Humble Beginnings for Topher's Beard + Soap Co.
It all started with a beard.
I have always had facial hair in one form or another. From just scruff to goatees, soul patches to the Zappa, I had most of the current trends during their time. In 2014, Tania convinced me to try growing a full beard, to see if I liked the look. I loved the beard, although I didn't like the unruly look, nor the itching, flaky beard I seemed to be prone to getting. A quick search online suggested beard oil.
I found a brand in town, it dulled the itch and flakes but to be honest I wasn't thrilled with the greasy after feel or the scent. Our daughter-in-law was into making her own toiletries at the time, so I added some oils onto one of her orders and started playing around with making my own. What followed was a lot of reading and research into what roles different oils play with both hair and skin, oil viscosity, scent blending and more. After plenty of trial and error I had a working formula. I used a blend of quality oils that I had carefully curated that would soften my beard, soothe the itch and put an end to the flaky under beard . I shared it with a few friends, who shared it with a few friends and so on. Soon, I had people that I didn't even know contacting us for beard oil, Topher's Beard Company was born.
As my beard grew longer, the need for more control in the form of a Beard Balm surfaced. I had read about beard balm during my previous research, so I had the basics. Back into the studio and soon we had a balm to also offer on our website which we launched in March 2015.
Things started moving much quicker after that. Both Tania and I still worked full time but this "side gig" was starting to grow faster than we had imagined. At this point, I had also begun making both hot and cold process soaps on top of our growing beard care orders. I was also in the process of developing our Beard Wash and Conditioners.
In July of 2015 we began our foray into the retail market, and three and a half years later we are now in roughly 30 different Barber Shops, Salons + Retail locations in North America.
Once we started in retail our product line continued to grow. Bath Bombs were added to our line and took off. We both still worked full time, Tania as a production manager at a chicken processing plant and I was a CNC machinist in a small local shop. I was putting in 100 plus hours a week, burning the candle at both ends and something had to give. I dropped my work week down to 4 days so I could focus more time on Tophers. Bath bomb sales continued to grow and soon Tania found herself in the same situation. She gave her notice at work and was the first of us to work at Tophers full time. Our bath treats line now includes bubble bars, Dead Sea bath salts and shower steamers. Tahitian body butter and sugar scrubs soon followed.
Fast forward a few years, we decided to start stocking wet shaving gear and shave pucks to include male clients that were not bearded. It was around this time that Beaver Butter was also released. Who knew that ladies were lacking in the aftershave department? There were all kinds of ways to get rid of unwanted body hair but not much aftercare. When released on Amazon, Beaver Butter quickly rose to the top 10 of female shaving products and has remained in the upper echelon since. Manscape Butter was designed shortly after, as even men were purchasing Beaver Butter to use as aftershave.
December 2017 I realized I had to choose, continue with the CNC work or take a chance and see just how far we could take Tophers. I gave my notice and haven't looked back.
Early 2019 sees us still growing, in fact we just released a line of pomades, both oil and water based. We also recently did a full overhaul of our website + are ready to take on whatever comes next!
Thanks for taking the time to allow me to tell you our story.
Topher + Tania
