The creation of Face Skin Care’s Ultimate Comfort Shave Cream was prompted by a business decision of another company: the 2010 reformulation of Lab Series Maximum Comfort Shave Cream. Jim over at Face Skin Care had been using the Lab Series Product since 1991, and apparently quite liked it. However, once the reformulation occurred, he found himself quite displeased with the quality of the shave he was getting from the new stuff. (Personally, I didn’t like it all that much either) Like many that I’ve seen on the internet, when he switched over to the new stuff, he experienced an increase in razor burn, irritation, and pain while shaving, and also laid a lot of the blame on the removal of one key ingredient in the former formulation for the Lab Series cream: benzocaine.
Benzocaine is a topical anesthetic, often used in cough drops, and amusingly enough on some condoms, designed to allow gents to last longer by reducing the sensitivity of the penis. Anyhow, I can certainly see how it could be useful for folks prone to irritation and razor burn to mask the symptoms of those maladies.
So, long story short, after not being able to find a new shaving cream that had some Benzocaine, Jim decided to recreate it himself. He ended up using Lidocaine instead of Benzocaine, as it’s supposedly safer to use. Similar effects though.
Thus he ended up with is a non-lathering shave cream, designed to “gently desensitize the skin to reduce the pain”. It’s a decent thickness, providing a good amount of cushion with a good amount of lubrication. Certainly not quite as excessively thick as the stuff I tried last week was; at least with this stuff I could rinse most of it off my razor with ease, although it still looks to be mostly non-water soluble, and there was a big that didn’t come off easily, mostly in the nooks and crannies of the razor.
It did have a bit of a tendency to act like a lotion, rubbing it on the face would lead to some of it being absorbed by the skin. Not quite to the degree that I saw with the One Shave cream, but it was still there.
As for the effects, well, after the fact it did leave my face feeling really nice and refreshed, moisturized, etc. Was it the Lidocaine, or the other stuff in the cream? I don’t know about that. I mean, personally I usually avoid razor burn and irritation simply by using quality shave products and good technique with a DE razor. I don’t feel that adding a pain-killer to my shaving cream is something that is really necessary to avoid pain when shaving. I suppose that some others might not be quite as able to shave pain-free via the same methods, and might feel that this stuff is more helpful than not. Everyone’s face is different after all. All in all, it’s a pretty decent shave.
And finally, it’s only available as an unscented shaving cream. Anyone who’s been following my reviews knows that I consider the scent of the shaving product to be a rather integral part of the shave experience. What scent was left was fairly neautral, and not strong.
- 5/10 Scent Pleasantness
- 3/10 Scent Strength
- 8/10
Lather Cream Quality
So, I’d say it performs pretty good for a non-lathering cream, but the lack of any scent would be enough to make me avoid using it on a regular basis. Fortunately, I don’t really feel I need pain killers built into my shave cream. Feel free to adjust accordingly if you think you do. 6/10.
Gear used:
Ingredients: Purified water, Stearic acid, Propylene glycol, Propylene glycol stearate, Petrolatum, Glycerin, Cocos nucifera(coconut) oil, Triethanolamine, Glycol stearate, Glycol distearate, Stearamide AMP, Butyrospermum parkii (shea) oil, Cetyl alcohol, Aloe barbadensis leaf juice, Butylene glycol, Centella asiatica (gotu kola) extract, Avena sativa (oatmeal) extract, Urea, Panthenol, Glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice) root extract, Allantoin, Chamomilla recutita (Matricaria) extract, Calendula officinalis (Calendula) flower extract, Anthemis nobilis (Roman chamomile) flower extract, Centaurea cyanus (Cornflower) flower extract, Tilia cordata (Linden) flower extract, Eucalyptus globulus (Eucalyptus) leaf oil, Tocopheryl acetate, Dimethicone, Lidocaine hydrochloride, Zinc oxide, Titanium dioxide, Mica, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, and D & C Bronze