, Beardsmith range....hell i'll even throw in a t-shirt if it makes a difference!)

But by far the most fun thing i've been doing is a Beardsmith/Rose of Tralee Landmarks competition. For this i've been hiding Beardsmith products at landmarks linked too the history of the Festival. then posting photo's and hints and getting people to search for the products - like a treasure hunt. It's had a brilliant reception and has really gotten people interested and involved! So far i've done 3 locations and will be doing 1 more before the end of the festival......I just have to figure out an amazing location to suitably finish it off! The 3rd location also included an in store Beardsmith event at one of my main stockists so that was really good exposure and marketing. Here's some pics of the competition so far.....

So I just need to keep myself motivated and keep the ideas coming for the culmination of the festival. Just 2 more days left - so that means 2 more days of opportunity for Beardsmith!! perhaps I should crash the festival final (live on TV!) with a big Beardsmith banner screaming MAKING BEARDS BETTER!!!! Would definitely get me noticed anyway! (If anyone from RTE is reading this then don't worry, this is NOT something I am going to do......unless I get really desperate!

Well i'm not sure how interesting this blog post from me is! But what it is showing is how i'm going about learning my trade. As I've mentioned before this is my first time making something, my first time selling something, and my first time trying to market something. So whilst using social media and sponsoring escorts might be a good idea, it is all a bit of a shot in the dark from me. I'm learning this as I go along. But each time I try something I learn a bit more.....even if it is don't try that again! And you know, things have been steadily growing for Beardsmith, and I've got the basics right so far....the products work and are awesome! With that in mind I think I can get marketing wrong as much as I like. If I can get just learn each time and get the formula right eventually, and get the Beardsmith name out there nationally (and internationally don't forget!!) then the quality of the products will sell themselves! Because after all the whole point of Beardsmith is 'Making beards Better'!!

Thanks for reading. Please comment with any opinions or suggestions on my Rose of Tralee marketing campaign! And Daithi, if your reading, call me!!

I grew my first beard about 3 years ago when my 2nd son, Ben, was born. What started out as laziness, and not shaving for a couple of weeks, turned into a mission (obsession?) to try and see if I actually COULD grow a beard worth keeping!

I'd always kind of assumed I couldn't as my beard, cheeks in particular, had always been patchy, sparse and slow growing!

Once again my first thought was 'let's see what the all knowing and all seeing' google has to say on the matter!! After a bit of browsing and finding (of all things!) beard forums and clubs, I quickly realised that a lot of guys have doubts over there beard growing potential. And there is like a whole support network on the internet for guys who want to try growing a beard but don't really know how to go about doing it (or if they should).

(Oh, and Keanu Reeves, I mean really, his beard is patchtatsic! If he can go out in public with a beard like that; and still look good, then I can give it a try!)

So after a while of browsing I discovered JeffF's Beard Board, a forum which seemed interesting and supportive with lots of guys growing beards - small beards, HUGE beards and every kind of beard in between! This all led to me coming up with my beard growing guide! (Bullet pointed list time!)

Grow for 3 months - It takes a MINIMUM of 3 months to start growing a proper beard. Growing a beard is a marathon not a sprint.Carve a neck line - By carving a carefully positioned neck line (and keeping the upper cheeks clear of hair) the beard will appear more purposeful. No hobo's or tramps here!48 Hour Timeout - If any doubts set in and shaving is imminent, pause, wait 48 hours and see if you feel the same way.Look smart - Dress smartly and take care of your head hair. By maintaining your overall standards of dress and grooming the scruffy stages of growing a beard will not be as obvious.Keep image changes to a minimum - Don't change your hair style or buy a sports car - There's no mid life crisis here!!Avoid mirrors - Lets be honest, it's gonna look crap for a while - so avoid doubts by avoiding looking at it!!

So there we have my recipe for beard growing success! Now to test it out on myself.....

The first few weeks of growing were very tough! It looked rough and it looked scruffy. But I plowed on and managed to avoid any trimming mistakes. To be fair we were pretty busy with a new born and a toddler, I wouldn't have had time to shave if I had wanted too! I probably didn't stick too well to the dress smartly and keep hair tidy rule (new born remember!) but for special events and nights out etc I scrubbed up pretty well! Having my own product range also helped immeasurably here! By keeping the hair and skin healthy and soft I was already onto a winner!

3 months quickly turned to 3 years!! I've gradually moulded my beard into one that I feel best suits me. I've learnt how to trim and shape it myself (with plenty of mistakes and inadvertent hair loss!) and how best to style it into the shape I want. That all sounds like hard work - and I guess at times it is, but generally if it is trimmed and shaped well the rest just falls into place on a  daily basis. And one trim every month or so sure beats shaving every day!

I suppose the beard kind of fits 'me' now. I'm a father, a husband and responsible for a lot of things both at home and at work. The beard makes me look older (and I guess I am older now; I certainly feel it!) My reflection in the mirror fits who I am and how I feel about myself now - particular in the mornings when it looks ragged and a little crazy!!

