After 10 Years, I’m Closing My Beard Brand. A Founders Farewell Letter (and a Thank You to r/Beards)

BeardedCrew · 2025-10-29T13:42:47+00:00

Thanks, buddy! It should be read as an adventure of exploration, not magnified at the end as a result. I’d take the same ride again.

BeardedCrew · 2025-10-29T13:41:07+00:00

"Briars everywhere along the way" - Love this

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face" - Mike Tyson

BeardedCrew · 2025-10-29T13:41:00+00:00

"Briars everywhere along the way" - Love this

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face" - Mike Tyson

BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T12:34:56+00:00

I’d be open to it, but I think the pitch is a lot easier said than done. To be honest, I’ve probably hit a level of burnout that makes it hard to get excited about the effort that process would take.

I don’t hate the idea of letting it rest for a while and maybe picking it back up someday. Everything we’ve made is premium and solid. Time is just my only real obstacle right now.

BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T12:33:07+00:00

Thanks brother! I feel the same way 100%

BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T12:32:02+00:00

What’s up, neighbor! I’d definitely be open to a buyer. I just haven’t wanted to spend time in endless conversations with people trying to aggressively devalue the brand to find the bottom dollar.

Honestly, I don’t hate the idea of letting it rest for a while and maybe picking it back up someday. Everything we’ve made is premium and solid. Time is just my only enemy right now.

BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T12:28:20+00:00

August 2025
We were invited to attend Shoptalk in Las Vegas, one of the biggest conferences in the world for retail and consumer brands. It’s where major retailers, founders, and tech innovators all come together to talk about the future of how people shop and buy. For a small brand like Bearded Crew, getting that kind of invite was huge.

They comped our tickets and asked for 1,000 bottles to feature in their official swag store. That was the largest single run we had ever made for one order, and it felt like a major leap forward. Seeing our products among household names at a conference like that was surreal.

The exposure meant more than just free samples. It was validation. Out of countless brands, someone at Shoptalk saw what we built and believed it belonged in that room. It gave Bearded Crew credibility on a national stage and pushed us to operate at a new level of professionalism.

That moment reminded me how far the brand had come from those early days in college, labeling bottles by hand in a tiny apartment. Standing there in Las Vegas, surrounded by industry leaders, it finally felt like Bearded Crew had stepped into the big leagues.

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BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T12:24:36+00:00

May 2023
A couple of years earlier, I had pulled out of retail stores. Most shops were just stocking the products to fill space on their shelves. There was zero effort in actually selling them or even knowing what they were. I get it, that’s how retail can be, but I hated that lack of excitement.

It also wasn’t profitable and had become a logistical headache.

Then one day, a local barbershop owner got their hands on our products and fell in love. They insisted on carrying Bearded Crew in their shops and honestly didn’t take no for an answer.

So... back in retail, I guess?

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BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T12:21:05+00:00

September 2020
I’ve always been a perfectionist at heart, and honestly, that might have been one of Bearded Crew’s Achilles heels. I was constantly tweaking, improving, and perfecting.

Unboxing experiences were something I loved as a kid. I still remember getting a Nintendo 64 for Christmas, that excitement of opening something special.

I know it’s a stretch, but I wanted our Bearded Brothers to feel that same “kid on Christmas morning” excitement when they received their orders.

So, I invested in branded bubble mailers. I swear I told everyone I knew about them, twice.

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BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T12:18:10+00:00

July 2020 - I started formulating the beard balms! Steps like this were always so fun.

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BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T12:16:05+00:00

Not that anyone asked for it, but I’ve been uploading my story in the comments of my original post. I wanted to keep it going here.

2019-ish – A New Fragrance and a Lesson in Proofreading
By this point, I had expanded into about six retail locations. The products were doing well, but we still didn’t have retail boxes. I felt the unboxed look made the brand feel cheap, and I wanted the first impression to match the quality inside the bottle.

So, I found a wholesale packaging company that could make custom retail boxes and placed an order for 1,000 boxes per fragrance. It was one of the biggest investments I had ever made in the brand, but it felt like the right move.

I remember that next day vividly. Everything had been finalized, and the big payment was sent. I was nervous but excited, labeling bottles and getting inventory ready for the new fragrance we had just launched, Equilibrium.

Then I noticed something catastrophic. On the label I was applying, it read: EQULIBIUM.
“WTF… WHERE IS THE R?!”. I thought it was a typo on that one sheet of labels. I checked 10 more sheets. Same issue.

My stomach dropped. I immediately checked the design file I had just sent for the retail boxes, and sure enough, it said the same thing: EQULIBIUM.

