Aston LeFon – 18.21 Man Made Beauty

You will want to listen to this episode of RadioAMB where Patty Schmucker speaks with one of the founders of 18.21 Man Made’s Aston LeFon. Aston, after working within the beauty industry for years discovered a gap in the Men’s grooming market. Partnering with Angel del Solar and David del Solar, the three began developing a line of men’s grooming products inspired by prohibition era and the bootlegging culture.
Transcript:
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pretty is pretty important in all things
and beauty welcome to radio a and B
designed for those who want to live a
long and vibrant life I’m patty smoker
I’m a licensed cosmetologist has been in
the beauty industry for over 40 years
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beauty comm you’ve often heard me of
your listeners of the show about how
exciting a time it is in beauty and
wellness the part of it is because we
know more about the human body than
we’ve ever known before we have options
available in cosmetic chemistry and
delivery systems that weren’t available
in times past and so innovative new
products are happening all of the time
there is also more diverse needs that
are being identified and solutions that
are being built to meet these needs
my team and I we go to events inside and
outside the industry in search of
innovation and exciting new concepts in
these emerging brands we are always
delighted when we see what we think of
an arch little circle as lightning in a
bottle
my guest today is one of three partners
in a company we think might just be that
1821 man-made is a Texas based business
owned and operated by on hill del Sol
our Austin Lafont and daveed del Sol are
they are three hard-working gentleman
that share a passion for making premium
uncommon goods that gentlemen take pride
in owning welcome hacen I’m delighted to
have you with us well I’m delighted to
be here Patti thanks for spending time
with me yeah absolutely so I’m a brand
specifically made by men for men tell us
a little bit about your background and
what we’re where did you start that led
you into an industry doing hair and and
focusing on building up a beauty brand
how about men making products for men
who would guess right right that you
mentioned upfront sets that founded the
business there’s a myself Acton and then
Al and daveed and we have different
areas of expertise but but when you put
the three of us together we’re like
really one kind of great guy all right
so we all collaborate on everything we
collaborate all the big picture stuff
but then individually we each have
different histories and different
responsibilities with 18:21 and one of
the things that we that we actually
share is this mindset of deconstruction
right
so in our kind of unique areas of
expertise we tend to teach things apart
that we think are the way things are
being done most commonly and try to put
them back together in a way that
somebody might find more special or more
unique so just to kind of start I guess
with myself again I Madsen and I don’t
have quite as long into businesses you
Patti you’re beating me out there but
have twenty years in the professional
beauty business and I’m on the side of
the business itself right I’ve never
spent time behind the chair my mother
was actually a professional hair
designer and in my teenage years she
transitioned from being behind the chair
into working for a manufacturer
manufacturer which eventually became
pretty well known and during her time
there I just became interested in in the
business I thought it was something that
like this is something I can become
passionate about and so I tend to more
focus on retail good service
opportunities in business strategies but
I feel like the flan or barber industry
is is missing something that that
they’re not currently supporting that
you can insert into their business and
help grow their business but also you
know unique solutions that knowledge is
grow their business but can elevate
their service experience for those gifts
that they serve make those guests feel
more special because that’s what it’s
really all about right and so your mom
was mom was well in the in the salon and
worked for a manufacturer yeah yeah I
mean if you know if you spent time
behind the chair it can become a pretty
challenging order pretty hardcore your
boss after a while right right it’s a
physical job yeah yeah your knees your
hips your shoulder hurts your ribs
everything after a while it’s just no
good and she she ended up working for
for a manufacturer called joique oh okay
and and that was something where you
know I really kind of realized well
there’s a totally different there’s a
totally different side to this and in
the beginning of my own the bend hey you
know you’re a teenage kids you want to
go to night club and had that teacher
that cigarette go on them uh-huh what’s
the night club that sounds fun to a
fashion show that sounds interesting you
know but but I I started myself down a
path at a very young age manufacturing
products in that sense so I realized you
know very young that when models were at
a show and they would use hair color on
them and apply it very quickly that a
lot of times their their skin would get
stains or clothes to get stained and so
back in the late 90s I created a product
called color off the really effectively
removed haircolor stains from clothing
and from skin without agitating the skin
or affecting the hair color the spa’s
done an interesting and so I worked that
through distribution channels invaded
into you know great distributors like
BSG and Sally’s and eventually I sold
the company and later started a business
importing a brand from Spain called
called LACMA here for the first time in
the US and ran a business for several
years in Texas and ended up
transitioning that business to it
someone else after a few years because
the importing was just so challenging
and beyond that I’ve been able to work
for some really good manufacturers some
really good distributors have had some
