About stubble + 'stache | Skincare for Men With Facial Hair

Our Story

Why I started stubble + 'stache

Nick Karnaze, founder of stubble + 'stache, on deployment in Afghanistan, standing in a wheat field in full gear

Built in the real world

Before starting stubble + 'stache, I served as a Marine and Special Operations Intelligence Officer.

I spent years outside in places like Afghanistan, including riding as a turret gunner in 120-degree heat with my face exposed to everything the environment could throw at it.

I grew up around medicine. My father was a doctor, my mother was a nurse, and a skin cancer scare when I was young meant skincare had always been somewhere in my life.

But the military changed what taking care of yourself meant to me.

It wasn’t vanity. You looked after your body. You kept yourself properly groomed. You took pride in your appearance.

It was part of having standards.

Nick Karnaze smiling in a waxed jacket outside a brick building, full beard

Then I grew a beard

After leaving the Marine Corps, a close friend of mine, Justin, was killed. Justin had a beard, and I decided to grow mine out for his funeral.

I was already using good skincare. But once the beard started growing in, my moisturizer didn’t work properly through the hair.

My skin became dry, itchy and flaky.

So I tried beard oil. That didn’t solve it either.

That’s when I realized there was a gap.

Skincare was made for my face until facial hair got in the way.

Beard care was made for the hair growing out of it.

Nobody seemed to be making proper skincare for the place where the two meet.

So I started making it myself.

The original stubble & 'stache face moisturizer and beard conditioner tube held up at golden hour on the Northern California coast

From my kitchen to a lab

I started mixing early versions of Hydrate in my kitchen. Then some friends from the Naval Academy who had gone on to become Navy SEALs were growing their beards before deployment and asked to try it.

They came back asking for more – and told me I should sell it.

If other people were going to put this stuff on their faces, though, I wanted it made properly.

So I found a professional cosmetic lab and gave them a simple but difficult brief: make me a moisturizer good enough to replace the premium skincare I already used, but make it work through facial hair too.

It needed to hydrate the skin underneath, condition the hair, absorb quickly and leave neither greasy.

We spent over a year getting Hydrate right.

That original idea still defines stubble + 'stache today.

Your beard is part of your face. Your skincare should treat it that way.

Nick Karnaze grinning at the camera from a garden bed at golden hour, a friend behind him

Made with standards

That philosophy extends beyond what our products do.

I told the lab from the beginning that I wanted to make the best product we could, then figure out the economics afterwards.

We start Cleanse and Hydrate with organic aloe vera leaf juice instead of water. We don’t use artificial fragrance. And when potential investors later suggested making our formulas cheaper to improve margins, I refused.

My standards around ingredients have only become stronger.

My interest in agriculture began while working on development projects in Afghanistan. Years later, I worked and studied regenerative organic agriculture at the Rodale Institute.

It taught me to care not only about what’s in a product, but where it came from and how it was grown.

It’s part of why stubble + 'stache is a Certified B Corporation today.

Nick Karnaze crouching at a splash pad with his family on a sunny day

Quiet confidence

There’s a version of masculinity that gets sold to men constantly. Louder. Tougher. Bigger beard. Bourbon-scented beard oil. Make sure everybody knows how masculine you are.

My experience taught me something different.

At MARSOC, we talked about being silent professionals.

The people who know what they’re capable of generally don’t need to advertise it.

You can care about your skin. You can care about how you look. You can take pride in how you present yourself without making any of it your personality.

Today I’m a husband and dad to two young daughters. Taking care of myself means being able to keep showing up for them, my wife and myself.

It’s not vanity.

It’s maintenance. Pride. Standards.

That’s what I want stubble + 'stache to represent.