Hello.

My name is Benjamin. I make Beard Oil. I am an artist, designer, and a musician. Now I can add to that list: amateur perfumer and entrepreneur.

I've had a beard for as long as I've been able to grow one. One time, I shaved it completely.

Lessons were learned.

[ BACKSTORY - PART 1 ]

I began making beard oil back in 2016 as a means to an end. I was fed up with the off the shelf grocery store beard oils. Turns out, many of us bearded guys are NOT lumberjacks. Personally, I don't want to smell like a sawmill or a hamster cage. So, I decided to create something that smelled a little better.

I began experimenting with essential oils and succeeded in creating some blends that were well liked. I even had a handful of regular customers. I dubbed it ‘Ben Wes Beard Oil’.

The truth is, even though I may have created some good blends, I also made several critical errors. Back then, I was creating these blends without any notion of what I was really doing. I had no compass to gauge my work. It was all guesswork. I was like a toddler with a box of crayons, having a good ol' time- regardless of the outcome. I had no rigor. No standards. I was taking off-the-shelf essential oils and following my intuition and my nose. Reproducing a formula was an approximation, at best. The result was a bunch of hippie-swill that smelled pretty damn good but lacked any real refinement.

Those mistakes were honest - made out of ignorance.

You don't know what you don't know.

I learned the truly critical error I made was storing all of my formulas for my blends, and all of my notes, on my mobile device.

After about 8 months of development, the inevitable happened... I dropped that phone for the last time. It was brrrrrro-ken... not-fixable kiss-it-goodbye fubar bro-ken broken.

And, in that exact same instant - my first foray into making and selling beard oil came to its abrupt end. All of my formulas were gone. All of my notes were gone. All my hard work was lost. I would have to start completely over, from scratch.

I was so mad - so angry at myself - I boxed it all up and walked away. Ben Wes Beard Oil was finished.

[ BACKSTORY - PART 2 ]

I was visiting my father in the hospital. He had been there for several weeks, recovering from a truly catastrophic health crisis. In his condition he was unable to shave, and his life-long clean-shaven chin and cheeks had turned into an overgrown garden of scruff and brambles. Despite his miserable condition, it looked good on him.

At one point during our talk, he asked me if I still made beard oil.

I told him no; I hadn't made any in years. I recounted the story of Ben Wes Beard Oil, and my previously lost effort.

He asked me if I would make some just for him, and of course, I said YES, absolutely I would. I’d bring it with me the next day.

As it turned out, Universe had other plans. His request for beard oil would be one small part of the last conversation we would ever have.

He passed the next morning.

Now this may seem strange to you, but my elderly father's request to bring him some beard oil was more than it seemed. During that final conversation, while it was never said out loud- we both understood that he was facing his final hours. His every word had gravity.

His request for beard oil was a means to an end. It was his way of reminding me… I should trust myself and pursue my endeavors to the end. It was his way of reminding me that there is a path in life that we can create ourselves, and travel at any time. It is a path defined by our courage, our decisions, and our creativity. It is the path he traveled - bravely and unapologetically - for most of his life.

Despite his passing, I decided I would make a beard oil for my father, in his honor, and I would deliver it to his final resting place. I got the idea in my mind that I would personalize this blend, just for him, by harmonizing the scent with his favorite cologne, LEGEND by MontBlanc. It was a scent that suited him perfectly. BUT, in order to create a beard oil that worked with his cologne, I first had to figure out why MontBlanc smells like MontBlanc.

So, I made up my mind: That's where I would begin.

That is where Crows & Bellows began.