Value for money

This week:; shaving gels and oils...

Total Shaving Solutions Oil

€5.75 for 10ml €5.75 per litre

FIRST OFF, ignore the per litre price here, it’s very misleading. When we heard that this 10ml bottle of natural oils was supposed to last us three months we were decidedly sceptical but not as sceptical as we were when rubbing just three tiny drops of the stuff onto our beardy face. “This is gonna kill,” we thought. We were completely wrong. It is remarkable and delivers a perfectly pain-free shave every time. It is free of chemicals, incredibly portable and even doubles as an aftershave balm. And, as if all that wasn’t enough, it’s made in Castlebar and comes with a personal money-back guarantee from the owner.

VERDICT:Brilliant *****

Original Source Cooling Shave Gel

€3.25 for 200ml, €16.25 per litre

THIS HAS a nice old-school charm to it. It can be used with a shaving brush or just rubbed directly onto the face but we reckon you’d make it last a whole lot longer by taking the brush route. It is alcohol-free, lightly, but pleasantly, fragranced and appeared to deliver a closer shave than its two gel-based rivals. It is on the expensive side and we found that the 125ml was gone far too quickly.

VERDICT:Nice but pricey ****

The Real Shaving Co Shave Cream

€3.08 for 125ml, €24.64 per litre

THIS GEL smells very strongly of tea tree oil (but not at all of mint, incidentally), an oil which is said to have natural healing properties, something, we reckon, that can only be welcome in a shaving product, particularly if you have a shaky hand and are prone to cutting your face to bits. It has a fresh, zingy quality to it and a small amount goes a long way. It leaves your face feeling clean and mildly refreshed. It is also quite cheap by comparison with its main rivals and is certainly value for money.

VERDICT:A nice zing to it ***

L'Oreal Paris Men Expert Shave Gel

€6.96 for 200ml, €34.80 per litre

WHEN IT comes to ridiculous pseudo-science claims on the packaging, this is miles ahead of the posse. It is, we are told, “new” - that’s fine - has an “active defence system” - hmm, really? - is “hydra-sensitive” - right - and comes with “anti-razor burn” and four fortifying minerals. While we’re not sure what these claims actually mean, the gel ultimately left us cold. There’s an absence of foam or fragrance but we were a good bit more more concerned by the price which seemed wildly extravagant to us.

VERDICT:Not worth it **