Kiss My Face Unscented shaving cream review

Discussion in 'Shave Creams' started by Shaver X, Jan 11, 2015.

  1. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    Kiss My Face Unscented shaving cream review

    More formally called Kiss My Face 4-in-1 Fragrance Free Moisture Shave, this shaving cream is indeed unscented. I wanted a shaving cream that I could use when going out for the evening, one which would not leave any scent to clash with my cologne. It is also good to have a backup in case I run out of soap and forget to buy more.

    Kiss My Face was the first premium shaving cream I ever used. I was looking for an alternative to the increasingly expensive goo in an aerosol can, back when the local drugstores were selling it for about $8 per can. Spotting Kiss My Face in a local Whole Foods market, I asked one of the clerks if it was any good. He sang its praises to the heavens, saying it was excellent and that he used it himself. It came in a plastic pump bottle, so it was all product and no aerosol propellant. Best of all, it was less expensive than the canned goo, so I bought one to try. Ho. Lee. Cow., what a revelation! OMG, it was orders of magnitude better than canned goo. Wow! It changed shaving from a pain-in-the-neck chore to something enjoyable, even with a cartridge razor. Thus my realization that there was something better out there. About two months later, I toddled on down to a local brick-and-mortar store, bought a complete set of wetshaving gear and never looked back.

    Kiss My Face enables supremely good shaves with the right razor and blade combination, with zero nicks, cuts or irritation, an easy, comfortable shave, and stellar skincare afterwards.

    Kiss My Face website: www.kissmyface.com

    [​IMG]

    Overall: (9.9/10)

    Kiss My Face 4-in-1 Fragrance Free Moisture Shave cream has a nearly perfect score. It really is a top-drawer product for which the manufacturer is to be commended. Mind you, this rating is for the unscented cream, so the Scent category did not apply. The overall rating is the average of the remaining categories. After shaving using Kiss My Face, my face feels faceturbatingly smooth all day long (to use a Corey Greenberg-ism).

    The ratings are on a scale of 0-10. I don't subscribe to the notion that a 10 is virtually unattainable, only that it is denotes a cosmically good rating. Were 10 to be impossible to reach, the scale would be 0-9 rather than 0-10. A rating of zero, quite naturally, denotes utter crap. Kiss My Face is one of those rare products that earns nearly a perfect score.


    Ease of lathering: (10/10)

    Kiss My Face does not appear to be made for use with a shaving brush. The directions on the bottle state "Wet hands, lather in palm and apply. Shave and rinse." I first used it without a brush, and can verify that it works quite well that way. It works even better with a brush, however, especially of a lathering bowl is used. The resulting lather is better and more lather is generated from a given amount of cream.

    To use this cream with a brush and face lathering, simply put an almond-sized amount on the shaving brush and face lather. I don't use very much water when doing this, as the water otherwise dribbles out of the brush when lathering. If additional water is needed, I simply run the tip of the brush quickly under the faucet. If lathering in a bowl (I use an empty shaving mug as an ersatz bowl) then I used more water in the brush. Either method works great, but lathering in the mug produced more lather than with face lathering. Using the mug easily produced enough lather in the brush for five passes and more. Face lathering made slightly less lather, enough for four passes. That was with a Dovo badger brush. The Omega boar travel brush holds slightly less lather, but still easily enough for four passes when bowl lathered.

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    In all cases, a lather is very quickly and easily produced. Perhaps I should say "lather", as the it is not an aerated, foamy, meringue-like lather typically found with shaving soaps and creams. Kiss My Face cream lathers only to a very small degree, with a limited amount of very tiny air bubbles. It is more of a paste than a lather. That being said, it readily fills the brush and with almost no effort at all. The resulting thick, rich paste-lather is easily applied to the face. The result is excellent, much better than with most other creams or soaps. This superb outcome earns Kiss My Face cream a perfect score in this category.


