About Face
H E ALT H &
F I TNE S S
A Burlington company wants men to get the message about natural skin care B Y cHA rl ES E I c HAc k E r
01.15.14-01.22.14 SEVEN DAYS 36 FEATURE
SEVEN DAYS: Where does the name Ursa major come from? OLIVER SWEATMAN: We tortured our selves choosing a name, and we tortured our f riends, too. At some point, we stum bled onto Ursa Major [Latin f or “larger bear” and the Big Dipper constellation]. We were riffing on the whole bear thing, and I took Latin, so we were like, “That’s f un.” Em’s a big animal lover, and there’s also this cool mythology around the Big Dipper being a way of finding stars. We liked that idea of awareness and discovery, and we thought that was a cool thing to weave into our brand story. In some ways, it reflects what we’ve done moving to Vermont.
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n December 2010, a new Vermont company called Ursa Major launched its first product: a shaving cream. And its f ounders, Emily Doyle and Oliver Sweatman, had a moment of terror. “We launched with this expensive shaving cream in a recession, in Vermont, where everyone was already growing a beard, and with a [company] name no one could pronounce!” Sweatman says. “It was like, oh, my God.” Doyle and Sweatman, lif e partners and veterans of the skin-care industry, had met in New York City and decamped to Vermont in 2009. They planned to start a business together, but “at the time, we didn’t know what it was going to be,” Sweatman recalls. “We thought maybe we should try something else — snacks, beer, sausages, whatever.” The economy was tanking, though, so Doyle and Sweatman decided to stick with what they knew. A year of research and development went into Ursa Major’s shaving cream, which didn’t f all victim to the whiskers trend af ter all. Two years af ter it hit the market, Esquire magazine declared it the best shaving cream of the year. Now the company offers four other products: face wash, tonic, balm and wipes. Sweatman and Doyle live in Morrisville; until last summer, they based their business in Stowe (their f ormulators work in labs outside Vermont). In the f all, they hired six employees and moved operations to a Burlington office on lower Maple Street. For this week’s issue focused on health, Seven Days sat down with Doyle and Sweatman to learn about their products and what men should be doing f or their body’s largest organ.
of “Oh, my God. This f eels so good, and my skin f eels so comf ortable. I don’t f eel itchy.” OS: One analogy for this is beer. Maybe 20 years ago, most people drank Budweiser, Coors, Coors Light. Now, in craft-beer culture, there’s a whole language. When you talk to college kids now, they’re like, “I like an IPA, a lager, an ale,” and they know the difference. It’s not exactly the same, but there are some parallels in terms of guys getting more familiar with different kinds of products. ED: And also being willing to pay up a little bit for something they love. SD: So, I’m your young guy in Vermont growing a beard in the winter. What sort of regimen would you prescribe for me? OS: First of all, I get skeptical of these companies that say, “Here is this regimen that you need to f ollow every step.” No one’s the same. But generally speaking, I think washing your face twice a day with a good, sulfate-free cleanser is a very good thing to do. If you shave, you shave. That’s great. But the next step would be a light hydration product, and, if you’re going to spend any time outdoors, I would put on a natural SPF. Above and beyond that, a mild scrub or exfoliation-type product can be very helpful, because guys tend to build up a lot of dry skin. If you have shaving issues, I think a f ace tonic can be very helpf ul. A lot of guys have ingrown hairs or razor bumps.
EMILY DOYLE: Our brand is about get ting outdoors and connecting with nature, so we wanted to reflect this feeling of getting outside. SD: We don’t typically think of men as consumers of skin-care products. How has it been marketing to them? OS: I would say that there’s a growing pool of men increasingly interested in taking better care of themselves. They’re much more open to engaging with these
products than my dad, f or example, or my grandfather. As the awareness around potentially unhealthy chemicals in [skincare] products is growing, there are more health-conscious guys who are looking for an effective, natural alternative. We’re trying to focus on that guy. ED: That said, there’s also still that barsoap guy out there, and he uses the bar soap head to toe. But when we introduce him to our stuff, often we see this response
SD: Beyond the immediate face-wash or shaving products, are there any products or life habits that you recommend for better skin? OS: First of all, genetics has a lot to do with it. Putting that aside, your diet can make a huge difference: staying well hydrated, having a healthy, balanced diet. Stress is a big one. Sleep. People in Vermont tend to spend a large amount of time outdoors, but only about 30 percent of men use SPF, whereas 78 percent of women use SPF, so that’s a huge one for guys. ED: We’re working on a natural SPF, be cause that’s the No. 1 thing you can use to really keep your skin looking younger. SD: Are there any broad differences between men’s and women’s skin care? OS: There are definite physiological