 | Vs |  | Vs |  |
What could be man-lier than a shave-off? Ah, that most definitively masculine of all grooming activities. Now, there’s a wide array of choices in shaving creams out there – this product category may be as competitive as the breakfast cereal space. But we’re undeterred and ready to dive in with reviews of three brands that are a bit off the beaten path, i.e., “not your father’s shaving cream.”
A few ground rules first.
(1) No aerosols – but watch this space for a follow-up post on several better-known old-school shaving cream products.
(2) Products will be rated according to five criteria. “Shopability” is about availability, or the ease of finding the product. “Packaging” refers to the look and feel of the container, its fit within your bathroom and the convenience of the dispensing mechanism. By “Shaving Experience,” we mean the facility of applying the product, the feeling on the face and the closeness of the shave. The “Afterglow” factor analyzes the post-shave feeling – are you hacked up or feeling smooth; and do you need soothing aftershave lotion to put out the fire? Finally, “Pricing” measures the product’s cost-effectiveness.
(3) A maximum of 10 points will be awarded for each category, for a total possible score of 50.
Meet our three contestants: Trader Joe’s Moisturizing Cream Shave (honey mango), Kiss My Face Moisture Shave (cool mint) and Men’s Stock (north woods). So, gentlemen, start your razors….
Shopability. Note – depending on your geo locations, individual accessibility may vary; this article’s geo-center was San Francisco. The Trader Joe’s product is easy to find, assuming there’s a TJ’s nearby. It’s never been out of stock on one of our visits. Online availability seems limited to Amazon and eBay. Kiss My Face is more of a specialty product line, tending to show up in natural product stores, upscale super markets, etc. It’s also widely available online. Men’s Stock is hard to find in a brick and mortar. Made by a company called Aubrey, it’s available primarily in specialty natural product stores, although its availability online is good.
So, 7 Shopability points for Trader Joe’s; 8 for Kiss My Face; and Men’s Stock gets 6.
Packaging. TJ’s Moisturizing Cream Shave comes in an ugly-but-cute, bright orange container. At almost 8” tall, it won’t fit on all medicine cabinet shelves. It comes in a convenient head-stand container with a flip-top dispenser. Kiss My Face offers a very useful white plastic pump dispenser that allows superb control of how much product is used. It’s also about 8” tall, and features clean, modern graphics, with mint plants on the label. The Men’s Stock color scheme is a fashion faux pas – the brown, green and white combo is dated, as is the serif font. But it comes in a sturdier, more streamlined version of the TJ’s headstand flip-top container that fits well in the bathroom at just over 6” tall.
The scorecard – 5 points for TJ’s on packaging; 7 for Kiss My Face; and 6 for Men’s Stock.
Watch this space as the battle rages on next time…
by ManPossible
A few ground rules first.
(1) No aerosols – but watch this space for a follow-up post on several better-known old-school shaving cream products.
(2) Products will be rated according to five criteria. “Shopability” is about availability, or the ease of finding the product. “Packaging” refers to the look and feel of the container, its fit within your bathroom and the convenience of the dispensing mechanism. By “Shaving Experience,” we mean the facility of applying the product, the feeling on the face and the closeness of the shave. The “Afterglow” factor analyzes the post-shave feeling – are you hacked up or feeling smooth; and do you need soothing aftershave lotion to put out the fire? Finally, “Pricing” measures the product’s cost-effectiveness.
(3) A maximum of 10 points will be awarded for each category, for a total possible score of 50.
Meet our three contestants: Trader Joe’s Moisturizing Cream Shave (honey mango), Kiss My Face Moisture Shave (cool mint) and Men’s Stock (north woods). So, gentlemen, start your razors….
Shopability. Note – depending on your geo locations, individual accessibility may vary; this article’s geo-center was San Francisco. The Trader Joe’s product is easy to find, assuming there’s a TJ’s nearby. It’s never been out of stock on one of our visits. Online availability seems limited to Amazon and eBay. Kiss My Face is more of a specialty product line, tending to show up in natural product stores, upscale super markets, etc. It’s also widely available online. Men’s Stock is hard to find in a brick and mortar. Made by a company called Aubrey, it’s available primarily in specialty natural product stores, although its availability online is good.
So, 7 Shopability points for Trader Joe’s; 8 for Kiss My Face; and Men’s Stock gets 6.
Packaging. TJ’s Moisturizing Cream Shave comes in an ugly-but-cute, bright orange container. At almost 8” tall, it won’t fit on all medicine cabinet shelves. It comes in a convenient head-stand container with a flip-top dispenser. Kiss My Face offers a very useful white plastic pump dispenser that allows superb control of how much product is used. It’s also about 8” tall, and features clean, modern graphics, with mint plants on the label. The Men’s Stock color scheme is a fashion faux pas – the brown, green and white combo is dated, as is the serif font. But it comes in a sturdier, more streamlined version of the TJ’s headstand flip-top container that fits well in the bathroom at just over 6” tall.
The scorecard – 5 points for TJ’s on packaging; 7 for Kiss My Face; and 6 for Men’s Stock.
Watch this space as the battle rages on next time…
by ManPossible
RSS Feed