So that's my beard growing story and plan for bearded success! If you want to find out more about growing and maintaining a beard then don't hesitate to contact me via any of the contact details or social media outlets linked on this website.

Growing a beard is NOT easy and is something that teaches patience and self awareness. That's why most bearded guys will give a slight nod and smile of recognition to each other, they know that they have each faced adversity and over come it!!!!. But never forget 'with great beard comes great responsibility'!!

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to subscribe at the bottom of the main blog page for more Beardsmith posts. All Beardsmith products are available at www.beardsmith.ie

So, where did Beardsmith come from? Why did a busy father of 2 and full time nurse decide it was a good idea to start up his first ever business? And do you care where Beardsmith came from??!! Of course you do!! That's why your going to read my long, rambling and self indulgent origins story!!

Beardsmith Begins!

August 2014

Well, it all began when my 2nd son, Ben, was born. I went a few weeks without shaving (sheer laziness!) and for the first time ever thought 'hmmm, maybe I CAN grow beard?' I'd always fancied I'd look good with a beard, even though I'd never thought I could grow one - I have patchy, sparse and slow beard growth. I googled how to grow a beard (because clearly nobody does anything without first googling it!) and was inspired by Keanu Reeves!!

It kind of went from there - I've now been bearded for almost 3 years!

This led to me looking for proper soaps and products to look after a dry and itchy beard. I quickly realised I couldn't buy anything locally, and ordering stuff online from the UK etc was expensive and not of particularly great quality. And anyway, who knows anything about beard soaps? What is a beard oil for???? And why, at the age of 35 am I finally becoming vain and worrying about brushing my beard and what kinds of products will keep it soft and luxurious??!! Clearly it was either go full on mid life crisis, or turn it into something of value and start a business!

So with a lack of options I start wondering can I make my own products??

October 2015

Experimenting begins in the shed.....in Ireland.....in winter.....lovely! It's cold and it's miserable - but on the positive side of things the cold and rain is probably all that stops the shed from burning down and/or exploding!

It was a slow process and there was a lot of hit and miss - I honestly don't know how my own beard survived all the human trials! The oil and balm/wax experimenting wasn't too dangerous - but the soap making was a pretty fraught process at times! I had soap volcanoes, alien brain (google it!) overflowing moulds and just plain failed batches (oh, and one batch I couldn't even cut with a saw!!). But slowly, slowly, I began to master my craft and develop soaps which were safe for use. Not only that I was beginning to develop the recipe's that I use now. The perfect beard soaps were within my grasp!

My friends, family and work colleagues had the cleanest and softest beards you have ever seen from all the free samples. I was becoming very popular - and heavens be praised; nobodies beard fell out! Or even turned green.......nope, definitely; there were definitely no green beards.......honest.........it was nothing to do with my products! I swear! (Note too self; grey hairs in a beard are cool and should NEVER be dyed....and definitely not dyed green!)

(I'm still pretty proud of this image....it was the first time I could sit back and see that my ideas were beginning to turn into something real!)

February 2016

So, step 2 in my bid for world beard domination - would anybody buy the stuff! And what would they think of the products if they did? First up, design!! I rallied together all my artistic friends and we set about designing a basic starting point for Beardsmith. This meant also figuring out how to wrap and package the products at home!

A quick glimpse at the process and how we developed the first ever Beardsmith logo! Based on the idea of a blacksmith and the strong masculine side of it.

Next, I borrowed a table and gazebo and I joined my local farmers market! Fresh bread, crepes, carvings, veggies and beard soap!! Oh, and wind and rain and more wind!

Things were steady here, but best of all the reviews were brilliant! If I got a customer, I kept a customer! The products just worked. I really learnt my trade here. Working out what people liked, what worked and how to sell products to people! It wasn't often very busy (and i've already mentioned the weather!) but slowly, slowly the idea began to appear to be a good one!

I spent a number of months doing this and slowly improving the brand, products and packaging. The word began to get out and I became the beard guy! I was featured on the radio and really started to make a bit of a name for myself.

It quickly became obvious that I needed to move to the next stage of the Beardsmith development.

August 2016

Online was where the action was! My basic online store was doing well and I was also raising brand awareness on various Facebook beard groups and other beard related blogs online. It was time to start looking seriously at making Beardsmith a proper business with professional image and brand, a slick website and online presence and I had also started having interest from people regarding stocking the products in shops! Happy days! But, of course, all this meant hard, hard work! Late nights making products, early mornings wrapping products and weekends spent meeting people and generally talking Beardsmith......as well as my full time nursing job. I realised that as good as the farmers market had been for me it was time to say goodbye; within a few quick months Beardsmith had actually outgrown the farmers market!

February 2017

A massive few months passed again. Beardsmith became a proper registered (and taxed! boooo!!) business my new branding landed, a new website was in the works, and I now had a number of Beardsmith stockists! My production techniques had had to improve and become more efficient - I am still to this day hand producing and packaging everything myself at home, but i've become cleverer and more efficient with my processes!

