Bearded barber’s shaving oil a clean cut for Mayo healthcare boss
By Tom Gillespie
BEARDED Castlebar barber Ger Staunton introduced entrepreneur Tom Murphy to a sensational shaving oil, which is now one of the top selling products for his company, Pamex, which he founded 30 years ago along with his wife Mary.
To get the oil, Total Shaving Solution, Tom, managing director of Pamex, went to America and secured the world rights and brought the product to Ireland, which has since had a name change to De Facto.
Tom took up the story: “De Facto shaving oil is going very well for us at the moment. It is manufactured in Mayo and loved throughout the world. It is a great product, available in a 25m and 50m bottle as well as a sensitive with aloe vera in it.
“Our claim with De Facto is you might have many close shaves throughout your life but you won’t have any closer than you will have with De Facto. De Facto is not just the best a man can get. De Facto is the greatest anyone can get.
“It was Ger Staunton, the barber, who introduced me to Total Shaving Solution, as it was then. I went off to America and met the owners of the company."
He continued: “A number of years ago that owner died. We offered to buy it from his family and they would not sell it. That was when we decided to bring out our own one as De Facto.
“It is now manufactured in Mayo and we own everything about it, the IP, the trademark and every registration. It is all owned by Pamex.
“We sell it throughout the world but our difficulty now is with Mr. Trump and his tariffs. I can see by his skin that he does not use De Facto as we have no colouring in it. But now with the tariffs it is difficult for us to send products to the States.
“However, Marty Howley, a Mayoman and a good customer of ours with De Facto, was very disappointed he could not get the product without having to pay duty on it.
“He emailed us saying his nephew was coming to the States in a few days time and could we possibly contact the nephew and he could bring the bottles to Marty. We got the bottles to the nephew and Marty received his supply of De Facto shaving oil.
“We haven’t had one complaint this year about De Facto. We may have had one last year. In using De Facto the application of water is the secret sauce. You need approximately three to four drops of oil, put it on your wet skin and apply more water on your face and keep rinsing your razor. That’s it. It is very simple to use.”
Pamex executives are currently investigating using recycled plastic bottles for their products.
Tom, a native of The Green, Castlebar, continued: "We are 30 years in business. We are a 100 per cent Irish owned family business. We are lucky in what we do, we have great people, we have 106 great products, and it is great the fact that the products we bring to the Irish market are products that are of benefit to people.
“It is lovely when people come back and say thank you very much for such a product which I came across, I used it and it was of great benefit to me.
“One classic example I often quote is of a lady in Castlebar who called to us many, many years ago and she thanked us for making her life so bearable.
“In actual fact she said: ‘You have saved my life’. I was very taken aback by that and I couldn’t understand it. She said, yes you brought in a product to Ireland called Bioxtra. It is a replacement saliva for cancer patients. When they get treatment for cancer, in lots of cases, unfortunately, one of the side effects is that the production of saliva is curtailed drastically.
“What this product does, it replaces saliva and it makes such a difference to their quality of life. It is used all over the world and is available in every pharmacy in Ireland and we brought that in quite a number of years ago. It is wonderful to see the good it can do. We don’t think about saliva until it's gone but we need it to speak, to sleep, to eat.”
Tom continued: “We have the number one selling precision biotic in Ireland called Alflorex. That is for the immune system and for your gut. It really manages the good bacteria in your gut and makes sure you have enough of it. The main indication for it is irritable bowl syndrome which is a major problem throughout the world and here in Ireland as well.
“We have a staff of 25, all wonderful people, working for us. I always say - the people, the products, and that’s what brings in the profit. We are lucky that the people we have here are very committed to Pamex. They are great workers and we rarely have somebody leaving our company.”
Tom explained how he selected the name Pamex: “The company name Pamex goes back 30 years. It came about by the fact we had to register the company. Pamex stands for Pharmaceutical Allied Marketing Excellence.
“We have been able to support charities, voluntary groups, sports organisations and individuals through the profits we make here.”
Pamex Healthcare company is located at Unit 14 Moneen Business Park, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 RX24, and can be contacted on (094) 902 4000 and De Facto can be ordered online at defactoshave.com.
Do you have a story to tell about your business? If so, Tom Gillespie would be delighted to hear from you. Get in touch at (087) 9680780 or gillespietom49@gmail.com.