Grooming Dept

That's fine for Leica, BMW, Mercedes Benz. I subscribe to design language from different schools of design, I admire and emulate brands I like: Maison Martin Margiela, Come De Garcone, Alexander McQueen. etc... If and when Grooming Dept becomes a corporate behemoth, I'll hire Pentagram to create a coherent identity for the brand.

Okay, do your thing.  But remember - marketing is important regardless of size.  Just ask Mason Boutique.  

Thanks for the advice, I want to assure you, Grooming Dept is doing better than ever. People love the formulas, many people are starting to find some scents they like among my offerings. I certainly can't please everyone, but I will continue to produce diverse and unique products. Most people are responding positively to the hybrid formulae and developing preference for one base over the others.

I'm grateful to the phenomenal support and super proud how far Grooming Dept have gone in a short period of time.

Thanks for the advice, I want to assure you, Grooming Dept is doing better than ever. People love the formulas, many people are starting to find some scents they like among my offerings. I certainly can't please everyone, but I will continue to produce diverse and unique products. Most people are responding positively to the hybrid formulae and developing presences for one base over the others.

I'm grateful to the phenomenal support and super proud how far Grooming Dept have gone in a short period of time.

That's awesome! I'm glad to hear that things are going well.

Just remember that wet shaving is a niche market to begin with; shooting fish in the proverbial barrel. You'll have enough repeat customers, but far, far fewer that buy every product. And that's not considering the "collectors" out there, or those that only buy into a brand if there's a matching aftershave or ancillary products. Eventually you'll hit a plateau of market saturation and you'll need to decide if you want to take it (and Grooming Dept as a whole) further. Witness some of the well established artisans that are breaking out of the wet shaving market with fragrances, like Barrister and Mann and Declaration Grooming, to name a few. The fact is, nobody's getting rich making soaps. These are things you need to decide, or at least keep in the back of your mind moving forward.

Thanks for the advice, I want to assure you, Grooming Dept is doing better than ever. People love the formulas, many people are starting to find some scents they like among my offerings. I certainly can't please everyone, but I will continue to produce diverse and unique products. Most people are responding positively to the hybrid formulae and developing presences for one base over the others.

I'm grateful to the phenomenal support and super proud how far Grooming Dept have gone in a short period of time.

That's awesome!  I'm glad to hear that things are going well.

Just remember that wet shaving is a niche market to begin with; shooting fish in the proverbial barrel.  You'll have enough repeat customers, but far, far fewer that buy every product.  And that's not considering the "collectors" out there, or those that only buy into a brand if there's a matching aftershave or ancillary products.  Eventually you'll hit a plateau of market saturation and you'll need to decide if you want to take it (and Grooming Dept as a whole) further.  Witness some of the well established artisans that are breaking out of the wet shaving market with fragrances, like Barrister and Mann and Declaration Grooming, to name a few.  The fact is, nobody's getting rich making soaps.  These are things you need to decide, or at least keep in the back of your mind moving forward.

I'm paying attention to the market, and have studied the market for about 2 years before I entered it. Some brands develop fanboy clubs, some brands rely on hiveminds to grow their presence, etc.. I'm fully aware how the wetshaving market works I'm making my own mistakes, fixing them as I progress, part of succeeding for me is making lots of mistakes and fixing them. Grooming Dept is super young, and will go to many markets beyond the wet shaving community. It takes times and money. I'm patient.

I have a massive backlog of formulae and scents, aftershaves, an awesome face-wash/pre-shave, interesting post shave products, brush/brushless cream and colognes are coming this summer. I'm working on a shoe-string budget. The only money I can invest is money from making soaps I have already sold. The brand is growing, and it's becoming clear why Grooming Dept is different. I'm having fun

I think constructive feedback can be useful, but it can be hard to be constructive without understanding Mohammad's aims for his business. For instance, I rarely read people complaining that Jabonman/Eufros doesn't have a website. It seems like most just accept that's how Manuel wants to do business. He'd already have a website if he wanted to do that.

On the other hand, I do think the suggestions around high quality labels, side labels, higher resolution text and graphics make sense. It sounds like Mohammad is already on top of this, which is great.

The other thing I will add is that some containers don't have a name on them, which can be confusing for customers. I could easily see doing just an image for the top of the lid and GroomingDept + the soap name on the side. Then, Mohammad has a lot of flexibility with the top image, while still having some consistency with the brand identity. That's my suggestion, but I'll still enjoy GroomingDept if that's not in line with what Mohammad wants to do.

I think constructive feedback can be useful, but it can be hard to be constructive without understanding Mohammad's aims for his business. For instance, I rarely read people complaining that Jabonman/Eufros doesn't have a website. It seems like most just accept that's how Manuel wants to do business. He'd already have a website if he wanted to do that.

On the other hand, I do think the suggestions around high quality labels, side labels, higher resolution text and graphics make sense. It sounds like Mohammad is already on top of this, which is great.

The other thing I will add is that some containers don't have a name on them, which can be confusing for customers. I could easily see doing just an image for the top of the lid and GroomingDept + the soap name on the side. Then, Mohammad has a lot of flexibility with the top image, while still having some consistency with the brand identity. That's my suggestion, but I'll still enjoy GroomingDept if that's not in line with what Mohammad wants to do.