really good mentors and just have really
helped me kind of grow in my career so
that I could help other people grow or
again you know feel better about the way
that they look or offer some inspiration
for them to feel better about themselves
so you won’t you’ve always yeah so
you’ve always been on the business side
of it I mean I’m you know my good friend
Joe mas Thalia working with uh with the
lack mean bringing that broadened
product into the law into the u.s. funny
because hearted distributing and really
he became like a hub for LACMA in the
u.s. several years after I had had it
uh-huh
he didn’t know that I existed and I was
very disconnected from Lima at that
point so I didn’t know he existed and we
popped up into his office one day to
talk about a brand that I’ll tell and I
were looking at the distributor here in
Texas that we owned and we just started
talking on it realized oh wait a minute
we have that in common so but he’s a
really wonderful guy I like Joe I think
we’ll see him soon it caused a problem
yeah absolutely
so you you went through these various
different iterations of bringing
business opportunities in the in the in
the beauty industry and so how did you
get involved with on Helen and Davi yeah
Davina are brothers so they’ve known
each other for a little while because
that’s where this connection happened oh
no and I were working for a manufacturer
of probably about nine or ten years ago
called
enjoy out of Oceanside California and
I’m not working for enjoy the guys who
own enjoy Patrick and Gordon are just
some really strong mentors for me I
learned so much there and I really
appreciated the time there I was
actually supporting their their business
initiative here in Texas and uh how was
their education creative director and so
on how was the guy who spent you
literally 50 50 weeks as a year on the
road in front of salon owners in front
of stylists giving them cutting
education and business education to help
them have better skills that treat their
guests better and I was on the same side
but in a different ways talking to those
stylists and owners for how to take care
of their guests to the better way and so
I’ve brought in on how one time into
Texas and he he did a class and I had
never heard of him or her seeing him and
he had an accent I didn’t always
understand what he was saying like wow
this this is the first education class
that I’ve seen where it’s a hundred
percent usable everything that he’s
showing you is based 100 percent in
reality all of the messaging that he’s
given you is a hundred percent honest
and he’s basically saying look if you’re
a salon owner if you’re dealing with men
screaming whatever your expertise is I’m
going to show you a way to do that work
in a quicker more efficient way and make
the service more special for the guests
and that was exactly the the mindset
that I was having but I didn’t always
have that particular tool to give them
so I was trying to kind of supplement my
lack of that with other things and other
strategies and so I started utilizing
Hong house just constantly we became
good friends when he would come into
town it was dinner with the family and
you know come over and let’s watch the
show so so we ended up becoming good
friends and after a few years working
together and enjoy we started our own
distributor here in Texas we both left
Cohn credible culture where we were
facilitating our own educational
initiatives and distributing top-tier
goods for mostly women from other
manufacturers again focused on those
missing pieces right right brother
DeVito stole our to help us out with uh
with the manufacturing
the manufacturing pieces we started to
get into thinking about 1821 and and so
dahveed specialty was more on the
manufacturing side well these are
completely different histories and then
the two of us here on how comes from
being a salon owner and education and I
come from manufacturing of business and
import and distribution Devine has a
history of being a chemistry and
chemistry in history but he also was a
deconstruction chef and a licensed
cosmetologist oh wow what a nice
combination so so what when you think
about this mindset that we all have
deconstruction I like to pull the
business part put it back together a
unique way Alex pulls a hair cut in the
education part put it back together
unique way and if he likes to look at
these you know common characteristics of
product offerings or the ideas that we
might have for our next tribute item to
help somebody out or make them feel
better and just tell them apart
find out what’s common and put them back
together in a unique or uncommon way you
know if things are typically in plastic
with a label let’s talk about you know
glass with hand painted or specifically
you know a solid wax that they eat up in
your hands you know maybe that’s trying
to make it soft and whipped or more
easier to use so we need to be just
focused more on the manufacturing of
piece which extends into you know the
design of the products and everything so
we can all collaborate on everything and
but we all have our kind of different
areas of expertise iam well and and so
as you guys came together well first of
all my burning question is what is a
deconstruction chef yes yes and yours
are lobster and the the server comes out
and they put a bowl of foam in front of
you I ordered lobster well it’s foam but
when you taste the phone in case like
lobster okay so it’s just trying to take
something that you’re familiar with and
just reassembling in a way that it
starts to feel more
special right right right okay all right
well that was that that I’m sure
everybody else was burning to know the
answer to that question and and we’ll
see construction chef in Spain I know
it’s simply that to be particularly fond
of well I mean after I’ve definitely
look him up but so what was it about the
men’s grooming experience that led you
guys to start thinking about the gap in
the market yeah there’s a few things one
from the professional side the gap in
the market and then the other just you
