Reuzel

Reuzel is a Dutch-rooted men's grooming brand built around pomades and barbering products. It grew out of Schorem Haarsnijder & Barbier, a Rotterdam barbershop opened in 2011 by barbers Leen Bergmann and Bertus Jan Rietveld, who began mixing their own pomade formulas in the shop's kitchen after concluding that the products on the market did not meet their standards. The name is the Dutch word for lard, a nod to the animal fats used in old-fashioned pomades.

The brand remains active and trades internationally, with a US corporate arm and continued distribution through its own website and Amazon. Reuzel describes its audience as the "greasers, rockers, psychobillies, ruffians" and other subcultural regulars of the barbershop, and sums up its positioning in the tagline "Created By Barbers, Used By Everyone."

Bergmann and Rietveld — known in the shop's imagery by the nicknames "The Bearded Bastard" and "The Bloody Butcher" — ran Schorem in Rotterdam before turning their kitchen experiments into a product line. According to the founders, the early formulation work was hands-on to the point of hazard; they have said they nearly burned down the barbershop while developing the first greases. Rietveld framed the ethos plainly in a 2019 interview: the brand "started in the kitchen of our barbershop, not in some factory or design office," which he called its "D.I.Y. mentality."

Sources differ on how many people should be counted as founders. Reuzel's own about-us page foregrounds only Bergmann and Rietveld, the two barbers behind the creative side. Editorial coverage in Glossy instead lists five co-founders, adding the business partners Laurence Hegarty, Rob Wilcox and David Raccuglia [7]; Wilcox is also identified as the company's chief executive.

The barbershop opened in 2011, and the company Reuzel Inc. was formally established in 2014 [7]. The founding date is not stated consistently across sources: the brand's about-us page describes the operation as having begun "about 40 years ago," a framing that would place it in the 1980s and is not supported by any other documented evidence [2]. Editorial and corporate records point to 2014, and the company marked its tenth anniversary in 2024 [7], which is the establishment year used here.

Reuzel launched in the United Kingdom in early 2016 through the Good Salon Guide [6]. In 2024 it released the Severed Head Strong Hold Clay Pomade in collaboration with the beverage brand Liquid Death, its first such partnership, timed to the tenth anniversary and kept as a permanent product rather than a limited edition [7]. The company also runs an annual music festival, Scumbash.

Reuzel draws on rock-and-roll, Kustom Kulture and working-class Dutch subcultures, and presents itself as a "premium brand for subcultures" that has since broadened to serve all hair types and textures. The company's stated mission is "for those ready to sculpt a style, write a story, and be part of a legacy." Alongside its consumer business, the founders run a barber academy, described as "The Old School," which trains students from several countries.

Pomades are the core of the range, historically sold in tiered tin sizes nicknamed Piglet, Pig and Hog. The first formula was the heavy-hold, oil-based Pink grease, described in editorial coverage as an "instant classic" [6]; the line grew to include the medium-hold Green grease scented with peppermint, the water-soluble Red pomade with a vanilla-cola fragrance, and the Extreme Hold Matte pomade. The founders have singled out the Grooming Tonic for its versatility. Beyond styling, Reuzel sells beard and shave care, shampoo and conditioner, and tattoo aftercare, and its site notes the products have been "used in 400+ movies & TV shows."

On ethics, the company states that it follows cruelty-free practices and is Leaping Bunny certified, with vegan formulations "where possible" [2].

Reuzel is an active, globally distributed brand. Its most recent widely reported activity is the 2024 Liquid Death collaboration and tenth-anniversary marketing; corporate databases list it at roughly 51 employees across North America and Europe [9]. Its business is run through a US-incorporated company while its origin and creative identity remain tied to the Schorem barbershop in Rotterdam.