First, some background. How does soap work? (We'll get into the difference between soap and detergents later on) Simply put, soap separates dirt and oil from water, allowing you to rinse away all the bad stuff. Most mass produced products accomplish this with synthetic chemical surfactants. On the bottle, look for ingredients that end in "-ide" or "-eth." Good news - they work great. Bad news - we don't know a lot about long term exposure to your body or the environment. In general, it is my belief that chemical exposure is not great for your health. Also, Big Soap has worked a deal with Uncle Sam where they don't have to disclose to consumers what's really in the bottles, or how long term exposure will affect your health. Still feeling good about those bubbles?
So, what to do? Damn Yankee's Eraser Beard Wash is Castile Soap. It's as close to natural as you can get in a wash. What's Castile soap? Three things - water, fat, and lye. In our case, olive oil, potassium hydroxide (i.e. liquid soap), sodium alginate (natural thickener) and a touch of coconut oil (to make a few suds). That's it. No -ide or -eth. Since it doesn't contain the synthetic chemicals and questionably sourced oils, it doesn't later a lot, which is pretty unsatisfying in the shower admittedly. But, it's still soap. It's still separating the dirt and crud from your beard so you can rinse it down the drain (which is also safe for the environment). In other words, you don't need tons of lather to clean your beard. It's nice to have, but at what cost? Personally, I'd rather use a natural product than one with unknown effects on your long-term health.
So, that's our stance as a company. Our Eraser Beard Wash doesn't lather up the way we all want, but it definitely works to clean all the crap out of your beard. We choose health, safety, and environment over synthetic chemicals shoved down our throats by Big Soap. If you agree, then give our Eraser Beard Wash a try.
Next time, we'll talk about the difference between soap and detergent. Also, we'll get into the unclean history of century-old efforts by Big Soap to make you feel like America has a hygiene problem. Spoiler Alert: We don't. You're probably showering too much.
]]>
As 2021 comes to a close, mostly what I want to say is Thank You. This was the year I took Damn Yankee full time, and that wouldn’t have been possible without your support. I’ve long said that Damn Yankee would only stay around as long as the bearded community enjoyed the products and kept coming back. You’ve kept the doors open for almost 4 years, and I’m super proud to be a part of this community.
You probably know I’m constantly putting Yankee products to the test in the real world, and 2021 was no exception. From glacier hiking in Alaska, to the Rocky Mountains, to the blistering sun of the beaches in Florida…Damn Yankee products kept my beard in shape through some really adverse conditions. I hope they’ve done the same for you.
We released 14 new scents in 2021 and, as always, whether or not they made the final cut was up to you. This year, the only permanent addition to the Yankee family was Pipe Dream, which is tobacco, sweet orange, and vanilla. I do feel good about some of the other scents, too. Pura Vida was a stand out to me with pineapple, coconut, ginger, and cilantro. Lovers Rock was, by far, our most complex scent ever with 9 individual elements. Good scent, but making it was a pain in the ass. Fall 2021 brought the best selling collection we’ve ever released - Back To School. Thanks to you guys for supporting those.
So, what’s up for 2022? I can’t tell you too much, but I can tell you we’re ramping up our bath/shower offerings with a new venture called Damn Yankee Botanicals. We’ll be releasing a brand-new line of 4 all-natural, gender neutral shower products. Natural soap, 100% essential oil scents…nothing artificial. Gender neutral so the ladies can use Yankee products as well as the gents. And of course we’ll have lots of new beard scents as well, including a new tobacco scent, which I said I’d never do again unless it was really something special. This one is spectacular. There will also be a bourbon scent in the spring, but it won’t be heavy like you might expect.
So, thank you to all our Damn Yankee customers, reviewers, and supporters. Your support has taken this little venture from an idea at the kitchen table four years ago, to a thriving, small batch company. We’re humbled and appreciate each and every one of you. Happy New Year to everyone, and we look forward to a 2022 full of new adventures and experiences. Let’s see where we can go together!
Peter and Amanda Spence
Damn Yankee Beard Company
]]>The worst year I can remember is almost behind us - A global pandemic, shattered lives, a battered economy. It’s hard to look back on this year and find anything to be positive about. Still, these dark days make positivity more of a necessity than ever, if for no other reason than to have a shaft of light at the end of a really crappy tunnel.
