New All Natural Shaving Cream by Executive Shaving
The Story Behind Our New All Natural Shaving Cream
It has been a long haul, almost three years in fact since we took delivery of the first of our test shaving creams. The story begins way back in March 2013 when we approached the Scottish firm who make our highly successful Intensive Moisturising Balm, they told us they would be interested in making a shaving cream but they were not the right people to formulate one from scratch. They kindly put us in touch with a very well-known cosmetic chemist who listened to what I wanted with some interest but let me down gently as she was ‘busy working for a world famous cosmetic range’ and she didn’t want to get involved in a new project. These cosmetic chemists are a secretive lot so we’ll call her Mandy (not her real name). A few days later, Mandy ‘phoned me and said she had a change of heart as ours was ‘an interesting idea’ and she liked the emphasis we placed on ‘the purity of the ingredients’.
We wanted a shaving cream with a fresh scent and a cooling feeling on the skin when applied but not Fitjar Folgefonn or Taylors Peppermint freeze on the skin contact, we wanted subtle cooling and lots of lubrication to deliver razor glide.
Within two months Mandy had come up with a formula we liked, the scent and consistency were good but did it work? The guys here and I tested the tubs Mandy had sent us and we loved it. The real test had to come from customers and family contacts we know would tell us the truth. We stressed we wanted honest feedback and boy did we get it, we got it in buckets in fact. Too oily and too strongly scented were common comments so it was back to testing different formulations until we opted for the one most testers preferred. Samples were duly dispatched to a laboratory for testing, the lab test all aspects of the formulation, one test is called the ‘stabilisation test’ this measures the stability of the product in various temperatures over a three month period. This process is required to secure the certifications needed to sell our product in the EU.
Eventually we got the certificates and gave the formulation, ingredients and manufacturing process to the firm who make our Intensive Moisturising Balm.
After a year of experimenting to get the cream the way it should be they reluctantly gave up as they couldn’t get the mix right, the cream was either to dense or too pumped with air. We then approached several other Scottish cosmetic manufacturers who also couldn’t get the mix right. It’s all to do with aeration, strict temperature control and the process used for mixing the ingredients apparently. The firms who took the task on did their best but after almost two years we gave up on them and so we took the formulation to a firm in England who make shaving creams for two of the biggest names in wet shaving. Within a few weeks they had come up with their testers which we gave out at random to around 40 customers, again feedback was very good indeed.
Now to source some tubs, we wanted a sleek modern look to go with our logo and font, aluminium screw tops were surely the way to go, but the maker of the shaving cream let me know that one firm had a problem where the aluminium and some ingredients interacted and produced dark brown coloured oily runs in the cream. After going through what seemed like hundreds of samples, we settled on a fuss-free, clear tub with a lined aluminium lid so there’s no possibility of contamination. Labels were duly ordered and we had our wording approved for the legalities etc.
Finally, with the tubs delivered to the firm who were making the creams, sample labels signed off for printing, go ahead given – start cooking our shaving cream please.
“Brian hi, it’s Jim (not his real name) we’ve got a problem, we have run out of one of the essential oils we need, we’ve ordered some from Italy but it’s going to take at least a month to get here and then we’ve to wait for at least two weeks after making the shaving cream to make sure there’s no problems with it, sorry”.
So even at the very last minute there was another lengthy delay. All’s well that ends well they say and that’s true with our Natural Shaving Cream.
What can you expect? The first thing someone does when they get a shaving cream is to smell it. And, when you do you’ll experience a unique, complex, exotic scented mix of Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Bergamot, Juniper and Pine Needle. We wanted something different and this scent is pleasingly different. It’s not overpowering like Taylors Sandalwood, instead as one reviewer put it ‘it’s clean, floral and slightly citrusy at the same time’.
No matter how nicely scented a shaving cream is it’s got to provide a rich enough lather to cushion and lubricate the razor blade as it passes over the skin. Thanks to the copious amounts of essential oils, glycerine and coconut included in the ingredients you will experience a close yet comfortable shave as your razor glides effortlessly over the contours of your face and throat.
Lathering up is ever so easy; we have worked out the best way to lather our Natural Shaving Cream is to plop a small amount of the cream into a shallow bowl and with a slightly wet shaving brush whip the cream into a rich, creamy texture. When the brush is loaded with lather, paint it into your beard bristles and shave as normal.
We estimate you’ll get at least 4 months daily shaving from one tub of shaving cream. If you shave 5 times weekly each shave will cost around a half penny which is pretty damn good in my book.
It’s taken a while to get to this stage but I hope you enjoy using our Natural Shaving Cream; our logo is our guarantee of quality.