know being man and realizing that men
weren’t always being supported in a very
special way right mm-hmm a few years ago
we noticed this movement among men where
men were more than ever actively seeking
out elevated grooming goods but they
couldn’t always find a product offering
to match to the desperation and so you
know again just being men we understood
how most of the products for men look
how they felt the experience of using
them but we realized that a lot of these
products that were out there shared
similar characteristics just in a lot of
different pricing levels mm-hmm so there
was a six dollar bottle of tea tree at
the grocery store and a 24 dollar bottle
of tea tree at a salon and we just
didn’t get the difference between the
students the same exterior and so you
know we felt like the Society of men
just deserved a more elevated option
something special something that they
would actually take pride in owning
right something that we felt like was
missing from hair products from styling
products this sense of pride of owning
them adjust hair products were somewhat
a throwaway and then you know we also
realized a missing piece in the
professional beauty industry because
this was a fusion this was before a lot
of these really awesome fine men’s
grooming locations started popping up or
traditional barber shops kind of
redundant as more elevated way started
popping up so a lot of men just ended up
showing up at high-end salons either by
referral or just walks into the door
thinking that we’re going to get a more
elevated experience and many times the
professionals were using the women’s
product on the men mm-hmm and the men
would pop into the salon and it’d be
like well we’re not prepared for this
guy who is this guy you just walk it in
I have a color processing so I’ll just
kind of fit him in well this is
processing and get him in and out right
there a way to kick it up to another
level and in the salon guests that were
that were visiting the salon said the
man they were mostly not taking the
resale items home with them they’re
using the women’s product for them and
they didn’t always speak to the
gentleman to want to take them home and
and we know from being on our side of
the business that you know if the guests
don’t take home the products if they
don’t take home the knowledge of how to
style their hair that that negatively
impacts the salons attention to retain
and keep that client but also that the
gift can look good when they’re not at
the farm and they’re not at the
barbershop right which which helps them
get referrals right the better they look
all the time
the better for that long professional
and so we collected you know our nearly
50 years of combined experience and put
our brains together and started to craft
the culture bids that we now call 1821
minute to solve these a couple of
problems and and was there also a
experience that was occurring in terms
of as you said men were seeking a more
elevated grooming experience so that it
was also about sort of a a more
intentional look that there really
wasn’t products to fulfill that that’s
definitely part of it because you know
there’s there’s a lot of them
I feel like culture is moving you know
the cycle of looks and culture is like
it’s it’s cycling faster than ever now
and we’re kind of at the point where
we’re just anything goes for anybody all
the time and there’s a lot of different
relevant looks versus you know one look
that’s trending and then it just
disappears on another one trend you know
right now you might have a look of you
know loose disheveled texture hair from
you know the cafe racer days or you
might have a military or prohibition
style kind of crisp look mixed in with
you know and that could be for a manner
or an androgynous look for a woman and
so kind of anything goes now a lot of
the products that we see were based on a
certain point in time where
few brands were very successful you know
I love brands like American Crew and
Paul Mitchell Mitch I think what anybody
there’s anything good for men is good by
up mm-hmm and so I think what happened
so they were so successful with the
movement they created they were so
successful the products they created
that a lot of the entrants that came
after them we’re just really copying
them right and so what happened is you
know the market just gets flooded with
copycat products that all look and feels
the same and some of those were centered
around a specific trend at the time or
specific workers specific cut and so we
noticed that there are a lot of SKUs and
not a whole lot of versatility like and
we were far more interested in you know
being previous salon owners or just
being men and having products that it
was a limited range was a more limited
offering it was easier to understand if
I’m a consumer man looking at it or on
the floor and I’m thinking about my
overhead to have less products do more
function products doing less function
and kind of cannibalizing each other
right and so what was it the where’s the
18:21 where what’s the inspiration there
that you felt met the gap that was in
the marketplace well kind of to the
point of we felt like a lot of the goods
were sharing these this common theme or
these common characteristics I mean it
almost felt like for us that there was a
prohibition placed on vens product that
they had to be a certain way right the
heritage of our namesake is just a
reference to the 18th amendment which
started the prohibition of alcohol in
the early 1900’s in the 21st amendment
which which ended the prohibition and
and that’s a point of time that’s well
known for bootlegging when the
government came in and took away
everyone’s alcohol there were people
that still wanted that alcohol and so
you know bootlegging moonshining
speakeasies all that went underground
and as we were putting together our our
goods we were assembling the components
and just communicating how we want the
user experience to be for the for the
consumer how we want the product of
function for the professional because
they have high standards for performance