For Damn Yankee, it was a year of unexpected challenges. Admittedly, I did not foresee the scope of job losses in 2020. With so many people struggling financially, beard care took a back seat to bigger priorities. Yet, the bottom didn’t completely drop out as I expected. The biggest challenge this year was packaging. Americans complain about China, but we found out this year that, without cheap imported Chinese goods, business life gets complicated. The supply of plastic containers dried up pretty quickly in the spring, and the remaining supply was snapped up by larger companies with much deeper pockets than Damn Yankee. That’s why you saw a lot of smaller companies changing their look this year. That was one reason I decided earlier this year to transition away from plastic, but, more on that later.
We started 2020 with a new collection called Structure. Structure had been in the works since late 2019, so when the pandemic came around, I struggled with whether to release it or not. Structure was my first attempt to really get away from what had traditionally been the look for Damn Yankee. Cobalt bottles, white metal caps, modern artwork, bottles in boxes, and essential oil scents. I still like the idea of Structure, but it just came at a bad time. I think the uncertainty COVID created coupled with some essential oils that guys were unfamiliar with killed Structure. This collection also marked the first time a reviewer/tester noted that a scent of mine smelled of urine. That wasn’t what I was going for. Also, Structure convinced me that, by and large, lavender is the kiss of death for a beard product. I like it personally, but guys hate it with a passion. Noted.
There were three months between the release of Structure and our Summer scents, so I spent most of the spring just keeping my head down, seeing what was going to happen in a COVID business world. To be perfectly honest, I was feeling a little burned out creatively going into summer, so I wanted the summer scents to be easy. I don’t think most people realize how much creative energy and thought goes into a beard scent. After a couple years, it gets really difficult to a.) do something you haven’t done before and b.) do something nobody else is doing. So, if you see a Damn Yankee product with a weird scent profile, and you’re wondering if I’ve lost my mind, that’s why – I’m trying to bring you something nobody else is doing.
Growing up in the 80’s, I always loved the smell of Hawaiian Tropic suntan oil. The memories of summer in high school, baking away in the sun unconcerned about skin cancer, those were the days. The smell always stuck with me over the years, and early on in 2020, I found a fragrance oil that smelled exactly of the coconut in Hawaiian Tropic. I already had a pineapple scent from the previous summer (anyone remember Rupert?), so Bronze Age was kind of a no-brainer. I love plays on words, so the name also made me laugh. Beach House came about after a few summer trips to Florida. At the end of a beach day, you’re hot, you’re sweaty, you’re covered with sand, and you just kinda want to wash all that shit off. That shower you take after being at the beach all day is Beach House. I wanted something that smelled clean and “beachy” at the same time. I found all that in a single fragrance oil. I never feel good about single fragrance oil scents, but like I said, I was pretty burned out creatively and just wanted something that was easy to do. I still like the smell of it, but it’s not something I’ll likely do again.
Our second anniversary as a company fell in June, and I wanted to do something special. The idea came to me to combine all our launch scents into one. I actually tried it with horrific results. Coffee and leather are not good together. I settled on taking elements from each original scent, and concocting something from that. And, Fustercluck was born. At some point in my Facebook feed, I saw a video about hydrodipping and I was mesmerized. The idea of it is pretty mad. So, you fill a large container with water, spray paint on top of the water, and slowly submerge items in the water. I’m still not entirely sure why this works, but the paint adheres to the dipped item perfectly. I got the idea to hydrodip beard oil bottles, and after a bit of trial and error, I got the process down. I’m still pretty proud of how they turned out. And to this day, I don’t think any other company has done it. There’s a fair chance I’ll do it again in June 2021 for our third anniversary.
Fall and Holiday scents are my favorites. We had some really good ones in 2019, so I struggled not to repeat anything. One of our 2019 scents was Bountiful, which was pipe tobacco and pumpkin spice. It is, to this day, one of the best scents we’veever done. I was going to re-release it, but that seemed like kind of a cop out. I also discovered some time in the summer that pumpkin spice and oud smell great together, so that’s how Homecoming was born. Glazed Over is one of the craziest ideas we’ve had. I was thinking about Thanksgiving, and the idea came to me to do a glaze like you might have on a ham. Originally, it was brown sugar, clove, pineapple and cherry. There was too much going on, so I simplified it to pineapple and clove. It’s an unusual combination, but I still think it smells really good and I still wear it myself from time to time. PSL was a last minute addition. I had been working on an apple/pipe tobacco scent, but I couldn’t get it to work, and I ran out of time before the Fall release date. I was wondering how guys would react to a Pumpkin Spice Latte scent, and now I know – not well. It’s a shame because, if you forget about the hype and stigma, it’s a really nice coffee scent.
