Packaging: Arrived secure and well packaged from England to the United States. Product did not show any signs of damage or leakage. After 3 months, I left the tub in my gym bag in a hot car and the plastic melted, deforming the tub. This could have been avoided with a higher quality plastic or a tub made of metal. My mistake, just keep it cool.
Smell/Fragrance: Smells great. No chemical smells. Product doesn't leave an overbearing aftershave smell on your skin like a lot of shave products out there. A slight hint of a nice clean smell is all that is left.
Brush: The manufacturer included a free synthetic brush, the "Doubloon" (ironically a historic 6.7 gram gold coin.) Unfortunately, it was a very low quality synthetic bristle and wood design. It is incredibly stiff and not really even worth using if you have your own quality piece. I use it to clean firearms now.
Product: Thick consistency. Somewhere between lotion and ricotta cheese. You only need a tiny amount to get a massive amount of coverage and foam. In fact, after six months of use I still have close to 60% left in the tub. The great thing is you only have to dip a damp brush in and dab a bit on the bristles of your favorite badger hair brush. You don't need a cup or a mug like other products because you get an explosive amount of "foaming-up" when you start to work it on your skin. I tried using the product without the traditional shaving brush and was disappointed with required amount necessary to produce a suitable lather. You definitely need a quality brush but of course that is just as important as the razor. I'm sure you could skip out on the brush, but you would probably use a tremendous amount of product and burn through the tub in a short time.
Performance: A very thick foam almost instantly starts to form with the stroking of a badger brush. Only a very minuscule amount of water is needed. A very slick and extremely comfortable shave results with a quality safety razor. The natural coconut oils protects the skin very well. A slick gliding sensation of the razor across the skin with no irritation or snags is noted. Aloe leaves the skin feeling quite slick and moisturized post shave. There is no paraben in this product so you don't need to worry about the estrogenic activities of that either. This is a shaving cream and not a soap. There is a huge distinction; soaps strip and cleanse the skin of oils and moisture. This is not something you look for when shaving. Thus, the product is geared entirely towards yielding a close, irritation-free shave. It exceeds this task with great notion. Absolutely no irritation, burn or any other duplicitous razor results. Because I was able to attain such a close shave, whether it be via ingredients or simple performance, there were times when I was able to skip a day of shaving!
Decelerine: The product claims to have an ability to delay or retard the growth of hair follicles. After six months of use I have not experienced any sort of declination or "slowing down" of hair growth. This is in fact one of the main reasons I did such a long review of this product. I was certainly curious to these claims. Unfortunately, I did not note this supplemental performance.
Summary: Top of the line product. Super close shave, with no irritation. Product lasts an incredibly long time. Exceeded my expectations albeit the Decelerine additive.
Check out www.bluebeards-revenge.co.uk for more information on the product.
If you're looking to pick some up, check out www.shaving-shack.com.
If you're looking to pick some up, check out www.shaving-shack.com.
