Hard Butter Anti-Itch Post-Shave Salve – A nice natural find!
This is the Hard Butter Anti-Itch Post-Shave Salve. I was introduced to this product during my straight razor shave at the House of Barons. I was initially impressed with the product and bought a jar to try it out on my own.
What is a salve? I had to look that up as it is not a usual term used in shaving. “Salve: an ointment used to promote healing of the skin or as protection.” Based on my usage of this butter, I concur with the term: this is a salve!
The Hard butter post shave salve is an interesting product on a number of levels. First off the jar presents itself well. It comes in a proper thin metal can, giving it a nice authentic-vintage feel. The labeling is tasteful. It might appears as a smallish portion at 20 g, but based on the small quantity needed you will realize that this is quite sufficient. To my nose, there is no “official” or distinct scent and we can simply say that this is it an unscented product.
The folks at the House of Barons use this as part of their shaving staples. The claim is that is 100% natural and a Canadian made concoction! There is no ingredient list on the jar aside from the 100% all natural shea butter mention. Getting away from the chemical fest or at the very least reducing their numbers is a step in a healthier direction.
On contact, this salve is hard. You will have to scoop a little portion out and relax it in your palms before application. This is somewhat different than what we are accustomed too, but don’t rule it out just yet. The best comes after. As a side note, the only other after-shave I encountered that was hard is the Lucky Tiger Vanishing Cream. There is no other similarities between these products aside from them being hard on contact. Once relaxed the Hard Butter will feel more like a cream and will be easy to apply. It might be a tad sticky. Now we are the point where this stuff will impress. It has a very quiet, peaceful, discreet way of working. There is no tingling, or cooling or refreshing sensation. My mug just started feeling appeased and comfortable. In that sense it certainly has nice post-shave qualities.
The one slight difference with this product and a commercial / industrial after shave, is that my skin did not soak up the whole thing instantly. In fact, the balm remained slightly active and a little oily on my face for a number of hours. I need to temper the “oily” reference. It is not slimy, gross or even excessive, but just enough to notice. For example if you make a call on your smart phone, you leave a small smudge. My mug was also a tad shiny.
This slight shine and minute oily residue is rendered null in my opinion by the good the product is doing to my freshly shaved skin. There is no irritation or redness. It feel like my skin is getting a deep repair treatment. Personally I liked the shine, but was a little annoyed with the oily residue. Since the product did such a good job appeasing my skin, giving my mug a wipe with a warm wet cloth to remove the oil residue is totally an irritation-less possibility. Usually, the skin is so fragile at this point that you need to consider things that will aggravate it further. It certainly feels like the Hard Butter does you a solid.
This product does not looked manufactured on an industrial scale. It’s more of an artisanal affairs! In other words, produced with passion and meticulous detail. In this spirit, I tested this after shave with another artisanal shaving product, the Dr. Jon’s shaving Soap. Together these products gave me a splendid shave.
The Hard Butter page only list the anti-itch post shave salve but as mentioned in my House of Baron post, Hard Butter does make a pre-shave as well. I am hoping to get a jar of that soon and test these products together.
TEST STAGE:
- State: Out of the shower
- Razor: Rockwell 6C – Plate R1
- Blade: Treet
- Pre-Shave: None
- Shaving Cream: Defiance by Dr. Jon’s Badger brush applied
- After-Shave: Hard Butter
- Results: Splendid!
In short, this was a an impressive after-shave!
You can shop for this product directly from Hard Butter or visit the House of Barons on Preston or Sussex street in Ottawa, Ontario.
