Comb a beard, plant a tree with Green Beard Grooming

By Brandy Cochran

Special to The Press

There is no greater feeling of knowing one is alive than going outside on a nice, clear, brisk morning and inhaling long, deep, fresh breaths of air. In Tennessee, the abundance of trees and foliage can easily be taken for granted, but the reality is that not everyone can be as lucky to live in an area that respects and supports forests and wildlife. In fact, many cities have built-in green spaces for the public to enjoy simply because they live in concrete jungles, where skyscrapers are their sequoias. With a deforestation epidemic occurring alongside these cities, it’s easy to see why climate change is occurring at such an exponential rate.

Ryan Trump, an avid nature-lover, who grew up in Nebraska on his parents’ Christmas Tree farm, Pinecrest Farms, knew he wanted a vessel to combat climate change, but taking on such a large and complex problem can feel daunting to anyone, even this recent UTM Masters of Business graduate. As fate would have it, though, Trump did end up stumbling across a way he could do his part to tackle climate change while he and his wife, Caroline, were planning their wedding. “When ordering [beard] combs for my groomsmen, I realized how expensive wooden combs are to buy,” Trump explained, “If you haven’t noticed, I have a rather large mustache, and so I would keep a plastic beard comb on me at all times, but I would always end up losing or breaking it, so I started my own wooden beard comb company.”

Green Beard Grooming is a true grassroots level campaign that can be found on kickstarter.com, a website designed to help small businesses launch their unique products and inventions with the support of the public. Currently, Green Beard Grooming has the local support the university of Tennessee, as well as the Martin Tree Board. For now, customers can choose between two different wooden combs—“Tree-mendous” sandalwood folding comb and Naturally Normal bamboo pocket comb thee-pack. Both are made from quality products that are not only filled with essential oils that continuously threat the hair every time combed but are also sustainably made to last and not break, unlike plastic combs.

But how do selling high-quality wooden combs and making an environmental impact tie in together? For every purchase made, Green Beard Grooming lets the customer personally give back to the Earth by planting two trees for every sandalwood comb and one for each bamboo comb sold. Trump was able to connect with his company’s partner in Vermont, One Tree Planted, through past relationships formed while working for the skiing industry at Copper Mountain, Colorado within the White River Forest. During his time spent there, he grew to love the lifestyle of free access to the forest but internally struggled with the corporate greed and hypocrisy of the ski industry. Eventually, he became a Protective Planter for three years before moving to Martin. Green Beard Grooming is his way of continuing his work while pursuing other career interests locally.

Because of the mass affect the novel coronavirus is having on all communities, Green Bead Grooming’s meeting with the Zoning Board Committee of Martin has been postponed to next month, but anyone can still order from the kickstarter.com in the meantime; just don’t delay because the campaign ends in April! All orders anytime until then will give customers a chance to double their karma by planting trees in Australia to aid in rebuilding after the massive wildfires and having all comb purchases delivered by Father’s Day. “If the campaign ends up being a success, we will launch our website for future orders,” Trump says.

No matter how its shaken, no one can deny that everyone benefits from Green Beard Grooming; whether it’s the man who needs a reliable beard comb, the wife, sister, daughter or friend searching for the perfect male gift, or the wildlife who benefit from forest repopulation. When you order from Green Beard Grooming, you can take satisfaction in that next fresh breath of clean air taken knowing you took part in it.

For purchases and buying options, visit Green Beard Grooming on Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryan-trump/green-beard-grmng-wood-combs-turning-beards-into-forests, and for promotions, therapy videos, and web comics, find the company on Facebook, and Instagram—website coming soon.

Editor’s note: Brandy Cochran is an entertainment and business reporter for the Weakley County Press. She may be contacted by email peace.love.brandy@gmail.com.