Schaf White Lava Purifying Scrub

Second of my Schaf reviews. A facial scrub is a pretty important part of the wet shave routine. I’ve mentioned on here before that I like two scrubs on hand: one a ‘heavy duty’ scrub, which I’ll only use once a week to really refresh my face before shaving, and a more ‘lightweight’ scrub which I’ll use 2 – 3 other times a week. The Schaf scrub certainly falls into the second category, it is a lightweight scrub, but it is certainly a scrub which gets the job done.

The exfoliating agents are ‘white lava particles’ and ground apricot seed. You can feel them working right away, they both provide a really nice grit to them that means you don’t have to work too much to get a good scrub from it. One of the first things that I noticed about the scrub, which is a theme with the Schaf products, is that there’s very little scent to the scrub at all. In my quest for ‘no scent’ men’s cosmetics, this certainly fits the bill.

The scrub does its job. It exfoliates, rather gently, and prepares the face for a shave while the solution cleans your face. Many scrubs I’ve used leave your face feeling slightly tingly or zippy (you know what I mean with zippy), which can really wake you up in the morning – this scrub doesn’t. This isn’t a complaint, but if you’re looking for a scrub with a “pow!” to it, this isn’t it. On the flip side, that means that this is really the scrub for people with sensitive skin – I would certainly add it to any sensitive skin shaving routine.

There is one thing, and one thing only, that prevents me from giving this a full 5/5: the bottle is annoying. Every time I’ve used this, I’m standing there, I flip open the cap to the bottle, give it a squeeze…. nothing happens. Shake it up, squeeze again… nothing happens. Repeat. On squeezeshake four or five I get a great gob of the stuff in my hands – often more than needed. Now, this isn’t anything to do with the quality of the scrub itself, which is great, but perhaps the engineers over at Schaf could work on a bottle that doesn’t do this. Anyway, that’s my pedantic gripe.

Schaf white lava purifying scrub

Schaf scrub: 4.5/5 (on account of the bottle)

tl;dr: great lightweight scrub, would be excellent for those with sensitive skin

Until next time, be kind to animals.

Schaf Daily Facial Cleaner

A few weeks ago I got a tweet on The Tweeter (are you following me on The Tweeter) from Schaf cosmetics, wondering if I’d like to review their products.  I’m not sure what the etiquette is, but I did want to let my readers know that I did get the line of Schaf cosmetics as promotional / review products.  I’ve used them all now, and there are some I quite enjoy a great deal.  I’ll be reviewing them over the next few weeks.

So, what’s The Deal with Schaf cosmetics.  They are vegan and not tested on animals, which is how we found each other.  But, there are a few other cool things about them: no parabens, artificial fragrances,  and a whole host of other things, including gluten.  Now, full disclosures, when I saw that their products are gluten free, I kinda rolled my eyes with a “oh gee, jumping on the gluten free bandwagon.”  I actually emailed them to say “really?”  Turns out I’m an idiot.  Gluten free cosmetics are specifically targeted for people with Celiac – who really do need to avoid gluten.  So, that’s pretty cool.

On to the review!

It’s billed as a face wash for all skin types, especially those with sensitive skin.  Now, I usually use products for sensitive skin, so I was excited.  The label says “This coconut-based cleanser – infused with a blend of Chamomile, Aloe and Cucumber,” and I thought “great.  Coconut.”  I really don’t like coconut, and I was worried that I would not enjoy this one bit.  You can’t really tell that there’s coconut in it, at all.  There’s no coconut scent to it.  There is, however, just a hint of cucumber scent to it, which I found very nice and refreshing – it wasn’t overpowering, and it dissipates very quickly, but is nice when its there.

I really enjoy this wash.  It’s a very light wash, and doesn’t feel “soapy” on your skin, but does leave your skin feeling very clean and refreshed.  It leaves your face feeling clean without it feeling like you’ve stripped away an entire layer of skin – which is a good thing.  I tend to use it in the evening before I go to bed.  It’s nice for that.

I think this will be sticking around in my daily routine. It’s a great end-of-the-day face wash.  I would also recommend it for anybody with very sensitive skin, or for those who don’t want any fragrance at all to their facewash – while there is a hint of cucumber, it goes away quite quickly.

Schaf facial cleaner

Schaf facial cleaner: 5/5. 

tl;dr: excellent lightweight facial cleaner, almost no scent, great for sensitive skin.

Taylor of Old Bond Street Rose Bowl

Alright, let’s talk about shaving cream.  As I’ve mentioned, ad nasuem, my skin tends towards the sensitive side.  Many, many of the wet shave brands out there have a ‘sensitive’ line, or sensitive products, but when I first started wet shaving, many sites around the internet recommended rose shaving cream for the sensitive skin.  I’ve gotten a handful of rose creams, and I’ll slowly review them all, but let me just put this out there: the Taylor of Old Bond Street Rose Bowl is, so far, the best cream I’ve ever shaved with.

When you first open the bowl, you’ll notice two things – a dull pink colour, and a faint smell of roses.  Now, the first.  I’m gonna be honest and say when I thought of rose bowls, I was hesitant to try them right away – the idea of covering my face in a pink lather every day did not appeal to me.  This had nothing to do with the colour pink – many of the other varieties of shave cream come coloured, and the idea of lathering my face in a colour of any kind didn’t appeal to me.  If this is a worry of yours, discard it – it whips up into a white lather.  Second, if you’re a regular reader of this blog (any of you out there?) you’ll note I rail against scents all the time.  Not the case here – the faint smell of roses is faint, and, frankly, delightful.  As you lather up the cream it gives a gentile  floral aroma, which is very nice.  If no scent is what you’re looking for, though, this might not be the cream for you.

The TOOB Rose Bowl whips up a nice lather in no time at all.  It takes only a few turns of the brush to start forming a lather, and you get a nice lather very quickly.  It is also one of the easiest creams I’ve ever worked with to lather. It builds a lather very easily and quickly.  It’s got a great consistency, makes nice peaks and an airy cream.  It applies smoothly and uniformly to the face, without bumps.

The shave experience is great.  It creates a nice pillowy lather that really shields the face.  I rarely nick myself with TOOB cream.  While a few nicks and cuts are going to be part of the wet shave experience – even the most seasoned veteran will nick himself from time to time – this cream creates a great protective barrier.

I really enjoy this shave cream.  While I have others I’m testing out, the Rose Bowl has yet to be displaced as my daily shave cream.  It’s really quite enjoyable.

Taylor of Old Bond Street Rose Bowl

 

Taylor of Old Bond Street Rose Shaving Cream: 5/5

tl;dr: fantastic shave cream, my go-to cream. Great cushion, light scent.