Hello everyone! If you have been following along with us on our journey to a greener and healthier lifestyle, you will notice our focus is (primarily) on helping women. In today’s post, however, we are going change things up a bit and talk about something for the men. To do that, we want to introduce a guest blogger to you. Having a guest blogger has been on our “to do” list for a while, but we struggled to find an appropriate topic for a guest blogger to write about. Well, that all changes today!
In the interest of full disclosure, you should know today’s guest blogger is none other than the Editor for GLG. Mr. Editor works diligently behind the scenes, reviewing all of our posts, making sure we spell things correctly, checking our grammar, and ensuring our posts “flow” and make sense. He is a bit of a stickler for these things, and although we know he is just trying to make us look good, he can be quite annoying sometimes. Just kidding! He is actually annoying all of the time with his endless rants about comma splices, tense-shifts, run-on sentences, and dangling participles – and don’t even get him started about the Oxford Comma! #annoying
Dangling participles? Really?? Is that even a thing???
All kidding aside, he always encourages us to keep doing what we are doing and is constantly looking for ways to make us better. Mr. Editor also handles all of the technical / administrative tasks of keeping this web site up and running. We could not do this without his help so, without further adieu, let us introduce to you today’s guest blogger . . . [insert drum roll] . . . Mr. Editor!
Hello everyone and thank you, Green Livin Girls for that incredible introduction. Wow, I feel honored and blessed to be here and appreciate the opportunity to write a blog post for you and your readers. With that said, let me get right to it!
Pacific Shaving Cream, Pacific Shaving Company
Let’s face it. For most of us, shaving is not our favorite thing to do. Whether we are male or female, it is one of those personal hygiene tasks we all have to deal with. I suppose you could choose to not shave which might be OK for a short time (like in No-Shave November) but long-term, it gets uncomfortable and unsightly (unless you are that dude from Duck Dynasty, David Crowder or a member of ZZ-Top, in which case, it is perfectly fine). The point is, people generally dislike the task of shaving, but we do it because we have to – not because we want to – and since we have to, we generally want it to be quick, easy, and relatively painless.
To be fair, I cannot speak to what makes a quick and easy shave for a woman but I have to believe there are some fundamental similarities for both men and women. For example, one of the keys to a good shave for me is a fresh razor. If the blade is dull, the bathroom will look like a scene from a horror movie by the time I am done. It is not a pretty sight! Another key is to make sure my skin is wet and my pores are open and for that, I use the hottest water I can stand. Without that, I will not get a close, consistent shave. Lastly, I need a shaving cream that will provide the necessary lubrication so the blade will glide across my skin. Without that, the blade will “grab” and cause some serious discomfort and possibly, nicks, cuts and scrapes.
I am a once-a-week shaver (both head and face), usually on Sunday, so a good quality shaving cream is crucial to me. Without a good shaving cream / lubricant, I will have nicks and cuts or the shave will be inconsistent. Believe me when I tell you, the last thing you want is a big, ugly unshaven patch on the back of your head. Oh, you will not see it on day 1 or day 2 but on day 4 or day 5, it will be more than noticeable. Remember, you hate to shave so doing a mid-week touch-up is just crazy-talk! Nobody has time for that!
Over the years, I tried just about every brand of shaving cream on the market. Some brands I only tried once while others I used on a regular basis. In my younger years, I used what my father and my older brother used because 1) it was convenient; and 2) I did not know any better. As I grew older, I realized the world was larger than Edge Shave Gel and I started to try other products; including one point in college when I used shampoo and/or conditioner as shaving cream. In hindsight, I have no idea what I was thinking! More recently though, the GLGs are forcing encouraging me to make better choices regarding the products I use, and that includes my shaving cream.
A few weeks ago, I was at the store with my favorite GLG. I knew I was getting low on shaving cream and was looking for something new to try. One of the products I found was Pacific Shaving Cream from Pacific Shaving Company. I did a quick search on Google and Amazon and found some favorable reviews so I decided to try it for myself. Of course, my favorite GLG also checked the EWG web site to make sure it was safe and healthy for me to use.
One of the things they talk about in their advertising is, “a little goes a long way”. It is even printed on the product label. To me, it was a bit reminiscent of the V-05 slogan, “a little dab will do ya” but +1 for the cheesy marketing catchphrases. They clearly stand the test of time and prove, once again, there is nothing new under the sun, but just because it is cheesy marketing does not mean it is not true. In this case, the marketing worked and they were right! A little really does go a long way.
Initial Observations
The first time I used Pacific Shaving Cream, I squeezed out a “normal” amount and it was way more than I needed. The directions simply say, “apply anywhere you shave” and like most shave gels, you have to “work” it a bit to form it into a lather. I figured out pretty quickly that adding a small amount of water helped the process along. Without the water, it was like having a glob of Elmer’s Glue in the palm of my hand. I probably could have applied it like that but I would have used a lot more than necessary. Applying the product to my head and face was easy. I found it spread easily and evenly without much effort. Compared to other products I have used over the years, I found Pacific Shaving Cream easy to work with. In addition, it had a clean and sweet smell to it. Obviously, no correlation exists between the scent of a product and its quality (despite the cheesy marketing claims), but having a pleasant smell was nice. Other shaving products have a tendency to have a “chemical” smell, so this was a welcome change.
The Shave
When shaving, it is important for the blade to slide easily across the surface of the skin and it is the job of the shaving cream to help make that happen. I found Pacific Shaving Cream did an excellent job of lubricating the shave area. There were no nicks, cuts, scrapes or razor-burn.
As they say, the proof is in the pudding and in this case, the pudding is a question: “How close was the shave”? The closeness of the shave was excellent. I was able to run my hands across my head and face and not feel any stubble. Of course, that is typical after a fresh shave so I checked again a few hours later and was pleasantly surprised by how smooth things remained.
I am a troubleshooter for a living. My job involves identifying problem, determining an appropriate solution, and then testing that solution to see if it actually solves the problem. If there is one thing I have learned in my 20+ years of doing that job is, “test and then test again”. So, 1 week later, shave test # 2 happened. Before I lathered up though, I ran my hands over my head again to determine how well the previous weeks’ shave held up. Of course, this test was totally informal and would never hold up to scientific scrutiny, but it seemed to me the shave held up very well. At the very least, it appeared to me the growth since my last shave was not as long as previous weeks. Shave test # 2 went pretty much the same as week # 1, with the exception of using less product. In the end, I was once again pleased with the result, and pleased with my purchase.
Below are some before and after pictures.
Final Thoughts
I found Pacific Shaving Cream from Pacific Shaving Company to be a quality product and one I would recommend. It lathered well, applied easily and evenly, had a pleasant smell, and provided the necessary lubrication to provide a close and comfortable shave. In other words, it checked all of the boxes for a good shave! If you struggle with getting a close shave that is free from nicks, cuts and razor-burn, consider giving Pacific Shaving Cream from Pacific Shaving Company a try. It is available at Amazon, Target (“caffeinated” only) and a number of other retail stores.
Well, that wraps up this review of Pacific Shaving Cream. I hope you found the information useful and informative. Of course, if you have any questions, go ahead and ask them in the Comments.
Before signing off, I want to thank the GLGs once again for the opportunity to contribute as a Guess Blogger. I really enjoyed writing this post for them and hope they let me write again in the future.
~Mr. Editor (aka Green Livin’ Dude)
