Duke Cannon is a brand any self-respecting American man needs to know, and know intimately. That’s because this is personal hygiene brand, and personal hygiene is intimate stuff. But don’t confuse intimacy and delicacy, because there’s nothing delicate about Duke Cannon, whose mission statement can be summarized by this excerpt from their site:
“As any historian worth his salt will tell you, this country was built by folks with a sense of purpose. Duke Cannon’s purpose is simple: to make superior-quality grooming goods that meet the high standards of hard-working men. Our products are tested by soldiers, not boy bands. And they’re made in a little place we like to call the United States of America. We value things like hard work, family, community, bacon and country; we champion builders, creators, sledge hammerers, holders of doors and fixers of toilets.”
In other words, Duke Cannon has no time for “weak, watered down” body washes that “smell like a high school dance” or “bubble gum-flavored lip balm in dainty little tubes.” No, these are big, bold, personal care products manufactured to “meet the needs of 12-hour work days, not 45-minute tennis lessons.” And they’re products with awesome names, like Trench Warfare Body and Foot Powder and Best Damn Beard Balm.
Now, would you pay more for a shampoo because it has a name like News Anchor Hair Wash and certified that “your hair is a weapon … that commands the respect of others” or a shower soap called Naval Supremacy designed for “hard-working men [who] require a shower of substance to accomplish a full day’s work?” You might, right?
Well good news, you don’t have to.
Duke Cannon products may come with some charmingly inflated rhetoric, but they don’t come with highfalutin price tags. The company’s products, which span from shaving and beard care products to hair styling products to lip and knuckle balms, are decidedly male-oriented and are of high quality, yet they are more than affordable for daily use. I should know, as I use several of them daily. (And maybe it’s the power of suggestion, but I’d say my shower gel really does rather smell like naval supremacy as they say. Or maybe it’s just bergamot.)
The Duke Cannon brand persona is manly and swaggering and largely tongue in cheek, but they back up their bravado with more than a slew of fine personal grooming products. They liaise directly with active duty soldiers, using military men as their focus group for product testing and donating a share of profits to charitable groups working with veterans.
Also, the Big Ass Brick of Soap that comes in scents including Campfire, American Bourbon, Fresh Cut Pine, and more is directly modeled after the bars of soap issued to American GIs during the Korean War, and is made in the very same factory that supplied much of the soap to our soldiers back in that era.
And if you’re looking for a great gift for that manly man you call husband, dad, son, bro, or… uh… Chet, Duke Cannon has you (and Chet) covered there, too: their gift bundles are a great deal and are brilliantly packaged.