I very much agree about how the labels can be confusing to some people! Side labels are coming to all releases and restocks.

I think constructive feedback can be useful, but it can be hard to be constructive without understanding Mohammad's aims for his business. For instance, I rarely read people complaining that Jabonman/Eufros doesn't have a website. It seems like most just accept that's how Manuel wants to do business. He'd already have a website if he wanted to do that.

On the other hand, I do think the suggestions around high quality labels, side labels, higher resolution text and graphics make sense. It sounds like Mohammad is already on top of this, which is great.

The other thing I will add is that some containers don't have a name on them, which can be confusing for customers. I could easily see doing just an image for the top of the lid and GroomingDept + the soap name on the side. Then, Mohammad has a lot of flexibility with the top image, while still having some consistency with the brand identity. That's my suggestion, but I'll still enjoy GroomingDept if that's not in line with what Mohammad wants to do.

I very much agree about how the labels can be confusing to some people! Side labels are coming to all releases and restocks.

Glad to hear that. I really like the earl gray gelato duck artwork, btw. I thought that was more fun than a realistic image. Looking forward to the restock!


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I think constructive feedback can be useful, but it can be hard to be constructive without understanding Mohammad's aims for his business. For instance, I rarely read people complaining that Jabonman/Eufros doesn't have a website. It seems like most just accept that's how Manuel wants to do business. He'd already have a website if he wanted to do that.

On the other hand, I do think the suggestions around high quality labels, side labels, higher resolution text and graphics make sense. It sounds like Mohammad is already on top of this, which is great.

The other thing I will add is that some containers don't have a name on them, which can be confusing for customers. I could easily see doing just an image for the top of the lid and GroomingDept + the soap name on the side. Then, Mohammad has a lot of flexibility with the top image, while still having some consistency with the brand identity. That's my suggestion, but I'll still enjoy GroomingDept if that's not in line with what Mohammad wants to do.

I very much agree about how the labels can be confusing to some people! Side labels are coming to all releases and restocks.

Glad to hear that. I really like the earl gray gelato duck artwork, btw. I thought that was more fun than a realistic image. Looking forward to the restock!


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As you see BoarderPhreak When people weigh in they're leaning towards being positive about the labels. Even @iamsms once said he's not keen on the some of the labels, came around and gave me a compliment on the PAX label


Brand identity takes time to evolve, along the way there will always be people confused or angered by how a brand develops. I'm one person, I don't have a marketing dept to define the message and identity form the get-go. I don't have a budget to hire models or graphic designers. I don't have the backing of a hive mind to convey my message!

What you're seeing is my taste, I consider myself an artisan who strives to make some really awesome products. The identity of the products evolves from what I like about art and art I produce. As you know, whenever an artist produces a piece of work, one opens ones self to criticism and accolades, I'm happy to hear both and feel lucky that people are paying attention to what I'm producing.

BoarderPhreak I'm gonna be the repetitive one now

I know the packaging needs to communicate certain points, and it will when the side label arrive. I want to keep coming back to the aesthetics of Grooming Dept packing, because for me it's an important part of the identity.

I'm a huge fan of certain kinds of music that are not necessarily mainstream. In the early years of these music labels, in obscurity, they produced some well regarded album designs, at that time many people looked at them as childish, irrelevant marginal artworks, but now those designs and the artist behind them are well respected. I'm not saying my label will reach those heights But I'm saying: I take my labels seriously as an expression of me and things I like.

If you are interested, please google some of the album covers introduced by these music labels: Thrill Jockey, Sub Pop, Warp, 4AD, early Rough Trade, Creation, Factory, Ninja Tune and Mute, and tons more…

Hello Mohammed, few questions...

1) I see the Mango as more of an unripe Mango, does it mean that it will be a more sour mango as opposed to a sweet mango scent?


3) Will it be a simple single scented soap or are there some scent combination in the back?

Love the idea of peace, mango and orange.

Love SdP sweet orange, i hope this triumph (scent wise) as I'm a advocate of tallow base soap.



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HI aerolord

1) I see the Mango as more of an unripe Mango, does it mean that it will be a more sour mango as opposed to a sweet mango scent?
It will be on the tropical side, with some tartness highlighted

2) Will it be fragrance oil or essential oil?
I don't use fragrance oils. All my scents are blends I compose of fragrance compounds used by the perfume industry known as Aroma Chemicals/Molecules and essential oils.


3) Will it be a simple single scented soap or are there some scent combination in the back?
It's a simple scent in the fact that it will highlight the primary scent note, all other notes are there to emphasize and anchor the primary note. I personally don't see the point of just pouring lime or orange essential in soap and just calling that a lime or orange soap


All the fruit scented soaps will be in the tallow base. I'll have 2-3 different citrus scents for the vegan base, I like the sound of Mango and Orange!

Thank you for getting in touch, I hope you find the answers satisfactory.

Nice photo. I like your Dottie bowl. I use one as well. They are really efficient.