the laboratories that compose people
everybody was leading us back to now it
should be tea trees should be black and
chrome it should be bit because that’s
how it’s done for men and we just you
know it started to feel like we were
kind of bootlegging pulling a whiskey
flask from this industry and I and the
idea of a honey tobacco from the pipe
tobacco physician and just trying to
take these things that were not doing
and put together a brand that felt
masculine felt well-crafted and had the
spirit of kind of bootlegging in it to
feel special right right all right well
that’s a that is part of what I just
love about this and I remember when one
of my team sort of forged out ahead and
came back and said oh you have got to go
and see this brand that has this
amazingly delicious aroma and so when we
come back we’re going to talk a little
bit more about 18:21 and what what are
the ways that the team is finding
solutions to the needs into the
marketplace so stay with us we’ll be
right back
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we’re positive people and radio unites
healthy life dotnet welcome back this is
patty Schmucker and you’re listening to
radio a and B on healthy life dotnet
I’m here with Austin lafawn of 1821
man-made which is a texas-based a
haircare brand specifically for for men
and I asked him before we took our break
you were telling us about the
inspiration of the bit of the brand
coming from the 18th amendment which
started prohibition in the 21st that
ended it and and so tell us how that
really created the solution to a gap in
the market for men’s grooming products
that had a more elevated experience yeah
absolutely
we did have this feeling that a lot of
the products just shared the similar
experience for the consumer right and we
saw what we call a common experience and
we’re far more interested in making an
uncommon experience but you’re also in
it are offering to be just instinctively
masculine yeah we didn’t want it to just
state from then on it as we see women’s
products that just state for men like oh
okay that’s supposed to be for me we
wanted to be instinctively masculine
something that a gentleman with handle
would pride but also wouldn’t be
off-putting so that their significant
other whether that was a man or a woman
would feel invited to to spoil him
knocking are good or even kind of
stealing it for themselves and so you
know what we were thinking of assembling
things this idea of bootlegging this
idea of moonshine that says you’re just
taking masculine things tobacco whiskey
beer just things that we find
instinctively masculine putting them
into grooming we haven’t seen that
really done before and so for us we feel
like the packaging is what generates the
interest and
create that like pride of ownership we
feel like our sweet honey tobacco aroma
is what inspires the the emotional bond
a lot of time you know when when a
gentleman get the hold of our real mom
and there’s almost 40 components in
there and a lot of time it it gives them
this feeling of nostalgia or you know
they remember their grandpa or their dad
or or some experience that they’ve had
there’s so many things happening there
to kind of stimulate a memory and you
know we feel like something else that’s
really important though is having a good
feel I perform it not only that if a
customer invest in them it’s not just a
gimmick in buy it because maybe it looks
interesting or smells good you know it
actually works as you would expect and
that’s also you know key for us to earn
the professional business wands and
barbers which is very important to us
and so we we kind of ride this balance
of wanting to always produce something
that’s nostalgic yet modern and we feel
like a lot of that has to do with the
materials that we use and to kind of
throw it back the prohibition materials
just felt more substantial 100 years ago
things were heavy things were durable
and we like the idea of using
substantial materials from the old
school so we use heavy glass and you
know three piece steel cans and but we
we pair that with fresh and modern
ingredients because as you said at the
front you know today’s mixtures can be
both high performance and even
respectful of health and still feel
old-school right right and you mentioned
something that is interesting and that
is that you wanted to stimulate a memory
do you find that men arm are are much
more sentimental than perhaps product
manufacturers have geared brands for men
around well I think everyone is unique I
don’t think that the characteristic may
be unique to men or women it’s an
individual thing I suppose I think a lot
of the time manufacturers or even
business owners that he was matter to do
with one specifically tend to think well
you know men are more loyal than women
or they
these kind of token things and it’s like
well if you’ve ever been cheated on with
a man maybe maybe that wasn’t the case
you know kind of their own unique thing
going on we know that we can’t make
something that everybody will love so so
we just try to focus on on those kind of
few things and and we do feel though
that that aroma does have a lot to do
with that that kind of emotional bond
you know for me you know personally if
I’m you know driving somewhere and I
smell Frick fresh-cut grass but just to
that certain kind of aroma just it
instantly reminds me of being young and
playing in my front yard or something
mm-hmm and so I think I think everybody
has that I would say what’s unique to
men but it’s definitely something that
we try to inspire even with some of the
new you know aroma profiles that were
assembling like our spiced tobacco and
the food and other things that were
working on because we just want to be
able to kind of continue to enhance that
if somebody’s is this feeling of
nostalgia and I know as people think
about utilizing a grooming product that
has a tobacco aroma
I will tell I will attest to the fact
that it really is a beautiful as a
female smelling it I really felt it was
quite pleasant but as when you talked a
little bit about the gentleman’s pride
