Rocky Mountain Barber Co. Pre-Shave Oil – Sandalwood delight

Last night my order of the latest Sandalwood product from the Rocky Mountain Barber Co. came in.  It’s a pre-shave oil to complete their Sandalwood Shaving and after-shave creams.  The shaving cream and after-shave are both impressive products; fantastic shave performance and superb fragrance.  When I was notified via their subscriber email that this new product was being launched, I jumped on the offer.  As part of their product launch, there is also a 50% discount on the first few days.  It was being sold for $14 on Amazon.ca.

When the Style4Men project was started almost a year ago, I wasn’t a fan of shaving oils.  The oily scent and the difficulty of washing them off after the shave were deterrents as they tipped the lubrication benefit.  This being said, my views on pre-shave oils is changing.  Maybe I am just being exposed to nicer quality products.

Packaging wise, the Rocky Mountain Barber Co. puts the effort.  The bottle is a proper glass bottle with a metal screw on lid.  The same is true for their other products.  for example, the shaving cream comes in nice aluminum jar and the after-shave in an aluminum bottle.  It doesn’t looks or feel cheap.  Further more, these are materials that truly recyclable.

A clear effort is also made in keeping the ingredient list short and “natural”.  Chemicals are not invited to this party. Your mug will be thankful.  This will be the 4th product of theirs I try and there is nothing but praises to be said.

So here we are, I am out of the shower and its shave time.  This little bottle sure packs a full olfactory punch.  Fragrances come alive differently depending in what they are put in.  In the case of the shaving cream and after-shave, it clearly come to life, but in the oil it is even stronger.  This is a fantastic scent, but just be aware that it is strong.  Usually, my wife only partly notices the scents of my shaving stuff.  This morning she noticed.

To put you in context, sandalwood has a sweet, woody scent.  Think freshly cut wood and add an element of sweetness or vanilla to it. It is not a complicated fragrance, but it is incredibly pleasant.  Of the products tested by Style4Men, there are 3 brands that use the sandalwood fragrance in their shaving products: Suavecito Premium Blend, Proraso and the Rocky Mountain Barber Co..  The Suavecito blend renders a very discreet perfume.  The Proraso iteration is lovely and a tad stronger.  Finally it is the Rocky Mountain products where the sandalwood fragrance takes full flight.

The bottle has a little nipple so you can gauge a proper quantity.  I ended up using maybe 5 or 6 drops.  It is a fairly thick oil compared to the one from ZIRH, but it is also a more natural combination.  It covers fairly well.  My mug was nice and shiny and I applied the shave cream.  Both products cohabited well.  The cream had no issue sticking to the skin.  I added a bit of water to the mix by wetting my hand and rubbing it in.

TEST STAGE:

• State: Out of the shower
• Razor: Merkur 180
• Blade: Astra
• Pre-Shave: Rocky Mountain Barber Co. Sandalwood Pre-Shave Oil
• Shaving Cream: Rocky Mountain Barber Co. Sandalwood Shaving Cream
• After-Shave: Rocky Mountain Barber Co. Sandalwood After-Shave

The shave with the Rocky Mountain cream was already a very nice experience and adding the oil to the party makes it even better.  The blade glided with added ease as if that was possible.  Adding oil to the mix also helps with the razor rinsing.  When doing a shave stroke you can see the cream being scooped and in some cases just fall off from the razor.   Even that being the case, there is still enough product on your mug for a second pass if need be.  To my surprise, the oil helping the blade move with less resistance also results in a more efficient shave stroke.  In that sense, I didn’t really have to do second passes.  That single pass was enough.  So a more comfortable and faster shave was experienced.

At clean up time I was pleased to see that a warm wet wash cloth was sufficient to get the remaining cream and oil off.  What I experienced in the past with thicker oils was a difficult after-shave removal process leading to possible aggravation of the freshly shave irritated skin.  This wasn’t the case here.  This oil is a winner!  You might be able to notice that an oil was used as it will trap more moisture, but it is perfectly reasonable.  Read that as; there is no greasy feeling.

The shave was finished with the Sandalwood Rocky Mountain After-Shave.  All together these 3 products did an awesome job.

As part of this test I also included another new variable: an ASTRA blade.  I normally aim to isolate each new parameter of a the test to be able to single-out the results, but I got carried away.  In short, the ASTRA blade performed extremely well in my Merkur and with these products.  No nicks or cuts with an overall smooth experience.

Use the “STYLE4MEN” discount code when shopping directly with Rocky Mountain Barber Co.

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