He Put a Pint of Guinness in His First Batch of Soap. Now 125,000 People Won't Use Anything Else.
John Larkin was a bored dad in lockdown Dublin with dry skin and drinking cans of Guinness in a socially distant manner from his neighbours, when he had an idea.. Four years later, men in 30+ countries are ditching their shower gel for his handmade soap bars — and their wives keep stealing them.
I'll be honest with you. I didn't start The Black Stuff because I had some grand vision for a "men's grooming brand." I started it because I was bored, locked in my house during Covid, and my skin was in bits from whatever 3-in-1 shower gel I'd been using for the last decade.
My wife had these fancy soap bars in the bathroom. I tried one. It was miles better. My skin wasn't tight or itchy after showering. It actually felt… normal. Good, even.
And that annoyed me. Why was every product marketed at men either a chemical-laden body wash or a bar of chalk that smelled like a car air freshener? Why did I have to steal my wife's soap to not have dry skin?
So — and I realise this sounds like the start of a bad joke — I ended up trying to make soap out of Guinness.
I ordered olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, and lye. Mixed it with the stout. Poured it into a mould. Waited weeks. Then I used it — and immediately thought: why does this feel so different?
— John Larkin, on his first batchThe lather was thick and creamy — not that thin, slimy feel you get from commercial soap. The scent was warm: pine and cedarwood and just a hint of the stout underneath. And my skin afterwards? Not tight. Not stripped. Just clean. Properly, actually clean.
I gave a few bars to friends. They loved it too.
I decided to start a soap brand, and named it The Black Stuff. For the first 18 months I made every product we sold in my home. Eventually I was able to employ people to help.
5 years later we have 35+ employees but still make every product ourselves by hand, 54 at a time.
Here's What Your Shower Gel Isn't Telling You
Pick up whatever body wash or soap bar is in your shower right now. Flip it over. Read the ingredients.
Sodium Lauryl Sulphate. Cocamidopropyl Betaine. Fragrance (which, by the way, is a legal catch-all that can contain dozens of undisclosed chemicals). Methylisothiazolinone. These aren't cleaning agents — they're industrial detergents. The same SLS in your shower gel is used in engine degreasers.
That tight, dry feeling after you shower? That's not "clean." That's your skin stripped of its natural oils, desperately trying to recover.
And the "natural" alternatives? I've looked at most of them. Most still use fragrance oils (synthetic, just with a green label). The other half dissolve in a couple of uses.
I wanted something in between. Soap made from ingredients I could actually read. That smelled like real things — pine, cedarwood, black pepper — not a lab technician's idea of "Mountain Fresh." A soap that didn't dissolve in the shower tray, where you felt like the premium price was worth it.
That's what The Black Stuff is. No mystery ingredients. No "proprietary blend" (which is just marketing speak for "we're not telling you"). Every single thing in our bars is listed, explained, and there for a reason. If I wouldn't put it on my own skin, it's not going in your soap.
Want to try a few bars? Our bundles are the most popular way to get started — pick a set and we'll ship it free.
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What's Actually in These Bars (And Why It Matters)
Every bar is cold-processed. If you don't know what that means: most commercial soap makers use a hot process that strips out the glycerin (the bit that actually moisturises your skin) so they can sell it separately to cosmetics companies. We don't. The glycerin stays in the bar where it belongs.
I blend every scent profile myself from pure essential oils. Not fragrance oils — actual plant extracts. Pine from Scots pine trees. Cedarwood. Spearmint. Basil. Orange. Black pepper. It takes longer and costs more, but the difference is night and day. You know when you walk into a room and something smells incredible but you can't quite place it? That's what real essential oils do. Synthetic fragrance just smells like… synthetic fragrance.
Each bar cures for 3-4 weeks before it's ready. That's the part people don't realise about handmade soap — the patience. It's what makes the bar hard enough to last 21+ daily showers instead of dissolving into mush after a week like the supermarket stuff. The Atlantic Pine Tar, for example, has volcanic pumice and activated charcoal worked through it — you can feel the texture when you wash. It's a proper scrub, not a smooth bar pretending to exfoliate.
28,000 Five-Star Reviews (And the Odd Complaint That "My Wife Keeps Nicking My Soap")
Look, I'm biased. Of course I think my soap is class. So here's what the people who've actually spent their own money on it have to say:
We don't do influencer deals. We've never taken a cent of investor money. The Black Stuff grew the old-fashioned way: someone tries it, tells their mate, their mate tells someone else. We have a private Facebook group with 13,000 people in it who just… talk about soap. Argue about which scent is best. Post photos of their shower setups. It's mad, and I love it.
Kitchen → Shed → Workshop (But Still 54 Bars at a Time)
The business outgrew my kitchen in 18 months. Then it outgrew the shed a year later. Now we're in a proper workshop in Sandyford, Dublin, with 30+ full-time staff. My daughter Aimee even made me create a lavender deodorant (it's called "Aimee's Lovely Lavender" and it's one of our bestsellers — she won't let me forget it).
But here's the thing that matters: every bar is still made the same way I made that first batch. Cold-processed. Hand-cut. Six-week cure. 54 bars at a time. We didn't automate it. We didn't outsource it. When you open a bar of The Black Stuff, a person made that. Not a machine.
We ship from Dublin for Ireland and Europe, from London for the UK, and from Tennessee for the US and from Toronto for Canada. It takes us a couple days to get it posted, but we try our best to get it out asap.
And the name? In Ireland, "the black stuff" means Guinness. It's not clever — it's just honest. Wholesomeness, hard work, heritage. A proper pint and a proper bar of soap. That's what we're about.
I didn't plan any of this. I just wanted to stop using rubbish soap. Four years later I employ 30 people and sell all over the world. Life's strange like that.
— John Larkin
Easiest Way to Try It? Grab a Bundle.
I know there's a lot of choice on our site, so we put together bundles that make it easy to get started. Each one comes with a mix of our most popular soaps (and some include deodorants too). You save 40%+ compared to buying bars individually. Free shipping on every bundle, and if you don't love a scent, we'll swap it for free — that's our First Scent Guarantee.
Most people start with a bundle to find their favourites, then come back for more of what they liked. No pressure, no subscription required — just good soap.
If you've read this far, fair play — that was a lot of words about soap. But that's kind of the point. I care about this stuff probably more than is healthy. If you're even a little curious, grab a bundle and see what the fuss is about. Worst case, you don't love a scent and we send you something else free. Best case, you never go back to shower gel.
Cheers,
John LarkinFounder & Chief Soap Maker, The Black Stuff 🧼🍺
