Who is behind the brand? Jony Smith Combs

Name: Jony Smith

Age: 40 +7

Brand name: JonySmith.com

Where do you live? Sherwood Forest

Why did you choose that name for your brand? It’s my name and I’d already had my website set up from making jewellery

When did you first start making beard care products? 4 years ago

What is your favourite thing about making and selling beard care products? Getting great feedback about my craftsmanship

What do you dislike about making and selling beard care? The mess, so much dust and the pain, as I hand cut all my combs it can really hurt my hands

How many hours do you normally spend making beard care in a week? Normally about 15hrs

Where do you make the beard care products? In our spare room, much to the disgust of my wife as it’s so dusty

What is your favourite product from your brand? Mainly my Moustache Comb the Bristow, as I usually sport an award winning Moustache

What one other beard care brand or brand owner do you admire? Fine Fettle by Stuart & Danny , brilliant guys and the best products out there imo

What plans do you have for the brand? Try and push it a bit more, I’m very bad at self promotion

What are your hobbies? Running, I completed my first marathon in October, tattoo collecting and traveling

Are you married/in a relationship? I’ve been married for 15 years this year and my Wife is amazing, I owe her so much

What motivates you? Making money to go travelling

What are your strengths? Hopefully kindness

What are your weaknesses? Self confidence

When was the last time you were angry? I’m trying to be less angry, but racism of any kind really pushes my buttons

What happened? I was on a Facebook forum and there was a racist thread, I posted on it raising the issues, but most of the replies were “it’s just banter”!!!

If you weren’t making beard care what would you want to do for a job? I’ve always worked in retail and it’s to late to become a stuntman

What were you like in high school? Small

Do you talk much? If I’m comfortable with the people, I’m sure my close friends think I talk too much and mostly rubbish

Are you introvert or extrovert? Depends, but mainly an introvert

If you could be any animal in the world, what animal would you be and why? Probably a loved dog that could fly

How do you handle stress and pressure? Not very well

What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done? How long have you got?

What’s the best holiday you can imagine? I’ve been fortunate to have had some amazing holidays, but I’d love to do the Pan-American Highway on a motorbike

What is your favourite food? The fresh Tortellini served at Osteria dell’orsa in Bologna, it’s so good I got one tattooed on my leg!

What is your favourite alcoholic drink? I hardly drink now, but a nice cold lager in a beautiful sunny setting would do, if you’re buying

What is your most proud achievement? Running the Kielder marathon

What is/are your phobias? Flat bottomed boats!! I had a terrible experience on one in Tunisia years ago

Where does the Ox Horn come from? I get the horn (oh er) from a company in Scotland, who get it from West Africa

Does the horn require any prep before it can be used? It comes to me already in sheets, so it has been steamed to make it flat and cut it to usable sizes

How long does it take to produce a comb? Depending on size, normally about an hour and a half, from cutting, (using a jewellers saw), hand sanding and then polishing

What gave you the idea of using Ox Horn? Ox horn tends to have more different colours than other horn and comes in bigger sheets, buffalo horn is easier to use, but it’s not as pretty

Why Ox Horn? Horn is made from Keratin, basically the same thing as your beard, so you don’t get snagging or static like if you used a wood, plastic or metal comb