Menthol Overload. 15+ products tested inside.

[Jinx18]

So I have been on the search for a great mentholated setup for this summer. However finding reviews besides just how cold a product is, is very difficult. While I want a cold soap/cream, the scent and quality of lather/shave is very important to me as well. Also finding someone who has tried a wide variety is difficult. I have accumulated some of the most popular products to test and see how they are. No, this is not every product out there but these are by far the most recommended and talked about. Here is what I have. Ranging from very typical to a little more abstract.

Soaps/Creams
Proraso Green Shaving Cream
ShavingYeti Yeti Snot Shaving Soap
Queen Charlotte Soaps (QCS) Vostok Shaving Cream
RazoRock Brain Freeze Shaving Soap (Not Pictured)
How To Grow a Mustache (HTGAM) Synergy Frost Byte Shaving Soap
Stirling Glacial Wintergreen Shaving Soap
Stirling Glacial Spearmint Shaving Soap
Stirling Glacial Obsidian Shaving Soap
Stirling Cool Shaving Soap

So here are some categories to help you choose whats right for you

"Coldness"
Rated 1-10. 10 being the coldest

Stirling Cool Shaving Soap (1) This is not advertised as having menthol but it does have Mentha Piperita Essential Oil (Peppermint) and Eucalyptus Essential Oil. It feels refreshing but not cold or really even cool. The peppermint scent adds to the effect that it is cool but it is very mild bordering on nothing.
RazoRock Brain Freeze Shaving Soap (Not Pictured) (1.5) Advertised as Essential Oil of Eucalyptus and Menthol. Must have extremely low amounts as you can barely feel anything. Stronger than Stirling Cool but it is not going to give any real feeling.
Proraso Green Shaving Cream (3) Most people are probably familiar with this. It contains Eucalyptus and Menthol. It has a refreshing and comfortable cool. I still wouldn't classify it as cold but it does have enough were you feel it but it is not so strong you couldn't use it everyday.
How To Grow a Mustache (HTGAM) Synergy Frost Byte Shaving Soap (8) Advertised as highly mentholated and it is. This is a big jump from the previous items. I would say it is cold. You feel it but for me it is not uncomfortable though. Just a powerful cold. Could still use it often on hot days.
Queen Charlotte Soaps (QCS) Vostok Shaving Cream (8.5) Advertised as a highly mentholated cream. Slightly colder than the HTGAM although they are close. Could still use it often on hot days.
ShavingYeti Yeti Snot Shaving Soap (9) Advertised as a highly mentholated cream. Slightly colder than the QCS but again pretty close. These 3 are all very similar in face feel. Could still use it often on hot days.
Stirling Glacial Wintergreen Shaving Soap (9.8) Advertised as a highly mentholated cream. Stirling is the coldest of the bunch. For me these start getting into the too cold area. After the first pass you get the sensation that you are not sure whether it is hot or cold on your face. I personally would not use this soap often. Every now and then for an extreme shave and that's really it for me.
Stirling Glacial Spearmint Shaving Soap (9.8) Same as above.
Stirling Glacial Obsidian Shaving Soap (9.9) Same as above although for some reason the obsidian seems a slight slight bit colder. I think because the scent is "sharper" the scent enhances it a slight bit more.

Lather
Rated 1-10. 10 being the best lather in slickness, cushion, stability, etc.

Stirling Glacial Obsidian Shaving Soap, Stirling Glacial Spearmint Shaving Soap, Stirling Glacial Wintergreen Shaving Soap (5) Stirling's highly mentholated soaps give a runny ugly looking lather that require a little more work with mediocre stability. That is a tradeoff of the high menthol content. On the plus side they are slick though.
Stirling Cool Shaving Soap (5.5) Since this doesn't have the menthol it doesn't suffer from the issues the others have. I would say it requires a little extra work than others here but you get a nice slick lather.
ShavingYeti Yeti Snot Shaving Soap (6.5) Easy to lather. Need to watch water content to make sure properly hydrated because it can get a little airy and not slick.
How To Grow a Mustache (HTGAM) Synergy Frost Byte Shaving Soap (7) Same as yeti snot but has a slightly better feel to it.
Queen Charlotte Soaps (QCS) Vostok Shaving Cream (8) Gives a great slick and cushiony lather
RazoRock Brain Freeze Shaving Soap (Not Pictured) (9.5) An amazing lather. The Argan Oil is great. Super slick, great cushion. Great face feel.
Proraso Green Shaving Cream (9.5) Pretty much an extremely easy to lather, slick and cushiony cream. Not fussy with water and how you treat it.

Scent
Rated 1-10. 10 being the best scent. Description so you can decide what you like.

