Why Pine Forge

FOUNDER · DAYTONA BEACH, FL

Miguel Gonzalez

For over twenty years, I worked in TV mounting and home technology installation. Long days running cable, climbing through attics, and working with my hands took their toll. I have naturally sensitive skin, so finding products I genuinely enjoyed using was always frustrating.

Then one day, my wife brought home a bar of natural charcoal musk soap for me to try.

I wasn’t expecting much.

But after using it, I finally found something I enjoyed. It smelled like something made for men, and for the first time I had a product I looked forward to using every day.

A few weeks later, I went back to buy another bar.

The soap maker was gone.

Instead of continuing to search for something I couldn’t buy anymore, I decided to learn how to make my own.

What I thought would take a few weeks turned into eight months of trial and error. I kept experimenting, learning, and improving until I finally created products I was proud to use every day.

Then I started bringing my products to local markets.

I had no idea how they’d land.

Men would stop because the scents caught their attention. We’d start talking. Again and again I heard the same thing — they wanted bold masculine scents, but they cared about what they were putting on their skin too.

Before long, I started recognizing the same faces at my booth.

I wasn’t the only one looking for that combination.

Pine Forge didn’t start because I wanted to build a soap company. It started because I found something I couldn’t replace — and it turned out a lot of other men had been looking for it too.

— Miguel Gonzalez
Founder, Pine Forge Soap Co. · Daytona Beach, Florida