Review of Brave Soldier's Brave Shave

A couple months ago we received a tube of Brave Soldier's Brave Shave and a bottle of Details for Men. Today and tomorrow we'll present out review.

History
First a little history. Brave Soldier is a California company with its roots in outdoor life, and treating the inevitable bumps and bruises which come from pushing yourself to the extreme. As we mentioned in our first post when these products came in, Brave Soldier's original product was an Antiseptic Healing Ointment designed for athletes who needed to treat scrapes, cuts, and bruises from their occasional missteps. Since then they've branched out to all forms of men's and women's grooming, including Brave Shave.

Originally formulated for athletes like bicyclists, swimmers and bodybuilders who shave their bodies, Brave Shave’s super-rich formula quickly caught on as the ultimate face shave.

Substance
Key ingredients include "Infusion of yarrow flowers, comfrey root, Jojoba oil, elder flowers, burdock root, chamomile, Aloe gel, vitamin E acetate, Pro-vitamin B-5, glycerin and panthenol."

Brave Shave is a white shaving cream with a slightly lemony scent. The smell is not offensive, but it does verge on antispectic. A reader wrote in a while ago complaining about the scent. I don't think it's that bad, but it's not manly soldier (if that's what you're expecting). It's lemony fresh.

The Shave
Lather up! As it says on the back of the tube, "Apply liberally to moist skin." If you're more of a red-state person, I'd suggest resisting your urge to "apply conservatively to moist skin" and use a little more. Brave Shave is best applied with your hands. It's a little too thick for a shaving brush, so fingers work best. Let it sit for 30-60 seconds on your skin before shaving so the ingredients have time to soften your whiskers.

The shave from Brave Shave is good. Little or no nicks or cuts. If you're worried about getting your razor all gunky with shaving cream then perhaps you'll react negatively to Brave Shave, but honestly if you're letting your razor get all gunky then you're not rinsing it enough. Rinse, stroke, rinse, stroke. Drop and give me ten, soldier!

Brave shave did a decent job of lifting my hairs up so I got a close shave. It's not a clear shaving gel but if you're shaving your entire face each day then there's no worry here. There was a decent amount of lubrication if I wanted to take a second pass, although I often threw a little more on there for a second pass of my chin, which has got some pretty stubborn hairs at times.

Final Assessment
Brave Shave is solidly in the good camp. At $15 for a 6oz. (177 mL) tube it's reasonably priced and a good value for your buck. For further reading there's a short positive customer review on Amazon and several positive customer reviews on Men Essentials.

Review of Brave Soldier's Code Blue - May 02, 2007
This Just In - Brave Soldier - Dec 18, 2006

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Posted by Russell Neufeld at May 1, 2007 8:55 AM