Rocky Mountain Barber Co. – Sandalwood Shaving Duo
The Rocky Mountain Barber Co. is a Canadian enterprise that focuses on beard and hair products. These sandalwood shaving cream and after-shave are new additions to their products line. If you subscribe to their newsletter you get early notice of new products and a 50% discount on these new items. Since I have been impressed by the Rocky Mountain Barber Co. pomade and combs so far as well as liking the sandalwood scent in Proraso products, I figured this might be an interesting set of products to try. I got these products for some $13 each on amazon.
Rocky Mountain products have fairly short ingredient lists as you can see above. Their claim is to be going the more natural path and for that we thank them.
As you can see the shaving cream looks like a very inviting butter. The instruction suggest that you use a badger brush to apply the cream on your face. Generally speaking, I have found that applying cream using a brush does not render the best results for me. In that light I simply applied it by hand. In retrospect that was perhaps a mistake and I should have simply followed the instructions. By applying the cream by hand I did not end up adding water to the mix. If I had used my brush, I would have wet my brush and scooped some cream out with it. That would of resulted in a slightly lighter cream with more lubing capabilities.
Coming back to the brushless application; the cream went on well and covered my beard very efficiently. I felt insulated and protected. But what I didn’t realized was that I was not getting the maximum lubing I could out of this cream. The blade moved well enough but it felt a tad dry. That should have been my first clue, but I continued. The saving grace was that I had put probably too much cream to begin with. So even though I wasn’t getting the best glide, I was totally protected. By the time I was shaving my neck, I decided to add a bit of water to reactivate the cream that was there. The light went on as the cream became considerably more slippery. Although, this is a cream it has very similar properties to a shaving soap and as we all know a soap comes alive with water.
Needless to say, I will be trying this cream again and updating this post with results when using a brush. But that being said, the shave was surprisingly nice anyways. I was taking off 3 days worth of beard and it was an easy and comfortable task.
The cream is fairly thick so rinsing off the razor between passes required very hot water. If you are a shower shaver I would caution you as the excess cream will be very slippery. Rinsing my mug with the usual hot wash cloth was effortless.
Now I have to make a pause and mention the sandalwood fragrance. Aside for being a high quality product it is also a very nice rendering of the sandalwood scent. Granted my only other point of references are Proraso and Suavecito. The Suavecito rendering is very mild. Almost too timid. The Proraso approach is well balanced and appropriate. The Rocky Mountain creams go all out! It smells sweet, woodsy and manly in a strong enough way that I can smell it 4 hours after shaving. My wife who has a very sensitive nose did not mention that it was too potent. Sandalwood is not an artificial or flowery scent like most perfumes, its a very pleasant and natural smelling fragrance. In that sense, it does not feel foreign nor is it an irritating or aggressive odour. I have only discovered Sandalwood in the last 6 months and I totally love it.
TEST STAGE:
- State: Out of the shower
- Razor: Merkur 180
- Blade: Derby Extra
- Pre-Shave: None
- Shaving Cream: Rocky Mountain Barber Co. Sandalwood Shaving Cream
- After-Shave: Rocky Mountain Barber Co. Sandalwood Aftershave Balm
To summarize, I had a very nice shave using this cream. As you know, my preference is always to use the product sets together. That way you are using products that are meant to work together (limiting the possibility of any adverse reactions) and getting the full intended effect of the designers. I bought the aftershave balm along with the shaving cream so that I could experience the shave the way the Rocky Mountain Barber Co. folks intended it.
The image the company portrays is rather tough and outdoorzy, but this balm is perfectly refined. In fact I was somewhat surprised to find such a nice balm under this brand name. The balm is distributed via a small head pump. A tiny squirt is sufficient to cover your mug and envelope your face in a refreshing and soothing feeling. The balm is absorb by the skin leaving no stickiness or greasy feeling. I had one or two little nicks from the shave and the balm had appeasing qualities which also stopped any bleeding. And again the sandalwood scent is intoxicating.
Being a bit of an old-school purist, being presented with nice aluminum containers is both a nice touch and as well as eco-responsible.
In closing, these two products together were a simple 5/5 for me. The quality of the creams, the fragrance and the shave results were aces.
Addendum (21/03/2017): After shaving two days in a row with these products, I am having to make a slight addition/correction. I have had a bit of a reaction to these creams. I normally shave with the grain of the hair as to not irritate my skin – but every now and then I will finish the shave with one or two passes against the grain to get a smooth finish. Generally speaking, this is not a problem. Lubrication wise, this certainly wasn’t an issue and was perfectly comfortable. The surprise came much later in the day My neck was visibly irritated and raw. Here is what I think the problem is; shaving against the grain is harder on the hair and on the skin and it a allows the products to get into the beard follicles. With a product that your skins agrees with – no problems and no one is the wiser. With a product that your skin does not agree with, you end up with varying levels of irritation. Using a new blade for every shave, I am essentially confident that this element in the shave process is not to blame.
At this point, I am not going to change my review since I still think that these are going product, but the point of these posts is to give honest feedback on the usage of these products.
Use the “STYLE4MEN” discount code when shopping directly with Rocky Mountain Barber Co.
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