Our Story

Hi, we're Sadhbh and Aisling — two sisters from Dún Laoghaire who are, quite literally, full of beans.

We were both full time students who love socialising, and like our products, we bring a lot of energy to everything we do. Bean Around started not with a business plan or a big idea — but with a panic, a missing exfoliating mitt, and a bar of our Dad's homemade coffee soap.

Here's how it really happened.

Our Dad has psoriasis, a condition that causes dry, scaly and itchy skin. After trying lots of different treatments that never quite worked, he did his own research and started making a handmade bar from coffee grounds he collected from our own kitchen. It made a real difference to his skin. We noticed. But at that point, we weren't really thinking about skincare — we were thinking about fake tan.

For years, both of us had been using exfoliating mitts to remove our fake tan. Then one evening, Sadhbh was getting ready to go out and discovered her mitt had been thrown out. In a panic, she grabbed Dad's coffee bar. It worked better than anything she'd 
ever used. It removed every trace of old tan, it was gentle on her skin, and it left her feeling genuinely smooth. She loved it.

Once we discovered how good it was, we couldn't stop using it. But Dad's bar was messy and difficult to use — it wasn't exactly designed for the shower. So we got to work. We developed our own bar with our distinctive funky shape, using what we believe is 
the perfect amount of coffee grounds for both a deep and gentle exfoliating experience.

And that's where Bean Around was born.

The coffee grounds we use are collected from local coffee shops around Dún Laoghaire — something that would otherwise be thrown away, given a completely new life. It feels good to make something new out of something that would normally go to waste. That idea is still at the heart of everything we make.

What happened next still surprises us.

In 2024, Bean Around was selected for the Lidl Kickstart programme — and our bars went into all 222 Lidl stores across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. We became the first non-food producer ever selected for the SuperValu Food Academy. And in 
September 2024, we had the chance to share the Bean Around story on RTÉ.

None of this was the plan. The plan was just to make something that worked, from something that was being thrown away, for a Dad who needed better skincare and two sisters who refused to compromise on their fake tan removal.

We hope you love using our products as much as we love making them.

Sadhbh & Aisling xx