Lume And The Texas Chainsaw Carver

by Sarah Thomas

What does it mean to have balance, really? Adapting to change, evolving with the seasons, and making decisions about what will give you joy today– and in your future... Balance is figuring out how to work enough to have what you need and want out of life, but also finding time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Rob Banda is a man who does a great job of balancing his life. He figured out a way to do the work that he loves and still have the time he wants with the people he loves. On top of that, he gets to grow an epic beard that is a source of pride and joy.

Rob was working 16 hours a day in sales and was doing fine financially. However, in working so many hours, he felt like he was missing time with his young son. One day, a tree fell on his property and—little did he know at the time—it would be the catalyst for a new and more fulfilling life for him.

A buddy came over with a chainsaw to help Rob take care of the tree, and Rob asked if he could keep the chainsaw just a little longer because he had seen a YouTube video about chainsaw carving and thought he might give it a shot.

What Rob didn’t expect was that this decision would change his life.

He carved a bear (that’s still in his yard today), and Rob, The Texas Chainsaw Carver, was born.

Rob discovered he had a talent and a passion for creating chainsaw art and carved everything in sight. Although he gifted carvings to family members and friends, the art was beginning to accumulate. His wife was supportive, but she finally gave him an ultimatum, “do carving full time, or get rid of all of this!”

He quit his sales job and has never looked back. Rob feels passionate about what he does and explains, “It’s a really nice way to memorialize a tree. When a tree falls down, and you’ve got to cut it down, it’s a great way to keep it alive.”

One of his happy customers explains, “Instead of cutting my tree down the whole way, he created a masterpiece of beauty for me to look at every day.”

Most of Rob’s carving is done on a client’s property, working with their own fallen trees. Before finding Lume Deodorant for Underarms & Private Parts, he was used to deodorant that didn’t hold up. He even kept a stick of deodorant in his bag, and another in his truck to reapply during the day.

At the end of the day, Rob would meet with his client to discuss the work, and he was always self-conscious and would reapply deodorant before meeting up. He describes his routine as “pop a piece of gum in your mouth, reapply some deodorant, brush off, and go talk to a customer.”

A New Balance

Rob keeps an inventory of logs at his house so he’s always ready when he gets a call from someone who wants to memorialize their beloved pet. He loves to carve majestic animals like eagles and bears and has beautified the city trails of Irvine, Texas with his art.

Now his schedule is flexible, and he is able to spend more time with his family, friends, and two tiny rescue dogs, Cooper and Chloe.

“Time is very important to me. Money comes and goes. But time - you can’t take that back.”

Rob's other passions are outdoor grilling and cast iron cooking. His skills are next-level, and “breaking bread with his family” is at the top of his priorities. “Grillzilla” is the name of the ever-growing outdoor cooking area Rob has created. He has a firepit and several grill tops and stands for his dutch ovens.

Carving by day and cooking over hot coals by night is enough to make a guy sweaty. And smelly..

Rob tried a number of deodorants that were either ineffective or irritated his skin, and he said it was painful enough to make him uncomfortable when he was carving. Sometimes he would resort to washing off the deodorant because he would rather smell bad than be in pain.

Since Rob had trouble in the past with deodorants irritating his skin, he had done some online research to try and figure out what was causing the trouble. He stumbled across Lume Deodorant for Underarms & Private Parts and decided to give it a try. He considers himself the family guinea pig, testing products before introducing them to the family.

“So I bought one, and I tried it, and then it’s 72 hours. I really did test it for 72 hours. It worked!” Rob continued, “It’s surprising to me how little you need for it to work. So my family is 100%, we are Lume customers for life, for sure.”

Gone are the days of reapplying deodorant before he meets up with his customers. Lume works as long as Rob.

“No matter how hard or long I’ve been out there carving, I can walk in and not smell.”

Rob jokes that he used to think it was weird to get excited about something like deodorant, but Lume has turned him into a believer. “If you work construction, if you work outside, if you do anything that’s labor intensive that you sweat, then you definitely need Lume. It works, I’m telling you, I’ve tested it.”

Are you excited about your deodorant? Lume works differently than any other deodorant because it prevents odor from forming in the first place.

Lume is a doctor-developed, dermatologist-approved, and skin-safe deodorant that's formulated for the most sensitive skin. It does not contain ingredients that will cause problems like baking soda and aluminum, and it is safe to use anywhere you experience odor, but wish you didn’t… Yes, ANYWHERE!

Lume Deodorant Wipes also contain Lume Deodorant's active ingredients that prevent the odor-causing reaction and make keeping fresh in between showers even easier.

As Rob says:

“Hey, this works. Y’all need to get it, trust me! Being a chainsaw carver, you get real dirty and real sweaty and real stinky. If Lume can work for me, it can work for anybody.”

Did you Lume today?

If you want to see more of Rob’s work, he was featured in a segment for local news and you can catch that here.