of ownership tell us a little bit of how
that plays into the way that you’ve
crafted the brand yeah we felt like them
that there are definitely things that
that men take pride in owning more than
us a motorcycle a car if you different
bought a guy a TV that he didn’t pick
out you know the odds are that we’re
taking that back we know which one we
want we’re inviting our buddies over to
watch UFC football or hockey or whatever
our sports are and then as soon as
everybody gets a bigger TV everybody
goes to his house oh we don’t feel so
great about our TV anymore there are
things you know watches that we take
pride in owning and everybody has a
supposed their own particular poison but
we felt like that grooming product that
grooming good
just become someone throw away got a lot
of time there just a gentleman with
using water in the shower head to tell
or a bar a self head to toe or a woman
shampoo that just happened to be there
or maybe they were saying hey give me a
bottle of this and get the cheapy it
wasn’t always special and even when it
comes to hair spray like we might use
hair spray but there wasn’t a great hair
spray for men
maybe we just steal the woman’s under
the sink and we don’t tell anybody about
it so you know something that is very
important is that pride of ownership
something that feels instinctively
masculine feel substantial feels
uncommon and feels uniquely his and
that’s something that we focus on with
every single item that we that we
produce just something that we feel like
wow I’m going to keep this on my counter
I’m going to keep that bottle clean and
I’m going to take part in own it that’s
not right right so what’s the hero
product what it was is the where’s the
centerpiece of the brand everybody tries
to drink is the one in the whiskey flask
we might have plans that the other ideas
that we we come from professional Beauty
we come from salons we come from
barbershops and we just again happen to
be men and so one of our hero items is
manmade wash right and man-made wash
there are three different sizes and they
all look like whiskey’s there’s an 80s
whiskey flask is a 32 ounce fifth of
whiskey and then there’s a there’s a 64
back like back bar for the salons and
barbershops that looks like a bathtub
gin bottle you know we felt like a lot
of men didn’t buy shampoo at a salon or
in a barber shop maybe they were buying
dyeing products but we knew they were
probably using a soap a lot of men it
looked like we were not buying a
conditioner and I definitely were not
buying a hair mask that was something
that is men we don’t always get that we
need the women’s to understand that they
need and so our hair is the same
material structure as women so maybe we
do need that so so we thought look if we
can make something look instinctively
interesting on the mangoes is that
whiskey oh no it’s shampoos can assure
its body wash or maybe I’ll check that
out right oh it has a backhoe
I do it okay so now we’re pulling them
in with something that maybe was
unexpected but now we’re going to give
them something great that they didn’t
know they needed and really give it
value so you know with man-made wash the
18 ounce is $24 for example to have a
shampoo conditioner a body wash and a
protein treatment and so if their skin
clean without drying it out it gives
them conditioning without weighing the
hair down it gives them a protein treat
is the strength in their errands thicken
their hair without you know again
causing any kind of you know issue to
their scalp or weighing their hair down
and so we felt like in that one product
we can give them a lot of things as they
don’t necessarily know that they wanted
or need but it’s definitely something
that they’re interested in if that makes
sense absolutely absolutely well we’re
going to take another break and when we
come back we’ll talk a little bit more
about the ingredient story and how the
high performance is being pulled into
this great brand so stay with us we’ll
be right back
[Music]
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you’re looking for bedding department
store prices can shock you will be
shocked boom or sell state cheap not
cheap state that’s the motto of Anna’s
linens although they don’t sell steak
they
do sell the best bedding bath and home
decor items they strive to provide their
merchandise at extreme value to their
customers and they do it great everyday
prices on everything and military
discounts plus if you visit them online
they have clearance items and Internet
specials visit them online now at
healthy life Nets advertiser page radio
your way healthy life net hey thanks for
staying with us this is patty Schmucker
and you’re listening to radio a and B on
healthy life net I’m here with 18:21
man-made which is a men’s line
and one of the partners austin Lafont is
here with us and we’ve been talking
about what the the inspiration to the
brand and how their history and how it
all came together so if you have missed
our earlier part of the show please go
back and listen to it one of the
beautiful things about having our show
on healthy life net Austin let’s talk a
little bit about this specific
ingredient because I know a lot of
people are really ingredient focused and
so you talk about high-performance
what’s some of the things that you
decided to bring into the brand on from
an ingredient perspective so we put
gasoline in poison ivy when we approach
the ingredients deck the structure of a
product first and foremost we think of
you know what we want the outcome to be
what was the user experience to be like
so we try to be very purposeful with
that and so our mixtures are simply a
collection of raw materials that we
blend to either address a concern or
facilitate a purpose of function or a
desired result for the consumer without
gimmick and so you know our current
offerings are mainly for hair but we do
have some items coming up
tsun4 for shaving for skin care for
beard care and an ingredients do matter
another thing that matters is just
finding a good balance of those