I try not to release scents more than once, but I had a customer order Northern Spruce a few months ago and I had the chance to revisit it. I’d forgotten how good spruce essential oil is. It remains, to this day, the only single essential oil scent we’veever done. I felt weird about releasing it again, so I updated the labels to make myself feel a little better about it. I think they look pretty good. Last but not least, Hippie Holiday. What can I say? Hippie Holiday is my favorite scent Damn Yankee has ever done. It started as an accident. It began as peppermint and patchouli. I like patchouli, but it definitely has a dirty smell that some people would call “earthy.” I remembered that I had a cannabis fragrance oil from earlier in the year that I’d been wanting to use in a scent, so I swapped out the patchouli with cannabis, and the result was sublime. It went from a dirty scent like you’re smoking a blunt in the garage, to a fresh, herbaceous smell that I really, really love. I love it so much that Hippie Holiday will live on after the holidays as a scent called Hippie Hollow. More on that later.
So, 2021. The end of this year was a preview of what to expect in 2021. Damn Yankee is expanding our line into some other areas. Natural soaps and body washes. Hand-made candles. We’re branching out to offer you some new things. We’re also completely changing our packaging in January to offer a more environmentally friendly Damn Yankee. I’ll announce more on that in the coming weeks. But what you can expect from Damn Yankee is the unexpected.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for being a customer and a supporter. We only exist because of your support, so as long asyou want us to be around, we’ll keep bringing you new and innovative products to make your beard (and the rest of you) smell and feel better. Happy 2021 to you and your family. I don’t know where Yankee is headed in this new year, but we’ll find out together.
Cheers
Peter and Amanda Spence
Damn Yankee Beard Company
]]>
If you've ordered beard butter from us (if not, you should...it's superb), you've gotten it in an attractive amber plastic tub. We buy those from a supplier who, let's just say, has a certain reputation among beard companies for being out of stock and other supply chain shortcomings. Ol' Damn Yankee here was filling orders for our new Summer Collection (which is also superb), when I noticed I had plenty of tubs, but no more lids. This notorious supplier had shorted me a number of lids, which hampered my order filling aspirations.
I contacted the supplier and impressed upon them the importance of rectifying their screw-up so that I could ship out orders to you lovely customers. The supplier rep created a ticket and told me someone would contact me in 24-48 hours. This person literally put in the minimum amount of effort possible and kicked my can down the road for someone else to handle. Esta no bueno. But what are you gonna do? I am but a cog in the giant corporate wheel that is American business.
By contrast, that same day I also took delivery on some new DYBC business cards from a huge company you've probably heard of (rhymes with Vistaprint). Solid black business cards with our logo on the front and URL on the back. But wait, there is an uneven white border on the back. No good. Shouldn't be there. I contacted the supplier and impressed upon them the importance of rectifying their screw-up. Within minutes, they had created a new order and sent an order confirmation. Further, the replacement order was printed and shipped before the other supplier had even responded at all.
My point? The measure of a company's customer service is not how they handle themselves - it's how they handle themselves when the wheels come off. My accumulated experiences over the years inform my decisions on customer service for Damn Yankee Beard. I hope every purchase from DYBC happens without any issues. I hope you enjoy every product. I hope all your questions are quickly answered. It is my job to make sure those things happen. If for some reason there's a problem, I'll do whatever is necessary to make it right. That's why you should support small business. You won't be contacting an hourly employee who's dead inside waiting for 5pm. You'll be contacting someone who has poured their passion and energy into your experience (me). Every product you purchase has been produced, packaged, and shipped by the person who conceived of that product and brought it to life (also me). And if anything ever goes wrong, the issue will be handled promptly by our Customer Service Team (which is also me).
Have a great summer. Check out our brand-new Summer Collection. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out any time. support@damnyankeebeard.com
]]>
Here’s the thing – I understand the value of staying in touch with your customers. I understand how, in a crowded marketplace, businesses need to do everything they can to keep customers engaged. While I appreciate how email marketing can help a business, I refuse to bombard my customers with useless emails and stupid bullshit. I would probably be more profitable if I did, but this is something I feel strongly about not only as a consumer, but as a business. My feeling is that, when I order something online, that is not giving permission to be on some email marketing list – that was just me buying your product. I feel like email marketing should always be an opt in situation rather than opt out.
At the bottom of the Damn Yankee Beard website, there is a space to sign up for emails from me. If you want to get my emails (so far, there’s only been one), great. I’m happy to have you on board. If you don’t want emails from me, I totally respect that. But what I’m not going to do is assume that, since you bought a bottle of my beard oil, you want to receive constant emails from me. If you did, you would have signed up for them. As a business owner, I would much rather have a small, loyal group of customers who opted into my emails than a large group of people who would rather just delete my emails than go to the trouble of unsubscribing.
