On the whole, I’m reasonably distrustful of anything voted “Best
product of the year” in mens magazines, they’re usually the products that offer
the most sponsorship or look the trendiest, rather than the products that are the
actual best. The problem is that most
people use real shaving gear and cartridge razors, so when they say it’s the
best shaving product, it refers to those who tend to use the blades that you
can scrape your face a hundred times with and not one slice it.
So, when my little sister (thanks Snoop) got me a whole bunch of
bluebeard stuff, I thought to give it the whole hog, start with the oil, use
the brush, use the shaving cream, and then the post shave balm (which does look
like ectoplasm, fresh from Ghostbusters.)
Starting at the oil, good thick oil, not like spraying your face with
water, this was good quality oil, rubbed in well and kept the heat in. The shave
cream lathered up better than most things I’ve tried before, and I’ll come to
that in the second part of the post.
First shave I gave it the benefit of the doubt and used a Merkur blade,
mainly because I’ve never had a bad shave with those. Good shave, no nicks, no problems, and a thin
coating of ectoplasm to finish.
Pleasant shave, nice fragrance, and kept me clear for a good few days
afterwards, which was very nice. However, given the amount of new product being
used on the same day, I thought to conduct a second test, this time just using
the brush, the oil, and a different shaving cream, my old favourite, Taylors
Lemon and Lime.
And just to make sure it was a real test, I used my least favourite
blade, a Gillette 7 O’clock. The brush
lathered up very well, not quite as frothy as the bluebeards mix, but the
bluebeards is a softer mix, so you get more on the tip of the brush when you
dip the brush in. Still, more than
enough for a thick first lather and then a thin follow up. Got a single nick, not deep, but still a
single nick, which leads me to believe that the Gillette’s will soon be
consigned to the “Never use it again” section of my shaving cabinet, but
otherwise good clean shave with no real problems, bit of Ectoplasm afterward
and then down here to type this up.
Interestingly enough, I got another shaving brush for my birthday,
ostensibly made of the same bristle that the bluebeards doubloon brush is made
of, but far thicker and as a result, far more difficult to froth up. More on that later, for now, the Bluebeards
stuff isn’t the very best stuff I’ve ever used, but it’s a very close run for
it, and while it’s very expensive, it’s excellent as a present.
And worth a look if you’re buying it for yourself...