ingredients in a product so that way you
know a product maybe if it’s a null and
one doesn’t dry out the skin but it’s a
great conditioner or you know it is
cleaning this can feels great for the
conditioner feels too greasy so that we
spend a lot of time usually a year in a
year and a half on each item so just try
to find this balance and test it and use
our expertise is beauty industry
professionals to find some that would
feel like men will appreciate and that
professionals will be excited to get
behind and support to put their
reputation on the lines of the product
and bringing it again right and then
they might want to be clean but you know
again don’t like that feeling a lot of
times that soaps give them so you know
we avoid things like sulfate based
surfectants and that and it helps to mix
in some nice ingredients like a quinoa
for binding moisture and and giving the
hair and skin a nice molecular weight of
protein for the inside of the hair and
kind of building that hair up and you
know if you if you positively charged
that and attracted the negatively
charged damage in the hair and so now
the guy gets a treatment that he didn’t
even know he wanted so so hold on hold a
second there because I think that for
those gentlemen in our in our audience
who are consumers who are listening them
I want them to understand what that
piece right there just meant because a
lot of a lot of men because they haven’t
had the opportunity to understand
high-performance product don’t
understand positive and negative charges
so when you talk a little bit more about
that in detail the corvids that men
don’t always realize that that our hair
of these is to be treated it needs
strength if it’s breaking and snapping
in the mid to the end it’s probably
because it has a lack of protein you
know a lot of people actually think that
hair grows from the end of their they
don’t even understand that it grows from
the scalp and so you know when you when
you have the history of being in the
professional beauty industry versus
maybe just parts that are maybe driven
in the consumer market directly or
– retail you know our expertise comes in
handy to treat consumers better give
them a better result and so if you’re
looking at the you know the cortex part
of the hair the inner part of the hair
that there’s about 18 different amino
acids in there
not everybody has all 18 but what’s
great about quinoa is that quinoa has 16
of those 18 amino acids right right
inside the hair the concern becomes
transparent it can be a concern to
become brittle it can start to break
maybe if you’re a man and getting color
deposited color doesn’t stick or if your
am angry and highlight which we do that
the hair breaks more easily or becomes
mushy and so you know having a product
that has a nice quinoa protein in there
and even not pair that with a weak
protein for the perfect layer if you can
introduce protein to different molecular
weights and have them you know fill in
those areas and the interesting thing
about the damage in the inner part of
the hair the cortex is that those holes
are always negatively charged and
opposites do what cutting traffic is
like if you put some positively charged
quinoa in there at the right molecular
weight and you have 16 of the 18 amino
acids that are typically found in hair a
lot of time for any hair type you can
fix it and you can fix it pretty well
and make it stronger and more flexible
and more durable and so you know kind of
taking that expertise and saying look
you know hair is 8% moisture the 2%
mineral let’s put some doctors in there
some macadamia glycerides
kind of the buildings of the open the
building blocks of Cobre macadamia oil
and find some lightweight moisture and
smooth the hair and shine the hair and
fortify the hair but without having
those negative impacts of weighing it
down or making it feel too rigid or too
crunchy so that feels like a again a
special product mm-hmm if you pair that
with a bit of a whisky bottle in a
little sweet tobacco well now it might
be really special right so the
ingredients are very important to us in
our upcoming shaving glide we’re using
some melodic things like caffeine and
taurine so that if the gentleman is
looking to get a precision shave you
know that with our shaving glad to have
a transparent product that gives them a
barrier from the razor the razor glides
across the skin
they don’t have to rinse it off they can
just shave with any razor see what
they’re shaving because there’s no cream
blocking their vision they can see and
line up the edges and get your sideburns
and there their neckline like exactly
how they want it but they don’t have to
rinse the product they can leave it on
and actually it’ll start to heal the
skin and see the skin and give them this
nice new aroma that we’re working on
called spiced tobacco so ingredients in
finding a balance in the mix are very
very important to us and so right now
the product has a honey tobacco and the
upcoming shave glide will have a spiced
tobacco Chuck can you explain how those
two aroma decks are different yeah
absolutely well if you’re thinking about
like our honey tobacco’s some of the
things that you kind of get in the
beginning are citrus and a little bit of
spicy saffron and then as it kind of
starts to change and dry down the manuka
honey from new zealand comes out the
talk of being the vanilla those kind of
sweet notes come out and those are very
prominent and in our sweet tobacco and
then is it really starts to settle the
the woods come out they’re little darker
the patchouli sandalwood beside you
tobacco and musk and so our honey our
sweet tobacco is something that we’re
kind of very well known for they it
really solid honey tobacco offering
right so we wanted to have something
that was a little bit of a departure but
also could complement the other one if
you were mixing the two if you’re using
shaving glide or some of the oils or
other things that we have coming up with
that new spice tobacco aroma profile
that it wouldn’t you know combat the the
sweet tobacco that you might have in
