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.

eShave Fragrance Free Pre-Shave Oil

No, you don’t update your blog regularly anymore.

The pre-shave is a really important part of the whole shave process.  It softens your whiskers and smooths the skin, helping the razor glide over your skin easier, and makes for a closer and better shave.  I’ve used a few pre-shave treatments in the time I’ve been wet-shaving, and the eShave oil is near the top of my list.

The eShave oil comes in a variety of different scents, but I’ve gone with the scent free, as I don’t particularly like a lot of scent.  The 2 ounce bottle may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way – you only need a very little oil every time you shave, so the bottle will go a long way.  At retail around $20 for the bottle, that makes it a fairly good deal.

I really like the eShave oil.  It glides on very smoothly, and applies evenly to the face without a lot of effort.  It’s oily (duh), but isn’t so viscous that its dripping all over you and hard to deal with.  It coats my stubble and skin just fine, and makes for a smooth shave.  I have had almost no nicks or cuts using the eShave oil – although, that’s not a scientific finding, as my shaving technique is improving leaps and bounds since I started this blog.

If you shave with a shaving soap, as I sometimes do (although not as much as a shaving cream), besides oiling your face, you can put a drop of the oil into the soap bowl, to help whip up a nice lather that will apply on your face.  While I have a few other pre-shave products I use, I found one of the best uses for the eShave oil was to add to my shaving soap – I strongly recommend using that.

Is the eShave oil the only pre-shave treatment I use?  No.  Buuuuuut that’s because I have a few in my possession and I flip between them on a whim.  I would say that it is my go-to pre-shave treatment, and currently my favourite.  If I reduced down to just one pre-shave, it would certainly be this.

 

eShave pre-shave oil: 5/5

tl;dr: a really excellent pre-shave treatment, suitable for all types of shaving.  A welcome addition to any wet shavers shaving kit.

Until next time (which I hope to return to regular postings), be kind to animals