As a man of mediterranean origin, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have a beard. I’m pretty sure I was born with one. (That is, until quite recently when this deeply foolish human lost a bet and the last remaining shreds of my dignity. Never bet on baseball, kids.) My punishment was shaving off my beard and it was all fun and games until I got a glimpse of myself bare-shaven for the first time. At that moment I swore that, as God is my witness, I will never go barefaced again. (I was also threatened with divorce and endless good-humored (?) mockery, but some things are best left unsaid).

Interestingly, I learned a lot when growing the beard back. For the first few weeks, my face was itchy and unhappy. I felt myself scratching at the stubble until I realized that I hadn’t been taking care of my stubble the way I had cared for my full beard. For years I had used oils and butters to keep the beard tidy and orderly, but I had been essentially ignoring this new stubble—I was drying my face with a towel and moving on with my day. As a result, my beard was dry and scratchy, and my cheeks and chin were itchy, red, and tight.

That’s when I called our Research Alchemist Belladonna and described what I wanted—a dual-purpose moisturizing cream that would fix the dryness and irritation of my skin but still provide light and non-greasy conditioning for my stubble. She formulated a variation on her Magic Cream, and the results are not only amazing—they are unique in the world of beard care. EA Beard Cream not only moisturizes with squalane and hyaluronic acid, it holds in that moisture with shea butter, and aloe. My skin feels great and my beard is soft and shiny.

I had originally envisioned EA Beard Cream as a transitional product to tide me over until I needed the weightier control of pure oils and butters to keep my unruly beard in line, but I have realized that it’s actually an important part of a healthy beard at all stages.

By this point everyone with stubble probably has a bottle of beard oil stashed in a drawer somewhere. Fantastic stuff, keep using it, and remember Eliza Alchemy makes some of the best out there—but we need to normalize the idea of beard creams. There really isn’t anything comparable to EA Beard Cream in the current market. Soften that stubble, treat that face, and grow yourself some epic facial hair.

You may not have sported facial hair practically from birth like I did, but with such a happy, heathy beard, who’s gonna know?