An update on our sustainable practices customer survey

Kia Ora whanau!

We've been getting all those lovely feels since we sent out a quick survey for our existing customers to fill in. It had some reasonably rad ideas (for a beard oil company) that we needed to pass by YOU - the people who actually buy our stuff. It's all well and good being change makers until you ignore your customers to the point that they leave!

So, in case you missed it, the survey (now closed) can be found here. Essentially we asked the burning question, in light of how the capitalist economy has generally been on the take for a few generations, would the bearded men of Aotearoa consider a switch away from traditional liquid beard oils towards solid beard oils? The main issues being the fragility of glass containers (and subsequent requirement for extra packaging), the high use of plastic in our raw ingredient packaging, the low levels of glass recycling and the carbon cost of freighting that weight.

We had a great response, with a clear message:

Boom 👊 (with apologies to the 2.5% - here's the link as promised).

In short, thanks for your support, the BeardLab™ is already on the case sourcing packaging and testing formulations and we hope to launch our new line of (dare we say it, groundbreaking?!) Solid Organic Beard Oils over the winter.

We had heaps of questions and comments sent through as part of the survey - so a huge thank you to all who took the time to write. We were genuinely humbled by the support 💕 sometimes it's a lonely world selling products over the internet, and it's easy to forget that our customers are so awesome in their own right, and to hear such support for change from so many was really heartwarming. Ngā mihi nui.

Without further ado, I’d like to address some of the comments and questions we had as 20% of you need a little convincing 🤓

• Questions about the cardboard ‘tin’ were high on the list. These are currently being sourced from the US, I cannot find any local manufacturers unfortunately (if you know of any - get in touch please). They are double-lined and sturdy, the oil resistant lining is plant based (so the whole item is home compostable or recyclable) and can resist semi-solid oils, so should be good for use in the summer. We will be using a solid carrier oil with a slightly higher melting temperature than our current balms, and adding no wax, so we are hoping to allay fears of an in-pocket melt-down. This is the plan, however the BeardLab™ is currently waiting on samples to arrive prior to rigorous testing. Full disclosure - here is a link to the product. The fallback will be to continue to use the aluminium or steel tins as these are readily recyclable (but obviously their manufacture is resource heavy and polluting).
• The solid oils will work the same way as the liquid oils - they will easily melt in your fingertips prior to applying to your luscious beard. They will be easier to transport and lighter. We will aim to increase our range also (look out for a new Hop scented variety being cooked up in conjunction with Altitude Brewing!)
• Some of you mentioned returning used packaging to be refilled. This is something we’ve been trying to work out since we started the business, but unfortunately isn't economically viable to subsidise postage back to us - it would simply add too much on to the price of the oils.
• Speaking of price, we would absolutely not be increasing price (or sneakily decreasing the amount of product for a given price). The new packaging is most definitely more expensive than glass, but we believe in our environment and are happy to take a profit hit 👊 🌏
• We are absolutely going to be making our whole range vegan. The only product we currently use that is not vegan is beeswax in our balms. This is going to be swapped out for Candelilla Wax which is a natural plant wax. No difference in it’s efficacy, so a no brainer. We also stand by our commitment to never test on animals 🐰
• And finally, is there something else going on, and we’re using a caring sharing enviro moniker to disguise the horrible truth lurking in the depths of the BeardLab™? Nope, it’s genuinely a concern for our world and wellbeing over profits ✌️

There you have it, exciting times ahead!

The winner of the balms has been emailed and they are thrilled to have won - if it wasn't you, we're feeling generous. Feel free to take 20% off our range of balms RTF now using code 'BalmyBalms' or follow this link to have it applied to your cart 🤑

Enjoy the Waitangi weekend if you can, kia kaha whanau.

Mat @ The Southern Alps Beard Co