There’s Actually a Beard Balm Made Just for Devout Catholics

There’s Actually a Beard Balm Made Just for Devout Catholics

There’s Actually a Beard Balm Made Just for Devout Catholics
Paul Stevenson is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
The product all beard-donning Catholic men have been waiting for has arrived: Catholic Beard Balm.

Add this to the list of “Things You Didn’t Know You Needed”:  Catholic Beard Balm. The founder of this product is Tony Vasinda, director of a Seattle Catholic parish. He invented it in 2014.

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Vasinda's product invention story is fascinating by itself. He ordered a few quantities of the fragrant liturgical oil at that time for his students. He said that he wanted people to actually engage with the sacrament materials in advance, and Vasinda wanted small quantities of non-blessed chrism. The objective was to help the candidates by linking a specific memory to a particular scent. However, he later found that the minimum order of chrism essence was sufficient to make about three gallons – just a little bit more than the one ounce he needed.

Vasinda had already been making beard balms on his own for himself and his friends. That’s what made him come up with an idea on how to use the excess. He started to make a chrism-scented balm for Catholics. Soon, Vasinda, along with Michael Marchand, his friend and fellow creator, started to sell their natural and handmade balms. They were sold in small batches of five signature scents:

  • Chrism: It has balsam’s rich aroma mixed with a lot of other scents. It will remind the wearer of “baptismal promises.”
  • Franciscan: This is an “unscented formula” and smells faintly of honey, cocoa and nuts from natural ingredients.
  • Lectio: This particular blend is a sophisticated mix of vanilla, sandalwood and amber to assist you when you want to understand what is written in the scripture.
  • Orthodoxy: This marks an homage to G.K Chesterton. The balm contains lighter notes of pipe tobacco and hops.
  • Holy Smoke: This is a blend of Myrrh, wood smoke and Frankincense to remind the wearer of incense’s rich smells.
  • The balm has a number of benefits for the beard like conditioning and nourishing. It also promotes a much fuller appearance. All proceeds go to the ProjectYM, the ministry run by Michael and Tony. It is a resource hub catering towards Catholic youth ministers.

    The demand for Catholic Beard Balm was excellent from the start. They brought about a hundred beard balm containers to an event, hoping that a few will sell. To their surprise, the stock got exhausted within a few hours. The brand is now seen as a fashionable extension of New Evangelization.

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