so much has been said in the community concerning this much-anticipated cream that i figured it deserves its own review indepent of the 'original' fraser's. as an introduction, i will say that this cream is the brainchild of john c. and john h. of shavingessentials.net who, along with the manufacturers in canada, brilliantly combined their love of j.m. fraser's shaving cream with the wonderful booster polar ice aftershave and an instant classic has been born. ease of lathering; 9/10. once one achieves the correct cream to water to brush ratio, polar ice explodes as well or better than any other cream on the planet. however, achieving that balance may or may not take you a bit of practice to understand its properties. therefore, as it's not automatically an immediate lock and load, i docked it a point. as a footnote, i'm sure that the immediate latherability properties, or lack thereof, are in direct opposition to its skincare properties (in other words, what it lacks in fast lather explosion it more than compensates for in skincare). life span of lather; 10/10. the wonderful whips of minty pillow lather stay on your beard until you shave it off. often in my prep routine, i lather and allow the cream to set up for around 3-5 minutes before shaving. as i begin my initial pass, all the lather that's been sitting on my face is still in tact with no fading or sliding. moisturizing; 10/10. fraser's polar ice is, hands down, the most moisturizing shaving cream i have ever shaved with. absolutely zero drying effects like so many of the menthol creams. it leaves my skin feeling soft and supple and well cared for all day long. finishing my shave off with any number of balms or creams seals in that moisturization until my next shave (as i shave every other day). lubrication; 10/10. i look askance at "lubrication" as a quality in shaving cream. most great performers aren't necessarily so lubricant. polar ice is surely not the slickest cream on the planet. that title belongs to some brushless crud (jack black beard lube, creamo cream, et al). nonetheless, my razor passes glide with ease off the cream with no dragging or tugging. it performs at least as well in this area as most. how protective?; 10/10. what can i say? scraping the pillowy mounds of minty marshmallow clouds off my beard is f-u-n. it feels as if fraser's polar ice is actually doing something constructive and repairative to my skin. how many creams can you say that about? scent; 10/10. fraser's polar ice has a very mild peppermint fragrance belonging to its inspiration; booster polar ice aftershave. many feel the fragrance is too muted and understated, preferring something more bracing and present. i'm a fan of mild and minty fragrances, so this is perfect for me. i'm about performance first and frangrance way later. luckily for us all, polar ice has both. price; 10/10. $9.65 for 225ml/8 ounces, approximately double the quantity of many finer creams at this pricepoint. value has long been a fraser's hallmark and the polar ice version is no exception. would you buy again?; 10/10. i'll use this cream as long as its available. however, it is a kind of limited-edition, albeit one that the proprietors plan on restocking annually. ----------------------------------------------------------- some additional footnotes to consider in respect to my review; * i've been a wetshaver for over 20 years. * although i own eight vintage gillette double-edge razors, i mostly use a couple different single-edge gems and occasionally a european wilkinson or american bic single blade disposables (when traveling) as they treat my sensitve beard mildly (and yet still allow me a good multi-pass bbs). * before assessing the skincare or moisturizing properties of any cream, i not only lather a batch up and leave some to dry on the inside of my wrist, i also wash my face with it for a minimum of two evenings to determine its residual effect on my hyper-sensitive beard.
I was excited to buy this cream as I love Fraser's regular. Must say I was pretty disappointed with the scent though - it was fairly weak and reminded of the smell of a urinal puck, though I know plenty of people like the smell of this cream. For me, the fact that you get twice the amount of Fraser's regular for the same price means I'll stick with that. If you disregard Fraser's Regular, this is a high performance cream at a good price.
One of The Best --- World Class Product For years I used the canned SC and shaving was a chore that I had to try to remember to do every day. Then the light came on and I was able to actually feel and enjoy shaving again, by using the correct products and techniques. My first SC was COBigelow/Proraso. I read and studied, and realized I needed something more, read a comment with a link to Fendrihan, and then I stumbled onto Fraser's Polar Ice. I now realize how fortunate I was to have had those two products as my first ones. I was intimidated by Fraser's for the first 2 or 3 times, then I got distracted and let my Fraser's sit on the shelf for a couple of weeks before using it again. When I returned to it, that was a turning point when I began to realize that I had discovered something rare. By ignoring hype and price, and going against the most popular and widely acclaimed "name" products, I had found a very good shaving cream, cheap and plentiful. The scent of it changes, at least in my mind, over time, depending on my mood and my state of mind. Strangely, the first few times I shaved with it, I felt a very cool sensation, but recently, I don't get the coolness of the Polar Ice any more. I have no cuts, no nicks, when I take my time and concentrate on what I'm doing. Fraser's is forgiving, and if I get in a hurry, I don't cut myself like I have done in the past with other, less protective creams. My upper lip has a wire-like beard, and with other creams, I can't go against the grain in that area, or it just grabs and pulls and cuts. Fraser's softens those wires, and provides such lubrication and protection, that I can actually go against the grain, and that is something I was never able to do before. If you don't have it or haven't tried it, I am sorry that you are missing out. Remember my experiences. I was ignorant of what I had, and if I hadn't overcome the distraction away from it, I'd have dismissed it.
Just about everything concerning this cream is fantastic, however I doubt that I would buy it again. The scent is very nice, and the lather is so rich and stable that 3 men can lather up with it from the same brush! :happy102 I didn't really notice any cooling effect--perhaps a bit after a cold water rinse, but at least my skin felt comfortable and soothed. This cream has a feature about it that just doesn't really appeal to me, just like the other Fraser creams.