(The beginning of the new Beardsmith branding)

(Launching the new Beardsmith branding! Making Beards Better!)

(Setting up local stockists)

(It's a great sight seeing Beardsmith for sale in regular shops!)

July 2017

The long awaited www.beardsmith.ie is launched! I had built it myself and it is another of my extremely proud creations! From a basic online store Beardsmith now has a proper website; integrated to social media, beautiful, modern and with its own blog -  Beardsmith is continuing to grow! In fact Beardsmith is starting to embrace men's grooming more generally. Body soaps, shampoos and hair waxes are the first non beard specific items and are making Beardsmith more available and applicable to even more men!

Like i've mentioned it's been a whirlwind couple of years. I've never worked harder, but i've never felt so rewarded! To build something from nothing and see it grow! To make a product with my own 2 hands and see people enjoying it and finding it make difference to them is just an amazing feeling!

I really hope that I can continue to grow this amazing product range as a labour of love, and even more importantly I hope it can continue to be so popular!

So far 2017 has been a huge year for me and Beardsmith, and the signs are that its going to continue! theres plenty more to come. I'm continuing to improve the packaging and will hopefully soon be launching my brand new Beardsmith Boxes. The website will continue to grow, and, I have plenty more planned for this blog!

I truly look forwards to sharing this journey with you all. As i've mentioned previously i'm not a naturally gifted writer, but i'm trying to make this blog interesting and honest - so if you like what you see then why not subscribe to the Beardsmith mailing list, and share it with your friends too! Thanks for reading.

Right. Blogging. Ok, this could be.....interesting (and by 'interesting' I mean confusing and, well; uninteresting!) But it's time I stopped putting it off and became a blogger! A beard blogger!

I'll be honest, i'm a reader not a writer. Reading has been a passion since I was a child, but writing has never been something that has come easy to me. I know what I want to say, but it never seems to come out right. I'm a bit too analytical and scientific to be an imaginative and flowing writer......lists, I make good lists! Oh, and mind maps, i'm good at those too......neither of which will make for a great blog! (And clearly I use FAR too many exclamation marks too!!??......actually I once heard it said that using more than 1 exclamation mark was a sign of madness.....)

I've tried writing this first blog article about a hundred times in the last few weeks! I couldn't decide on a topic, I couldn't decide on a tone, and I couldn't decide what I wanted this blog to be! I've decided to stop trying to write an amazing and topical blog! I'm never going to win writing awards and i'm never going to be a famous blogger. Instead i'm just going to write, if it works great! But hopefully, this blog will shed a little more light on Beardsmith and the man behind it. So try to bare with me and you never know, eventually I might get the hang of this!

Who is the Beardsmith?

I suppose the 1st question is who am I? Who is the Beardsmith?? Well, my name is Matthew,  i'm 36 and i'm a husband to a fabulous Irish woman (she's a nurse), father to 2 lively and amazing boys (5 & 2) and i'm a full time operating theatre nurse (not fabulous or amazing, but definitely lively!) What else can I say? Oh, time for a list!!

I'm currently reading The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher.My favourite takeaway is a Doner Kebab, in front of the telly with my wife!My favourite movie is Unforgiven.I'm a (long suffering!) Spurs supporter.I can't sit still.I hate gardening!I love going on 'adventures' with my 2 boys.I love running.My favourite singer is Bryan Adams (since I was small)I'm rubbish at sports!I have a beard because I think it makes me look distinguished.....it doesn't, it makes me look old!..............I feel old!

So that's me.....kind of.....i'd like to think that gradually you will come to know a little more about me as this whole blog thing progresses.

The Beardsmith Blog.

2nd question is 'what on earth am I going to blog about?' Well, beards (obviously!) and the products I make. Hopefully some interesting articles about how I make them, how to use them, and any developments generally in the Beardsmith world.

But i'll be the first to admit that that will quickly grow tedious, so i'd like to also talk about other things, events in my life, things I like, adventures I go on with my family. Perhaps discuss the odd book I read, or interesting development in the world at large. Being an Irish beard care company a lot of what I will write about will be connected to Kerry, where I live and the amazing scenery and landscape around me. The Wild Atlantic Way is rugged, wild and beautiful! And the people here are pretty unique and special so i'll try to talk about local interesting things as well. Local business's, local artists and what generally makes this area so amazing.

So that's it. This is my introduction. Here I am. My intention is to post something every week or 2. But i've got a few things I want to write about first. So, like with most new things, there could well be a flurry of interest, activity and posts in the first few weeks then things will slow down! So keep your eye's open for blog posts on (here comes another list!):

The Beardsmith Story - How it came to be and how it has developed.The first in a series of product profiles - How a product is made, what its for, how best to use it.My experiences starting a small business with no experience!

Well, thanks for reading (if anybody did!).

The Beardsmith.