Crowned Skin Turns Men’s Grooming Into A Confidence Statement
Father’s Day is around the corner, and Darrell Spencer has a message for anyone still trying to figure out what to buy the man in their life: skip the usual cologne-and-lotion combo.
Spencer is the founder of Crowned Skin, a Black-owned men’s skincare brand built around cologne-infused body butter. The idea is simple: give men a product that moisturizes their skin while leaving them smelling like they just walked out of a fragrance ad.
“Imagine rubbing over your body your favorite cologne, but as a moisturizer,” Spencer said. “That’s our product in the most simple terms.”
The concept has clearly connected. Crowned Skin reportedly brought in eight figures in revenue during its first year, became the No. 2 product on TikTok Shop and landed in Amazon’s top 50. For a brand designed with men of color in mind, the numbers show there was a market waiting to be taken seriously.
Before launching Crowned Skin, Spencer built a successful career in tech, working with companies including Meta, Google and LinkedIn. Professionally, he was doing well. Personally, he said something was missing.
“I was working with some of the biggest companies, helping them generate millions in paid ads and paid media, and I did that for years. I was good at my job and what I did,” Spencer said. “But I didn’t feel fulfilled.”
Spencer said part of that disconnect came from the lack of Black executives and Black entrepreneurs he encountered during his corporate career.
“A lot of the companies and people that I spoke to in my corporate career were mainly white men. I didn’t get to speak to many Black executives [or] Black entrepreneurs. It was a dime a dozen,” Spencer said. “So I really wanted to build for representation — to really showcase and show us what you can do and what you can build.”
That desire pushed him toward entrepreneurship, though Crowned Skin was not his first business.
Spencer previously launched King’s Crown, a satin cap line for men. The product addressed a need in a market that had long catered mostly to women, and demand followed. But over time, the business hit a wall when cheaper competitors entered the space.
“Companies from China came in, sold my products for about 2, 3 bucks, completely undercut my pricing, and little by little I began to lose market share and King’s Crown as you knew it dissipated,” Spencer said.
Instead of burying that chapter, Spencer now speaks openly about it.
“I think previously I was always afraid of talking about my failures, but now I speak about them so much more in every interview, and I’m not afraid of it because that was one of my biggest lessons,” he said.
The lesson stayed with him as he built Crowned Skin.
“Build your company to scale and at scale from day one — whether your goal is to exit, whether your goal is to expand your company and continue to grow it and pass it down to generations,” Spencer said. “Scale your company and operate it from day one as if you’re going to create a generational company.”
How Crowned Skin Found Its Winning Message
The idea for Crowned Skin came from Spencer’s own routine. One day, he wondered why men needed one product for moisture and another for fragrance.
“One day I was considering, what if I didn’t need to go grab a cologne, then go grab a lotion? What if those two products were in one product together?” he said. “And then that’s when I thought, I don’t see this on the market.”
Crowned Skin was created as a line of cologne-grade body butters for men, made with long-lasting fragrances and skin-supporting ingredients including shea butter and jojoba oil.
But while the product made sense, the early marketing did not land the way Spencer hoped. At first, the brand focused on ingredients, skincare benefits and anti-aging properties. Customers were not responding.
“Men didn’t care about the functionality of the product and how it functions on the skin,” Spencer said. “What we learned was about four to five months in, when sales did not skyrocket the way that we intended, we thought, ‘OK, let’s take a step back and reposition how we’re marketing this to men because clearly what we’re saying is not resonating yet.’”
That forced the company to rethink how it spoke to its audience. The product stayed the same, but the message changed.
“What we ended up doing was we took ourselves out of the equation and thought about what men want to feel like when they apply our products. And that was the biggest unlock,” Spencer said.
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Instead of leading with skincare education, Crowned Skin began selling confidence, attraction and presence.
“We rebranded: this is Crowned Skin, formulated with irresistible fragrances. You’re gonna smell so good that you walk past anybody, you’re gonna leave a lasting impression,” Spencer said. “That simple shift in marketing changed everything for the company.”
Crowned Skin Builds Buzz Beyond The Product
Part of Crowned Skin’s success has come from making men comfortable talking about grooming without making the conversation feel forced. Spencer said many men, especially Black men, have not always been encouraged to openly discuss skincare or personal care routines.
So the brand leaned into interest, confidence and conversation.
One of Crowned Skin’s most successful ads shows a man stepping into an elevator and immediately catching a woman’s attention because of his scent. The message was clear without needing a lecture: take care of yourself, smell good and let the room notice.
Spencer has also built community through monthly Instagram Live sessions called “Crown Conversations,” where he talks directly with customers about grooming, products and everyday life.
The brand has since expanded beyond body butters. On Monday, Crowned Skin launched its first Eau de Parfum collection with five fragrances: King, Empire, Monarch, Prince and Reign. The scents are inspired by some of the brand’s most popular products and retail for $65.
“That psychology makes men feel good. It makes them feel like, ‘You know what? OK, I’m taking care of myself,’” Spencer said. “I feel inevitably more confident with these products on.”
That confidence, Spencer said, is part of what gets customers talking.
“Men are talking about these products online because we’re creating intentional buzz,” he said. “They’re conversation pieces. Little do they know, confidently and with pride, they’re saying Crown Skin smells so good, they’re sharing it with their friends, they’re posting on it online and then we’re intentionally, without directly pushing conversation, allowing men to talk about it.”
For Spencer, the brand is about more than body butter. It is about building something that represents Black entrepreneurship, Black men’s self-care and the power of starting before everything feels perfect.
“Just press go,” Spencer said. “If I allowed my fears, my lack of resources and accessibility, I would not be where I am today. I chose to do it afraid, and I built.”