So, back to my sample pack order this morning from Company X. As I was filling in my shipping information, I noticed that it was required for me to enter a phone number. Hopefully, this is to assist in contacting me if there’s a problem with my order, and not to text me “special deals.” This goes back to my feelings on data use and privacy. When you order from Damn Yankee, I’ll only ask the absolute minimum amount of information to get your order shipped. Order confirmations can either come via email or text message, but I’ll never ask anything else. Would my business benefit from knowing more information about my customers? Absolutely. But, it is important to me that you feel comfortable making a transaction with Damn Yankee online, and that you trust I’m not selling your personal data to the highest bidder. I take your personal data and privacy seriously. Always will.
Buying things online in general is an exercise in trust. You never quite know who you’re dealing with, or what they’re doing with your information. But I promise you this – Damn Yankee Beard Company will never do anything with your personal information other than ship your orders. I will never sign you up for any marketing programs without first getting your approval. My business would probably be more profitable if I did, but I refuse to do that. This is what Damn Yankee’s No Bullshit policy is all about - your private information stays private. As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out anytime.
]]>First and foremost, fragrance is a subjective, personal thing. What smells amazing to me might induce projectile vomiting for you. Case in point – patchouli. I like it in moderation. My wife, however, can’t stand the smell of it. Her chief complaint is that patchouli smells like something you spray to cover up the fact that you were just out in the garage firing one up. Fair enough. It does remind me a bit of my college dorm, but that’s another story. Also, the amount of fragrance is a personal choice. For the good of my colleagues, I try not to go to the office smelling like I’ve just stepped away from a roaring house fire. So, while I prefer a lighter scent, some guys like to be face punched by their beard oil. I get it – everybody’s different.
The scent in a beard care product comes either from essential oils or fragrance oils. The difference may or may not be important to you, but it is good at least to know the difference. Essential oils are the result of extracting the oil from a natural material. This is usually done through steam distillation. Basically, this is steaming a bunch of plant material until the essential oil and hydrosol separate from the plant and can be collected. Here’s the thing – it takes a shitload of plant material to extract a relatively small amount of essential oil. That’s why legitimate essential oils are super expensive. That fact also created a huge market online for fake or adulterated essential oils. How can you tell if an essential oil is fake? Well, without paying for gas chromatography, you can’t, but there are some telltale clues. Look at the price. If you find a 10ml bottle of “essential oil” on Amazon for $6.00, you can rest assured all is not as it appears. Though there may be a small amount of actual essential oil in the bottle, it most likely has been adulterated with other substances, which allows the manufacturer to produce a more cost-effective product. That’s great for your wallet, but you’re not getting the real deal. Most legitimate essential oils cost at least $20-30 per 10ml bottle, depending on the source and the manufacturer. Again, this may or may not be important to you, but I do think it’s important for you to have as much information as possible about what you’re putting on your skin.
The other type of scent is a fragrance oil. Rather than coming from a natural source, fragrance oils are man-made compounds, usually created for household products. A lot of people hear the word “synthetic” and freak out. After all, who wants a bunch of chemicals on their skin, right? Relax. First, you probably encounter synthetic fragrances every day of your life, but never pay much attention. Ask yourself this question: Did I use any of the following products today? Soap, shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent, fabric softener, deodorant, cologne, perfume…the list goes on. What do they all have in common? Synthetic fragrances. Like them or not, it’s difficult to live modern life without regular exposure to synthetic fragrances. On the plus side, there is an entire industry devoted to creating these fragrances and making sure they are safe to use. Most manufacturers of synthetic fragrances have Material Safety Data Sheets available for their products, which detail the components of a product.
So, here’s the bottom line – there’s good and bad to both fragrance types. Essentials oils are all natural, but they are expensive, and many are adulterated with synthetic compounds to make them more cost-effective. Essential oils also tend to hold their bottom note longer, so you’ll still smell many essential oils hours after you put them on. But, there are only so many essential oils you can use to create beard care products. That’s why you tend to see companies putting out similar scents to their products. On the other hand, synthetic fragrance oils offer me, as a manufacturer, a lot more options to create products for the marketplace. For example, my signature tobacco leather scent (Pawpaw’s Chair) would not be possible with essential oils.
Using both essential and fragrance oils gives me the ability to offer you a lot more options for your beard. Rest assured, though, that whichever you choose, every effort has been made to be clear about the ingredients. Each product on the Damn Yankee website clearly states whether that product is made using essential oils, fragrance oils, or both. And if you ever have questions, I am always available to help. That’s what 100% Bullshit Free is all about.
]]>