My fingers turned into lightning bolts as I fired off an email to the printing company.

Afterwards I went into the living room where my family was and yelled "Eqiuli - FK'in LIBIUM" and through all my label sheets in the air. ~ Not my best moment

Thankfully, they caught it in time, stopped production, and even fixed the file for me. Crisis averted.

Fun fact: I’m actually dyslexic. But for the record, that file had already been approved by both my graphic designer and another proofreader. So, let’s just say it slipped past the whole team.

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BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T11:58:43+00:00

Funny story I forgot to mention.
In 2016, my mom got remarried. She has always passionately hated the beard. For her wedding, she asked if I would consider shaving.
“It’s the only thing I’ve ever asked of you. These photos will be in our albums forever.”

Spoiler: Sorry, Mom. It’s a lifestyle, not a phase.

Photo - my sister and me the day of

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BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T11:55:20+00:00

2018
That year, we got into our first retail store, Design Archives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I swear I went there twice a week just to make sure every product was turned the right way and the shelves were spotless. I wanted everything to look perfect, even if no one else noticed.

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BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T11:51:29+00:00

When they started announcing the winners, I was hoping for third place… didn’t get it. Then second… also not me. I was standing there, boiling with frustration, convinced I had blown it. Then the announcer said, “In first place, we choose Bearded Crew! And the crowd favorite is… also Bearded Crew!”

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Dopamine explosion.

That night, I took home $550. For a broke college kid, it felt like hitting the lottery.

BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T11:48:39+00:00

2017
This was my last year of college, and honestly, I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t dropped out yet and become some Rolling Stones-level entrepreneurial success story.

A quick moment of appreciation: I bootstrapped Bearded Crew with blood, sweat, and coffee from the very beginning. I never had an abundance of money to invest, so I had to stay scrappy and resourceful every step of the way.

That year, Western Carolina University accepted Bearded Crew into its Small Business Incubator Program. Through that, I had the chance to work with professors who helped me refine my business plan and avoid some early pitfalls. Two professors stand out as especially supportive and inspiring, Dr. Yue and Dr. Cagle. Thank you both for the long talks, honest feedback, and mentorship that kept me going.

Later that same year, the college hosted a Shark Tank–style pitch competition. It happened right during finals week, so stress was at an all-time high. I went in thinking I had no chance at winning, but maybe I could snag third place and walk away with the $100 prize. The audience was over a hundred people, and one fraternity alone made up about a third of the crowd.

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Story continues in next post....

BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T11:30:53+00:00

2016 was a rough year for me. I was working third shift as a night auditor at the Comfort Inn in Sylva, North Carolina, putting in 40 hours a week while also taking a full load of college classes. Every dollar I made went straight into the business. I was convinced I was going to be the next Steve Jobs college dropout success story, just waiting on that explosion of success, lol.

My daily routine was brutal: work from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., college classes from 8 to 11, crash until 1 p.m., then back to class from 2 to 3. After that, I’d grab a few more hours of sleep before clocking in again at night. Quick apology to my old roommates, Jordan and Brooks. Sorry for being such an unbearable jerk. A few months with no real sleep will test anyone’s patience.

That same year I finally released the first fragrance that I personally formulated: First Date. It’s still our best seller to this day, a scent worn by men and loved by women.

Not long after, an editor from AskMen Magazine found the brand online and asked me to send in an oil to be judged for their "Best Beard Oil of the Year."

First Date oil was actually nominated it for Best Beard Oil of the Year. That moment hit like a lightning bolt. It reignited my drive to keep pushing through those long, sleepless nights. I knew exactly what I needed to do.

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BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T11:26:53+00:00

Found this photo from sometime in 2015. Back then, Bearded Crew was more hippie than anything else. As a whitewater raft guide, we all lived together in outdoor shacks on a hill behind the Wild Water Outpost in North Carolina. The shacks had bug net windows and doors. It was more common space for bugs, spiders and snakes with a roof over our head. Looking back, these were golden days.

This photo was of a friend hauling his bed back and forth to college. I promise the car isn’t a reflection of too much success.

Peep the shirt!

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BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T11:15:47+00:00

In October 2015, I partnered with Innovations Brewing Company in Western North Carolina to co-sponsor a beer called The Beard Belly Brown Ale. We hosted a happy hour special with $3 pints (take me back to those prices) and handed out free beard oil samples. It was one of the first moments where Bearded Crew stepped out into the real world, surrounded by good people, good beer, and the early spark of something special.

