So, I was contacted by Josh, the CEO of Brickell Men’s Products about a review of his shaving cream, a fragrance free non-lathering product.

My initial thoughts when I first got the package was, “hmmm, this smells familiar”. It smelled a lot like a product I had tried before. While it is a fragrance free product, that only means that they didn’t specifically add anything to it in order to give it added scent. You can still smell some of the products; the aloe vera juice and some of the various fruit juices and extracts added in, as well as a slightly less pleasant note from what I imagine are the oils and waxes they also use. Which, and someone correct me if I’m wrong here, tend to retain more of their own scent than you would find if you saponify the oils with lye in order to create a lathering soap. Anyways, it’s not what I’d say is unpleasant, but it’s not really what I’d say smells “nice”. Fortunately, as should probably be expected, it’s rather weak smelling, so it’s really not noticeable while you’re shaving, this is all just while sniffing the cream directly. Which of course, is as intended. Those of you who like unscented products would be fine with that.

My 2nd thought when using it was “hmmm, this performs in a familiar fashion”. It seems kind of like a cross between a lotion and a shaving gel; at least some of the product seems to sink into the skin when you’re applying it. It provided some very good lubrication, but less cushioning than I would prefer. And as with other non-lathering products, you can’t really adjust the performance at all by varying the water that you’re putting into the lather (since you’re not), and you do end up using more product than you would with a lathering cream or soap (since the bulk of the actual lather that ends up getting used is mostly the air and water you whip into the lather instead of the cream itself, by volume). It does however avoid clogging up your razor, which I often see in non-lathering products. Everything rinses away easily with a blast of water.

Anyways, then I had a look at the ingredient listing, and thought to myself “oooh, that’s why it seems so familiar”. Despite the fact that I reviewed the other one first, the Brickell shave cream appears to have been the one which came first, before the One Shave which I reviewed last year. It looks like One Shave at the very least attempted to reverse engineer Brickell’s formula, since it appears to have the same ingredients, in the same “order”, and performed similarly, if they didn’t outright snag / copy their formula somehow (Brickell’s CEO assures me that the formula wasn’t obtained legitimately). Anyways, it looks like the one shave cream has disappeared off the face of the internet, but Brickell’s stuck around.

6/10 Scent Pleasantness

4/10 Scent Strength

7/10 Lather Cream Quality

Anyways, as I consider the scent an integral part of the shave, that’ll hurt the overall score, which will bring it to a 5/10. If you don’t prefer a scented product, then it’s fairly reasonable for a non-lathering cream.

Cost: I was provided this product free of charge for the purposes of this review. An 8 oz jar goes for $24, with a 2 oz travel size available for $12.

Gear used:

Ingredients: Aloe Barbadensis (Organic Aloe) Leaf Juice, Cocos Nucifera (Organic Coconut) Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Organic Shea) Butter, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Emulsifying Wax NF, Calendula Officinalis (Organic Calendula) Flower Extract, Stearic Acid, Glycerin, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Lavandula Angustifolia (Organic Lavender) Distillate, Vaccinium Myrtillus (Organic Bilberry) Fruit Extract, Saccharum Officinarum (Organic Sugar Cane) Extract, Acer Saccharinum (Organic Sugar Maple) Extract, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Organic Orange) Peel Extract, Citrus Medica Limonum (Organic Lemon) Peel Extract, Vaccinium Macrocarpon (Organic Cranberry) Fruit Extract, Ananas Comosus (Organic Pineapple) Fruit Extract, Carica Papaya (Organic Papaya) Fruit Extract, Carica Papaya (Organic Papaya) Leaf Extract, Glycolic Acid, Malic Acid, Tartaric Acid, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Olea Europea (Organic Olive) Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Organic Jojoba) Seed Oil, Citric Acid