    Life span of lather: (10/10)

    The paste-lather seems to last an eternity. I deliberately waited several minutes before starting some of my shaves with Kiss My Face. The lather had no detectable degradation. Having a minimal foamy aspect helps in this regard, as there is minimal foam to dry out or degrade.


    General skincare: (10/10)

    Good doesn't even begin to describe it. The skincare is nothing short of outstanding. This shaving cream is very moisturizing and leaves my face feeling fantastic all day long. There is no need for aftershave balm when using Kiss My Face, at least not in my experience.


    Lubrication: (10/10)

    I was told that Kiss My Face gives "the slickest shaves ever" prior to making a purchase. This assessment is 100 percent accurate in my opinion. The lubrication from this cream is remarkably good. The razor just glides over my face with no tugging or pulling at all. The result is quick, easy, very comfortable shaves.

    Sometimes the cream seems somewhat pasty and sticky rather than lubricating. This is easily fixed by adding a little more water to the brush. If the cream becomes rather soupy and thin once applied, then that means there was way too much water in the brush.


    How protective: (10/10)

    Kiss My Face is very protective, with the perfect rating well deserved. In my experience, it has very few equals in this regard and definitely no betters. I don't remember any nicks, cuts ever when using this cream, and no irritation unless using a very unsuitable razor + blade combination. Even then, any irritation was far less than with other creams or soaps.


    Scent: (N/A)

    This shaving cream is sold as unscented, so this category is not rated and does not figure in the overall score. Indeed, I could not detect any discernible fragrance. The cream has a vaguely soapy smell, somewhat reminiscent of Savon de Marseilles soap only much less noticeable. Although some of the numerous ingredients would be expected to contribute a fragrance of some sort, no scent was present after my shaves were done.


    Price: (8/10)

    I bought my Kiss My Face for $7.99 at Whole Foods. The price few cents higher than the price charged on the Kiss My Face website. There are no additional shipping costs at a brick-and-mortar store, and the product is available immediately. Kiss My Face is sometimes found for less at other brick-and-mortar stores. Drugstore.com has it for $6.99, iherb.com has it for $6.11. Vitacost.com sells the scented versions for $5.19. This is for the 11 fluid ounce / 325 ml bottle. There is also a 3.40 fluid ounce / 100 ml tube available from some outlets.

    Using the $7.99 price, this is a great value for the money considering the quality of the cream - 8/10. At the $5.19 price point, the price would merit a rating of 10/10. This does not take shipping into account, however. Since I only rate price by what I paid for the product, it is 8/10.


    Would you buy again: (10/10)

    Of course, because Kiss My Face is a fantastic shaving cream! The cream used in this review is far from being my first bottle.


    Shaving cream ingredients:

    From the print on the plastic bottle:

    Aqua, Myristic Acid, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut Oil/Huile de noix de coco), Olea Europaea (Olive Fruit Oil/Huile d'olive), Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera Leaf Juice/Jus de fuilles d'aloes), Tocopheryl Acetate, Retinyl Palmitate, Allantoin, Salvia Officinalis (Sage Leaf Extract/Extrait de feuilles de sauge), Arnica Montana (Arnica Flower Extract/Extrait de fleurs de arnica), Hydrastis Canadensis (Golden Seal Root Extract/Extrait de racine de goldenroot), Equisetum Hyemale (Horsetail Extract/Extraid de prele), Alchemilla Vulgaris (Lady’s Mantle Extract/Extrait d'alchemille), Cymbopogon Schoenanthus (Lemongrass Leaf Extract/Extrait de feuilles de citronelle), Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime Fruit Extract/Extrait de lime), Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange Flower Extract/Extrait de fleurs d'oranger), Saponaria Officinalis (Soapwort Root Extract/Extrait de racine de saponaire), Nasturtium Officinalis (Watercress Leaf Extract/Extrait de feuilles de cresson), Hydroxyethylcellulose


    Brushes used:

    Dovo 918052 pure badger
    Omega 50014 boar travel brush

    Note that although the Dovo brush is sold as a pure badger, the brush characteristics and cost indicate that it is actually a better grade then pure.


