Product Review: American Crew Moisturising Shave Cream

I think I'm overdue a product review! This time it's a product from a globally recognised brand and it's surprisingly my first time trying them out!
At Christmas my boss bought a load of American Crew gift sets so in his January sale I decided to pick up a set containing a couple of shampoos, their grooming cream (one word review: stiiiiiiicky!) and of course, a shaving cream. They have two different creams for shaving that we stock but I chose the "moisturising shave cream with a herbal formula for normal to coarse beard types".

(photo from American Crew Website)

This cream is non-lathering which is disappointing, but, having had success with non-lathering creams in the past (Cremo), I decided to keep an open mind. My first impression was that the cream goes on very thinly and quite transparently so it's difficult to see where I have already shaved (the legs are a large surface area so it can be hard to keep track) so I was relying on touch as well as visuals to ensure I didn't miss a spot. Also, as it's non-lathering I felt like I was using quite a bit to cover my whole legs. You don't put a pea sized amount in a brush and it suddenly bursts into bowls full of lather. Nope, a pea-sized amount will spread over a fairly small amount of skin.

As for the scent. I really wasn't sold on it at all. Hard to place or describe, the words "artificial" and "herbal" spring to mind. Not the worst I'd smelt (I've gotten shaving soaps that actually made me retch so much I couldn't use them at all!) but also nothing I'd like lingering on my skin. Looking at the back of the tube as to a gain a clue to the scent I see it contains aloe juice, bark extracts, clove, peppermint, avocado, and sweet almond oils, and also a fragrance with no detail given other than "parfum". When I open the tube and sniff it smells quite pleasant but out of the tube it turned a little to artificial for my liking and I wasn't anything I savoured which was disappointing as their peppermint shampoo smells lovely. However the main downside to this product has to be how badly it clogged up my razor. I have never seem a stickier, more resistant, residue left on my razor after shaving. I had to give my razor a full thorough clean before its next use instead of the lazy rinse and dry I normally am fine doing.

Performance wise it does the job. Nice and slick and not drying at all. Its a good, functional cream... but something to be enjoyed as part of shaving zen? It just didn't do it for me and for the price I feel it wouldn't last nearly long enough. Ya win some ya lose some...

- BE