Thayers Toner – A super after-shave enhancer

This is one of these products I got interested in because of my vintage cravings. It was suggested to me via an email ad from our friends at Men Essentials. When I first tried to buy it they were sold out and I forgot all about it.  But when I dropped by Men Essentials in mid August as part of our Toronto summer trip, the Thayers toner was in store, so I picked up a bottle.

This posting started off with me thinking that a “toner” was an alternate after-shave product type.  And my post was going down that path, but a toner is NOT an after-shave substitute.  It is in fact a middle step after the shave and before the after-shave application.

If you are of the opinion that your shave routine is already rock solid or too lengthy as is, thanks for dropping by and consider yourself excuses to go read some of our other posts. I will admit that when I realize that toner was a middle step I was considering bailing as well., like come’on another thing!?!

But being a Tester at heart, I wanted to get to the bottom of thing.  The suggested usage, is to shave as normal and wipe the shave cream off.  At which point you would apply the toner to clean off any remnant of the shave cream in order to prep the skin to best accept and absorb the after shave cream.  My assumption that it was a after-shave treatment on its own was incorrect!

Basically, if you finish your after-shave process with this product your skin will be OK, but it will also feel dry.  The astringent properties of the product will make your face feel tight and not in a good way.  Now if we are going along the lines of comparing this to an alcohol based after-shave, we are leaps and bounds ahead, but things can still be even better.

So here we go, after you have shaved and wiped the left over shave cream, pour some toner in your hands and rinse your mug with it.  The product will dry and/or evaporate quickly enough.  Then apply your usual after shave cream.  To my mug, it was a completely NEW SENSATION!  It was like applying a super-fantastismal after-shave!  It went on like nothing before.  It was perfectly absorbed and left my mug feeling splendid!

Rest assured the nice cucumber scent is very mild and will not take over or impact any other fragrances.  Basically, it won’t last long enough to impact the after-shave.

TEST STAGE:

• State: Out of the shower
• Razor: Merkur 180
• Blade: SHAVERBOY
• Pre-Shave: None
• Shaving Cream: Suavecito Premium Sandalwood Shaving Cream
• Toner: Thayers
• After-Shave: Suavecito Premium Sandalwood Shaving Cream

There are a number of things I like about this product.  First off, this kind of witch hazel application is very interesting.  About a year or so ago I became aware of witch hazel and its wonderful appeasing qualities on irritated skin.  Secondly, it is quite inexpensive at $16 a bottle.  Considering the very small amount of product required per shave this bottle will last you in the neighborhood of a year, I expect. Third, but not least; the lovely and refreshing scent of cucumbers.  Nothing says “fresh” or “summer”, like the aroma of cucumbers.  You may have noticed that this aroma is fairly rare in skin care as a whole.

We should explore the toner itself a tad more.  First off, the ingredient list is natural. There are no man made chemicals in this bottle. Secondly, there are 2 interesting ingredients to me: witch hazel for its astringent properties and aloe vera for its skin repairing qualities.  Then to make the whole thing even more fun, it has a perfectly fresh cucumber fragrance.  The job of the toner is to wash the surface before doing the next action.  In this case, to wash your mug to prepare it to receive the after-shave.  In my testing, although this is an extra step that I wasn’t all that inclined on doing, the benefits and strait up elevation of my after-shave application made it well worth it.

You can shop for this product using these links: