Bloombeards Teams Up with YouTubers to Reintroduce Product Line

NILES, Ohio – For nearly six years, Jonathan Sliwinski has been working to build Bloombeards, his startup beard-care business, mainly by selling at local craft fairs.

Now, thanks to a chance encounter, Sliwinski is ready for Bloombeards to grow outside of the Mahoning Valley.

“I thought, ‘Why don’t I try not to be so local and see what this turns into?’” he says.

The idea came when Sliwinski, who lives in Niles, was contacted by Joe Lenzo, a YouTuber and self-described beard enthusiast.

“I have over 300 bottles of oil,” he says proudly.

Lenzo is the co-host of Beard Talk with Kyle and Joe, a YouTube channel he started with his cousin Kyle in November 2019, where the two offer tips and advice every Tuesday and review beard grooming products every Saturday.

“We have followers on our YouTube channel from different continents,” Lenzo says.

They also follow several beard product makers and enthusiasts, including Bloombeards, on Instagram.

So when Lenzo, who lives in Mineral Ridge, learned that Bloombeards was a local company, he immediately contacted Sliwinski about working together.

“What I really wanted for John was to start seeing beyond Mahoning County,” he says.

For Sliwinski, the sheer size of the market was eye opening. According to Reportlinker, a tech company that provides industry data for analysts, the beard-grooming market is expected to grow to $43.1 billion by 2026, up from $24.1 billion in 2018.

“The whole beard community, the online community is just crazy,” Sliwinksi says.

As he prepares to reintroduce Bloombeards to the world, Sliwinski is overhauling the entire business, with the name being the only exception.

The logo has been updated by a professional designer. Labels, which were initially printed by Sliwinski himself, have been redesigned and will now be printed professionally.

The beard oils now come in bigger bottles and the formulas have been changed to make the product last longer.

“It has oils that soak in quickly but it also has oils that coat the beard and stay on it,” Sliwinski says. “So it’s not greasy, but it doesn’t dry out.”

In addition to the beard oil and balm, Bloombeards is introducing a new beard butter. For those unfamiliar, beard balm is used mainly to help style a beard.

“Butter is designed to provide nothing but nourishment for your beard,” Lenzo says. “I personally like to wear butters at night.”

Beard oil is mainly used to nourish the skin underneath the beard to prevent it from becoming dry and itchy, says Lenzo.

Rounding out the Bloombeards product line is a series of soaps and chapsticks. 

To help promote the new branding and products, Beard Talk with Kyle & Joe will post a review of Bloombeard on their channel Wednesday, and will host Sliwinski for a live stream Thursday at 9 p.m.

“That night is going to be the first time that people are going to be able to go on his website and make purchases,” says Lenzo.

Bloombeards.com will go live Thursday, offering the full line of products. Locally, Bloombeards products are also offered at the Havana House in Niles and Boardman, Branch Street Coffee in Boardman, Your Cuts Barber Shop in Warren, Rahab Grooming Great Gents in Howland, and the Wolves Den in Hubbard.

Sliwinski says having his products tested by Lenzo will not only help raise awareness for Bloombeards, it will also provide valuable market research he wouldn’t have access to otherwise.

“Other than these guys there’s really not anything like that locally,” he says. “It’s just such an asset because [Lenzo] just tested 300 products this year.”

While that may sound like a lot, Lenzo’s collection is not out of the ordinary. Like any enthusiast, whether it be bourbon or postage stamps, beard enthusiasts enjoy collecting products as much as using them.

“There are guys who will never finish a whole bottle of oil because they have so many,” Sliwinski says.“If somebody actually likes something well enough that they finish the whole bottle, that’s a big accomplishment.”

Pictured: Bloombeards will relaunch this week with new, professionally designed and printed labels for all its products, replacing the style founder Jonathan Sliwinski has used since its start, seen on the blue label.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.