    My water hardness:

    53 ppm as CaCO3 (soft)

    The water hardness was taken from my utility's latest water quality annual report. The scale below was used to correlate water ppm to the soft/hard rating, and is from the US Geological Survey website.

    Water hardness scale (as CaCO3):

    0-60 mg/l: Soft
    61-120 mg/l: Moderately hard
    121-180 mg/l: Hard
    Over 180 mg/l: Very hard

    mg/l is milligrams per liter
    Some utilities give water hardness in parts per million (ppm)
    1 mg/l = 1 ppm (not exactly, but very, very close)
     
    Last edited: May 3, 2018
    I Call It Maize, brit, AlDm and 14 others like this.
  2. Mr. Shaverman

    Mr. Shaverman Well-Known Member

    Great review!
     
    I Call It Maize and Shaver X like this.
  3. Jostalli

    Jostalli Well-Known Member

    Great review. I will need to keep it on my radar.
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  4. wristwatchb

    wristwatchb wristwatch "danger" b

    Excellent review! KMF works great for me too. :happy088:
     
    Robyflexx, Shaver X and BigMark like this.
  5. theFAT98

    theFAT98 Well-Known Member

    Kmf are good creams. A very good value.
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  6. BigMark

    BigMark Tests razors by shaving Wookies

    Good stuff. I can get it at the local Big Y.
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  7. Hairy Alaskan

    Hairy Alaskan eww da toilet

    Kiss my Face shave creams are very good products. I really like the Vanilla cream. Smells yummy and always makes for a good shave.
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  8. Tattoobob

    Tattoobob Well-Known Member

    Excellent Review, thank you.
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  9. Peter Martin

    Peter Martin New Member

    Great review!!!
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  10. clint64

    clint64 Blind Squirrel

    Great, well written review.
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  11. Justin Linker

    Justin Linker Wetshaving belieber

    I have a smaller tube of KMF cool mint. I love using it in the summertime. Excellent cool down after a long day of lawn work.
     
    Robyflexx, spacehobo and Shaver X like this.
  12. Moses Brown

    Moses Brown Active Member

    I really like the cream. Thats all I used in Afghanistan and it kept me right. Never would have seen it in this light, though. Good review.
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  13. razrmnky

    razrmnky Active Member

    I've been wanting to try KMF. I'll definitely give it a go.
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  14. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

    Threadius mortuarium...resurrectus!

    *poof*

    Bought some of this tonight on clearance for under $2, figured it's worth that just to find out if it's any good. Will shave with it in a day or two. Nice to know it can lather up some.
     
    Shaver X and sdguero like this.
  15. sdguero

    sdguero Well-Known Member

    KMF creams are very good. I prefer to bowl lather the KMF, but others have said they get a good face lather with it too.
     
    Shaver X and gorgo2 like this.
  16. SharptoothC

    SharptoothC I bite..........

    I face lather mine to great effect. Love the stuff. I may use it tonight, in fact.

    Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
     
    Shaver X, sdguero and gorgo2 like this.
  17. sdguero

    sdguero Well-Known Member

    :happy088:
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  18. Screwtape

    Screwtape A Shaving Butterfly

    I have the KMF Lavender Shea. I usually bowl lather it and get a good creamy lather when I do. However I face lathered with it a couple days ago and got an excellent lather leading to a great shave. Great stuff! I should use it more often than I do.
     
    john zeiger and Shaver X like this.
  19. john zeiger

    john zeiger Well-Known Member

    Great review Shaver X and thank you for it! I'm going to have give KMF a try.
     
    Shaver X likes this.
  20. brit

    brit in a box

    fantastic review sir..bottle on order..
     
    Shaver X likes this.

Share This Page