The last on-the-road edition of my reviews for the foreseeable future is The Shave Den’s Gunpowder.

So first off, what doesn’t it smell like? Gunpowder. Or cordite, or any other explosive or propellant that I’ve ever dealt with. What does it smell like? Well, it’s a fairly sweet scent, with what seems to be abit of spicy / acrid undertone with what seems to be some woodsy scents as well. It’s kind of hard to differentiate exactly what’s going on there, but overall I consider it to be pretty nice, but not outstanding. Strength-wise, it’s the usual, the soap itself delivers, the lather doesn’t.

The key to lathering this and other Shave Den soaps for me appears to be loading a lot of soap on the brush, and then working in the extra water slowly and carefully. I seem to have found out how to get a perfectly acceptable lather each time out of these soaps, but it definitely seems to have a pretty narrow range of moisture quantity which leads to an acceptable shave.

7/10 Scent Pleasantness

5/10 Scent Strength

7/10 Lather Quality (reflects new scoring as outlined here)

I’m giving this a 5/10 overall. An ok scent, and ok shave, poor strength. I can’t really see myself reaching for this one again.

Cost: A one ounce sample goes for $2.50, or $6.99 for a full 4 ounce puck (an extra $2 if you want a tub with it).

Gear used (Roadshow edition!):

Brush: Wee Scott

Razor: Bic Comfort Twin

Scuttle: A empty tub that formerly contained the Body Shop’s Maca Root shaving cream.

Ingredients: Glycerin, Aqua, Olive Oil, Bentonite Clay, Sodium Borate, Sweet Almond Oil, Sodium Palmate, Sorbitol, Sodium Cocoate, Palm Acid, Coconut Acid, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, and fragrance.