This week I'm super pumped to give some shout outs, some props, and some hardy congrats to the Catholic Balm Company for it's Beardvangelization Kit.
If you have never heard of the Catholic Balm Co, it was started by Tony Vastinda the dudes over at Project YM after Tony had a bunch of un blessed chrism oil left over and didn't want to put it to waist. Being the bearded believer in all things hairy that he is, Tony made beard balm with it. Turns out, the internet loved it. Beard balm is all over the place. Virtually every bearded Catholic gentleman has used or is using some scent of Catholic Beard Balm to keep their beard smelling like the sacraments. As a matter of fact, the internet loves the beard balm so much that Buzzfeed recently included it on it's list of 20 Products That Will Take Your Beard to the Next Level.
The unique combination of satire, humor, and actual zealotry of this product is the perfect combination for reaching into the secular world without scaring anyone away. I would LOVE to see more Catholic initiatives swap out the sober "it's end of the world" approach for something more humorous like the one the Catholic Balm Co. has taken. I have to admit, when I first heard someone say that Catholic Beard Balm was a great tool for evangelization, I laughed. That was until I heard my friend JP Quinn, who worked at Harley Davidson at the time that his non Catholic biker friends kept a daily record of which scent he was wearing. Then I saw the buzzfeed article. My friends. This may be the most effective brand changing effort I've seen all year.
So with that in mind, the Creation of the Week this week goes to Catholic Balm Co's Beardvangelization Kit. It's a kit that includes their newest scent, P45, a scent based on Psalm 45 including aloes of "wood, myrrh, and cassia," because ho doesn't want to slather their beard with myrrh? I mean, really?!
“Therefore God, your God, has anointed you, with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.”
The kit includes these sweet coasters, which could possibly be worth paying the price for the whole kit just on their own:
In all, awesome job guys. I'm looking forward to growing my beard out and once again getting to smell like orthodoxy.
