The Founders
Luke and Kirstie Sherriff set up Proverb with the mission to inspire men to feel better about their skin, body and mindset through being lifefuelled.
The pair met at Oxford University from where Luke signed a professional rugby contract for Harlequins RFC and played in the Premiership and in top flight rugby for 11 years including the England and Great Britain 7s and Barbarians squads as well as captaining Harlequins in the Heineken Cup. Understandably he developed a dedication to elite health, diet and wellbeing leading him to join Kirstie in 2009 to launch their first natural and organic range.
Kirstie was listed as the 2015 Number One Most Influential Person in the Natural Beauty Yearbook 'Who's Who'. She has developed beauty schools, an organic certified spa product house and has been responsible for developing treatment protocols and training therapists to have an elite 5* spa touch globally with spas such as Aman Global Resorts, Cowley Manor and The Scarlet. In 2015 John Lewis's first concept &Beauty spas were added to this list.
Ben Burch, the final founder, is a former Great Britain Rower who recently completed the arduous Marathon Des Sables comprising of 160 miles in 6 days across the desert for 'fun'. While officially he is the IT expert, it is his mental drive and resilience that complete the Proverb trio of skin, body and mindset.
They set up Proverb with the mission to inspire men to feel better about their skin, body and mindset through being lifefuelled – Get Out What You Put In.
We put the following question to them 'tell us five things which make Proverb a skincare game-changer', here's what they said;
When Kirstie, Ben and I came together to create PROVERB we all bought different things to the table but all with the same aim in mind - to inspire men to have healthier skin, body and mindsets so that they may perform at their best every day..
This required doing things differently to normal skincare brands.
1. The Product Formulations
Don't get me wrong we love brands and have spent a long time making sure that Proverb, #lifefuelled Skincare for Men, communicates with our customers on a number of levels. However at our core was the drive to prove that skincare formulated using clean, natural and active ingredients could perform beyond expectations of natural cosmetics and provenly deliver the sort of results associated with more main stream cosmetics made from synthetic chemicals. So after two years of development when our moisturisers out performed the best selling moisturiser from a leading brand it was a pretty significant day in the world of #teamproverb. Oh and it's genuinely formulated for men and tested on male skin, not just generic formulations.
2. Honesty and Transparency
We don't for one minute think that brands go out of their way to deliver mistruths but many by nature of their size or simply lack of faith in the public to be 100% transparent often don't tell the whole story. One of the benefits of starting out in 2018 during the age of Social Media, where authenticity and accountability are the what audiences are looking for, was that we are able to capitalise on what comes naturally, the truth. The name Proverb stands for a 'short statement of truth or advice' and it is with this idea in mind that we develop all of our products, contents and relationships.
3. Driven by need to Perform
Men in particular often feel the pressure to perform in all areas of their life be it work, family or socially. As with our products that are formulated to perform we are passionate about helping men improve their performance in these different areas of their life by considering their overall state of wellness. From incorporating our products in a morning routine designed to help you set up right for the day, to education on how looking after yourself mentally and physically, all can lead to a higher level of performance. Thinking, feeling and looking better doesn't happen by accident after all #getoutwhatyouputin
4. Fits with your Active Lifestyle
Ben and I both come from a professional sports background and with Kirstie bringing her 20 years of experience in the health and spa industry we all have an understanding of just how important an active lifestyle is for building a strong mind and body. This idea of linking body and mind is I am sure why more and more people are striving for a healthy active lifestyle, be it the growing cycling trend, the explosion of yoga in the last decade or changing attitudes towards diets. That is why Proverb takes the understanding and efficacy of elite sports nutrition, choosing ingredients you would happily put into an organic smoothie, and apply it to your skin. In addition we are honest about how important the impact of your diet is on how you look and feel and so have developed a dietary supplement to support the work our skincare does from the inside out. Excitingly we are also embarking on developing a unique programme of massage treatments aimed at taking the best of personal training, spa and physiotherapy to work alongside an individuals' health goals to enhance their results.
5. Created to give back
As individuals the three of us are clear about one thing, we are extremely grateful for the position we find ourselves in and the chance to work on a project that we are all so passionate about. That is not to say that running your own business doesn't come with challenges nor that the very challenges we are trying to help men overcome in their lives aren't real but for the most part these are very much #firstworldproblems. So we have pledged that Proverb will not only inspire men to healthier skin, body and mindsets but will make a difference to those far less fortunate than ourselves for whom some of the basic requirements of life, like clean water, are a daily struggle. We have already donated a proportion of our profits in years 1 and 2 to @wateraid but have something more in mind for the year ahead. All I can say at present is watch this space but I promise it will be a "game changer".