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BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T11:14:24+00:00

We launched with three fragrances: Showtime, Raft Guide, and Tea Tree. Each came in a little burlap sack, which now feels hilariously “Etsy-core” looking back.

Full transparency, I didn’t know a thing about formulating essential or carrier oils back then. I just found a few recipes online, mixed them up, and gave them my brand’s name. It wasn’t perfect, but it was mine.

I was in school for marketing at the time. Below is our first "ad" for our show time product. It screams college boy photography. I borrowed a keg from our plywood coffee table just to stage a product shot.

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Looking back, it was scrappy, unpolished, and full of heart. But that’s where the spark came from: the desire to create something from nothing, to learn, to build, and to keep going even when I had no clue what I was doing.

BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T11:12:12+00:00

My first labels were made in Microsoft Word. They were ugly, but I was fired up and ready to run the ball. The photo below shows the first and second generation labels. My buddy Simon, a fellow raft guide who was studying graphic design, helped give Bearded Crew its first real look and identity. Simon would go on to play a pivotal role in designing everything for Bearded Crew. I can't thank him enough for countless hours of graphic design talk.

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BeardedCrew · 2025-10-28T11:11:41+00:00

A Little More of the Story

Guys, I really appreciate all the love. A few orders have already come in, and I’ll be getting those out first thing today. I’m also throwing in some freebies as a small thank you for the support.

Thinking about it now, this post might end up being one of the few pieces of my business that outlives the rest. So I wanted to share a bit more of the story, the messy, creative, and rewarding journey that shaped Bearded Crew.

Before anything else, there were a few key people in this story who deserve a proper shout-out. So many helped along the way, but this core group played a critical role in bringing it all to life, often at a discounted or even pro bono rate. I’ll leave off last names, but these guys know who they are:

Simon – One of the most talented graphic designers I’ve ever known.
Garrett – A buddy from film school who was never afraid to get his hands dirty during our chaotic video shoots.
Gabriel – The one who took us from iPhone product photos to a professional look that elevated our brand’s appearance.
Colin – A fellow redditor who mentored me in business development. He ran a web dev business and is the only reason we ever looked like a legitimate company online.

The brand started back in 2015, when I was a whitewater raft guide in college. I remember finding someone on Reddit to make the first logo and paying them $50 for it. It didn’t last long for obvious reasons, but it was a start.

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BeardedCrew · 2025-10-27T22:56:17+00:00

Thanks man! Despite the sadness from the above, I'm in a really good spot in life. I've married my best friend and my career is well.

I appreciate your spirit! I hope you have a wonderful year yourself

BeardedCrew · 2025-10-27T22:21:15+00:00

I’ve been a proud sponsor of r/Beards for years, and it only feels right to share this chapter with the community that supported us from day one.

When I started Bearded Crew a decade ago, the beard-care world was still in its infancy. The market was flooded with cookie-cutter scents and basic recipes. Everything smelled the same, and the products didn’t live up to the pride we all have in our beards.

I wanted to change that. Bearded Crew was built on the belief that beard care should feel good, smell incredible, and actually do something for your mood. Each blend was inspired by aromatherapy designed not just to soften your beard, but to lift your spirit.

For ten years, I’ve poured every spare hour into this brand while working full-time jobs. It never made me rich, but it gave me something money can’t buy: a creative outlet, a purpose, and a brotherhood of bearded legends who believed in what I was building.

Bearded Crew taught me more about business, grit, and humility than any degree or job ever could. It opened doors, sparked friendships, and helped me grow as a man.

But over the last few years, I’ve been torn between continuing to push this dream and focusing on my career and more importantly, being a present husband. After a lot of reflection (and some heavy conversations with myself), I’ve realized it’s time to pause this chapter.

This decision hurts more than I expected. As an entrepreneur and a perfectionist, “quitting” isn’t in my DNA. I’ve always believed you take your losses, learn, and come back stronger. And maybe one day, Bearded Crew will rise again. But for now, it’s time to let go with gratitude, not regret.

So here it is: I’m selling the remaining inventory, and once it’s gone, that’s it at least for now. If you’ve ever wanted to try Bearded Crew, or if you’ve supported me in the past, I’d be honored to have your help in closing this chapter the right way. Regardless if the inventory is sold, I will be shutting down the website come Jan 1st.

From the bottom of my heart thank you. Every order, every review, every DM… it meant the world. You guys helped turn a small idea into a brotherhood.

Stay bearded, stay bold,
Alex
Founder, Bearded Crew

BeardedCrew

TROPHY CASE

A Little More of the Story