your styling products so they tend to
work together very nicely but I will say
that the spice tobacco it has some of
the deep wood notes it has a little bit
of must to it it is a little more spicy
it is a little more vanilla not as sweet
and so it gives you this idea of just a
nice mellow pipe tobacco with like a
kick of spice okay all right then the
sweet tobacco right okay great all right
well we are going to take another break
and when we come back we’ll turn
our attention a little bit towards the
business side and talked to the industry
in terms of where the brand is going and
some of the things that they’re doing to
make sure that the brand is able to
reach the customer so stay with us
we will be right back
[Music]
here’s the thing about beauty it’s
pretty at american-made beauty calm
we’re all about the pretty making it
easy for you to find what makes your
beauty shine we have essentially
everything you need and american-made
beauty calm celebrates brands that were
created right here in the US of A
imagine everything you need from the
best hair scan the nail products to
makeup and even the tools because it’s
all about pretty in american-made beauty
calm
we also think you’re pretty important so
visit american-made beauty calm browse
by learn american-made beauty calm when
you’re looking for bedding department
store prices can shock you will be
shocked
no more sell state cheap not cheap State
that’s the motto of Anna’s linens
although they don’t sell state they do
sell the best bedding bath and home
decor items they strive to provide their
merchandise at extreme value to their
customers and they do it great everyday
prices on everything and military
discounts plus if you visit them online
they have clearance items and internet
specials visit them online now at
healthy life Nets advertiser page we’re
looking for a few good American Beauty
manufacturers who want to increase their
brand in an exclusive credentialed
category if you’re an American company
who has conceived designed and bottled
brands that are all about pretty than
we’re pretty sure we’re talking about
you and we’re pretty sure you should be
on american-made Beauty comm this beauty
website focuses on entrepreneurs and
beauty startups as well as established
brands if it’s pretty we want to see it
and we want to sell it on american-made
Beauty calm to learn how you can be part
of american-made beauty calm visit
american-made Beauty calm now oh man it
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positive overcomes negative
I always love when we have a great show
because time flies we’re in our last
segment here I’m Patti Schmucker at
radio a and B here on healthy life net
and my guest
oz Astin Lafond from 1821 man-made is a
mens brand that was inspired by the
Prohibition period and the idea of
giving men a pride of ownership in a
brand that is unique with high
performance so and tell us a little bit
about from a business perspective where
is the brand now in terms of its growth
and what’s some of your upcoming goals
yeah and so right now we’re currently in
a few thousand salons and barbershops
across North America and we do have
salons and barbershops in the Benelux
which we’re really excited about now so
a Luxembourg Belgium in the Netherlands
we have a new importer in the Nordic
region and also in Australia and so
you’ll find us very heavily in salons
and barbershops we did just go wide with
life spa on lifetime fitness so that’s
100 locations across the country that’s
very well known for taking good care of
their male client base and we’re fitting
into that makes really well with our
retail and our service solutions you
know we do have a great partnership with
Amazon luxury beauty and so that way if
you’re an Amazon shopper which a lot of
people are it’s so it’s going to be
guaranteed to be the same price it’s
always guaranteed to be for Mazdas
guaranteed to be authentic and original
Amazon protects us there and so as we
continue to grow it really will just be
a couple of things starting to find us
in in more areas more salons more barber
shops there’s still several states that
were not in in North America that we’re
seeking our distributor partners for
Mexico and Canada are going to be the
next step for us because they’re so
close to home here and then there’s a
few countries over in the EU that we’d
love to get to later this year
particularly in the fall number
shop business through distributors so we
want to get over to the UK and France
Germany Italy and a couple other nice
countries over there and before the end
of this year we’ll have several new
offerings for our product collection
which is now mostly centered around hair
with the exception of our sweet tobacco
spirits that’s that’s a perfume we’re
pretty well known for that particularly
on YouTube if you look for it but before
the end of this year we’re going to
introduce some products a shaving glide
so that the gentlemen can have a
precision shaving Buddha shaving pay for
traditional shaving experience and
anti-aging shave lotion for skin care
and just use the skin after shaving I’ll
talk about oil and a time for scope
health and hair growth and hair fall out
a few more things and the focus for us
is always two things really it’s trying
to give gentlemen something that bills
they’ll take part in owning giving them
a product offering that has a lot more
function so they can kind of have more
value in the product and then for the
for the strong professional for the
barber professional something that they
feel excited to give to their gas but
the guests will appreciate that help
them grow a new piece for their business
and take better care of their gifts so
as we expand those kind of core values
we’ll just keep going with us everywhere
we go and I know that you mentioned
earlier that on how what is really
strong with regards to education how has
that played into your professional
commitment how are you bringing
education into your brand as well we’ve
had 18:21 in business for a few years
now in our fourth year of business and
