We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ryan Ragsdale a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ryan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

Something we do different at Free Born Beard & Supply Co is we are committed to only using all-natural ingredients. A lot of products on the market right now will claim all natural ingredients, but in reality, they’re often using synthetic fragrance oils. The term ‘all-natural’ isn’t regulated by the FDA, so there really isn’t any rules to what a company can or cannot call ‘all-natural’.

I’ve used beard oils for years, and when I set out to remove as many fragrance oils as possible from my life, I started to get frustrated at the lack of options. I would order different brands claiming to be all-natural and realize I was being lied to. That’s really where my motivation to start Free Born Beard & Supply Co comes from. I was tired of being lied to and I knew other people were too.

You aren’t the man your grandfather was.

Multiple studies are estimating the average man today has at least 25% lower testosterone levels than men 100 years ago.

In my opinion one of the biggest culprits is fragrance oils.

In particular: phthalates. Phthalates are found in synthetic fragrances that are used in everyday things like air fresheners, soaps, scented candles, and even beard oils.

So, what does that really mean? It means that the ingredients manufacturers use to make your beard oil smell nice is killing your testosterone levels.

So why do companies use these fragrances? It’s a complex answer but the simplest explanation is: money. Synthetic fragrance oils are much cheaper than essential oils. On top of that, fragrance oils are just easier to work with and a lot of companies don’t want to put in the extra work for essential oils.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My main motivation for creating Free Born Beard & Supply Co was to give men a truly natural beard company. Something that won’t kill their testosterone levels with fragrance oils and that they would enjoy using on a daily basis.

On top of that we have commitment to using the highest quality ingredients. Another thing that sets us apart from a lot of competition. For example: we only use Raw Shea Butter in our Beard Butter and Beard Balm. Raw Shea butter has more nutrients than the standard refined Shea Butter.

Currently we have beard oil, beard butters and beard balms. All of which play a role in keeping you and your beard healthy.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I love to read when it comes to business. Two significant books that have had a massive impact on me are:

1) Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh – Tony was the founder of Zappos.com, which he sold to Amazon. He built his company by creating unbeatable service through culture. I reread this book every couple of years and I’m always looking for ways to implement into my own company.

2) Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless by Jeffrey Gitomer – Really opened my eyes about 10 years ago again regarding customer service. It essentially teaches to create loyal customers through amazing service, experiences, and strong relationships. This helps with repeat business and making your customers advocates for you.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Email newsletters and directly reaching out to them on social media are both extremely important to me, but I like to take it a step further.

In all of my email newsletters I give a direct line to me. The phone number I give out goes straight to my cell phone. And I make sure to let them know that.

Almost every time I send out a newsletter, I typically get 1-2 phone calls. I love to chat with my customers. Some call just to see if it’s really my cell phone, sometimes they call and want to pick my brain about business, and surprisingly the least common reason for calling: asking questions about a product.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://freebornbeard.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freebornbeard
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freebornbeardco
• Twitter: https://x.com/freebornbeard
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/realryanragsdale