you know on how when he approaches any
kind of cutting system or creating any
kind of cutting system he’s not a purist
and so he tends to pull from free porn
cutting and condensed cutting precision
cutting and a lot of different other
things to get a to have techniques but
to accomplish a haircut in a quicker
more efficient way and I saw him do what
typically somebody does in 45 minutes on
a guest I want
do it in ten minutes and and I was like
wow you know that can really be so
helpful for salon and barber
professionals because you know the
quicker or the more efficient we can
make them with their haircutting
technique then we start to incorporate
things that maybe don’t take skill that
they can put into their service which
can help elevate the guests experience
make the guests feel more special and so
typically our educational offerings get
facilitated through our distributors and
we center around creating a more noble
experience for their guests and pairing
that with cutting cutting technique and
cutting programs that make the
professional quicker and more efficient
and I love the whole idea of a more
noble experience tell us a little bit
about what that looks like why different
men out there a lot of different needs
not everybody has the same needs or
desires or passions and so for some men
they might just want to go get their
hair cut and they don’t care what it
looks like when they’re done you get it
off my head and they want to pay as
little amounts of money as possible for
that we tend to not really we’re not
really putting on an effort into to
helping that that particular gentleman
out you know we’re a little more
interested in the the consumers who are
looking to have inspiration for their
next look they want to take better care
of themselves they’re trying to find a
more elevated option and a lot of time
whether you’re going to a salon or a
barber shop sometimes the professionals
they forget that that’s actually a
service that they’re offering you know
those those customers those consumers as
their guests and so sometimes you know
well human and as we go through our day
sometimes you know we don’t always keep
in our mind you know how special we’re
treating this guest how are we impacting
their day or how are we impacting their
life through you’re giving them the
style that they want or a special
experience while they’re there and a lot
of times you becomes very Center ground
you’re getting getting their hair the
way that they want it and trying to move
on to the next person right and so you
know for us whether we’re partnering
with a salon that has different needs
from a barber shop we always try to
incorporate a massive piece in our
education not only for the
cutting not only for the business but
also to treat their guests in a more
noble manner to truly create this noble
experience and sometimes it’s centered
around things that again don’t take
skill like a haircut does it could be as
simple as a way to greet them properly
so they feel honored they feel respected
they feel confident you’re going to take
care of them are or drinking the Cape in
a certain way just shaking it in further
face and throwing your previous guests
hair up up in their face right right
something more functional does it feel
more elegant you know maybe a
consultation that’s centered around you
know getting to more of a custom crafted
look or making sure that they know
you’re going to take care of them on
their next appointment and then style
coaching is something that’s key to us
so whenever you have somebody sitting in
your chair you know don’t just give them
great style if you’re hearing the
compliment Oh nobody blow-dry my hair
like you do that’s a bad thing to hear
if you’re professional right really what
you want is that guess going home and
knows exactly what brush to use exactly
how to use the dryer how to use the cold
button what product to put in their hair
when to put it in their hair how to
finish it so that they can always look
and feel good all the time it’s the
style Kosh is something that’s very
important to us but we try to think of
all these these systems and issues and
again it’s beyond the product but it’s
centered around the product at the same
time so it’s kind of something again for
professionals that that they can help
make their guests feel more special and
something for the guests that they feel
better about themselves right especially
well this has been great I have
absolutely loved learning more about
about what you guys have done Austin and
the inspiration I truly do think that it
is has the potential to be lightning in
the bottle and just congratulations for
all the great work that you’ve
accomplished in the past and you’re
accomplishing at this point you’re very
kind
thank you so much and could we do put
like in every bottle and you know the
love being one of the co-founders making
21 band-aids and actually being able to
pick it out and flooring again and
barbershops and talk to consumers and
see the positive reaction that so many
people are having with the brand and
there’s nothing better than that
other than your family right so thanks
for the opportunity I really appreciate
you and I hope that your audience
thought of least you great and that they
can find it on the places you already
said but also the website 18:21 may man
made you Charles W in front 181 man-made
calm that’s that’s direct to us and then
obviously yeah the other retailers that
I mentioned in if somebody is looking
for a local option we do have an
opportunity our website to find a socket
so they can just put in their zip code
where they’re at or it will use their
locations to just something nearby great
thanks for being with us
that’ll do it for us today next week
join us as we learn about two very
special new brands Sarah
Dudley a family of son will be with us
and Sarah Stein of a very old but
glamorous brand called borghese skincare
be with us I’m patty Schmucker thanks
for listening to radio a and B where we
think pretty is pretty important in all
things in beauty
[Music]
you
[Music]