Stirling Glacial Wintergreen Shaving Soap (5) Very Strong Wintergreen. Just like a pack of Wintergreen gum.
Stirling Glacial Spearmint Shaving Soap (5) Very Strong Spearmint. Just like a pack of Spearmint gum.
Stirling Glacial Obsidian Shaving Soap (5) Very Strong Black licorice scent.
The Stirling's would be best if you like these scents and if you like very strong scents. The scents are so powerful that some peoples eyes water and it adds to their experience. For me it's too strong.
Stirling Cool Shaving Soap (5.5) Has a light nice peppermint scent with a creamy undertone
RazoRock Brain Freeze Shaving Soap (Not Pictured) (6.5) Light menthol and eucalyptus. Scent is great but very weak and delicate.
How To Grow a Mustache (HTGAM) Synergy Frost Byte Shaving Soap (7.5) Sharp strong menthol with a sort of earthy undertone
Queen Charlotte Soaps (QCS) Vostok Shaving Cream (7.5) Peppermint and menthol scent. It is slightly sweet with a lower sharpness. Has a little depth.
ShavingYeti Yeti Snot Shaving Soap (8.5) Strong clean sharp menthol scent. one dimensional
Proraso Green Shaving Cream (10) Just a clean, refreshing, classic and traditional menthol and eucalyptus scent. Has a nice depth and sophistication to it.

Conclusion
My personal favorite is the QCS Vostok. It is cold enough to feel great, but not so cold it is uncomfortable. Of the highly mentholated soaps it has the best performance and a nice smell. For me yeti snot is a close second. I like the scent a little better but the performance is a little worse. The Frost Byte is also consistantly good all around. If you are a person who wants the extreme coldest, strongest scents then it is no question Stirling. For me both the coldness and scent are too strong to be comfortable in consistent use.

Now some additional items I have as well. With a breif summary.

Aftershave Splashes/Balms

Proraso Green Aftershave Splash
Great scent. Nice cooling. Can be used daily no issues with amount of menthol as its fairly low.
Aqua Velva Ice Blue Aftershave Splash
Great scent. Clean and refreshing scent that is slightly sweet. Medium menthol content.
Osage Rub Aftershave Splash
Powdery Sweet scent. Kind of like mouthwash with powder. High menthol content.
Queen Charlotte Soaps (QCS) Vostok Aftershave Balm
Great scent, great performance. I don't think it is cooling. Just the same scent as their other products.
How To Grow a Mustache (HTGAM) Synergy Frost Byte Aftershave Balm
Not a fan. Comes out a strange foamy liquid and requires a lot to cover face. Dries down nice but application is poor. Possibly slightly cooling but can't really tell.

Additives

The Shave Den (TSD) M-Bomb Menthol Additive (Not Pictured)
Perfect for adding to your lather. Not worth making on your own (I can explain in detail but its easier to buy it made like this)
Menthol Crystals
Perfect to mentholate any current ALCOHOL aftershave you have.

I can't cover everything so any questions you have feel free to ask and Ill answer them. Thanks and I hope this helped you out.

 

[SRNewb]

Thanks for the reviews. I use the Proraso(C.O. Bigelow variety) and Aqua Velva Ice Blue. It's a great combo if you are looking for cool, soothing and comfortable. Combine it with cold towels between the shave and the AS and it is a very refreshing feeling shave.
Not super cold, but a really nice shave.

 

[brbowles8]

Give Stirling Orange Chill a try. It has enough menthol to be cold and make your face tingle but it doesn't go overboard. I don't feel like the scent is overpowering either.

 

[TX Shave]

Very informative, thanks for the research.

 

[SteveE1959]

Stirling soaps have a wide variety of mentholated shaving soaps, with the Glacial soaps being the strongest. But they cover almost all levels of cooling. While I love all the Glacial soaps, soaps like Margaritas In the Arctic and Frozen Tundra provide a mid level of cooling. They also don't rely on just menthol or eucalyptus for fragrance.

Great review. Thanks for the research you did. You've opened up a new world of cooling for us.

 

[digitaldome]

Very good review Jinx... Thanks a bunch!
I just acquired a sample of glacial wintergreen and have used it once this morning.
I did find that the lather was a bit fussy. The lather started breaking down and dissipating midway through the first pass.
Going to try and load more product for a longer time next....
It was, however, like Rod says, "A cold slap in the face" This stuff will wake you up!
Next up tomorrow is Margaritas In the Arctic and Frozen Tundra after that.
It's going to start getting hot down in Arizona soon...Need a good summer soap/cream for those 119° days...

 

[cpacamper]

Jinx18, I was thinking about getting some dipropylene glycol and making a version of MBomb. I'm curious why you think it's better not to go homemade.

 

[Jinx18]

Jinx18, I was thinking about getting some dipropylene glycol and making a version of MBomb. I'm curious why you think it's better not to go homemade.

The short answer:
The ingredients you buy to make it will yield you way way more than you would ever need in a lifetime and obviously costs a little more.

The long answer:
If you want to make a menthol additive for lather I don't think it makes sense to have alcohol on it. This makes the process slightly more complicated for a lather additive as opposed to an aftershave additive. If you want to add to your aftershave it is simple. Your aftershave has alcohol and you drop some crystals in and they dissolve and your done. If you want to make a non alcohol addditive for lather you need a "carrier". Glycerin is a good popular chouce but menthol crystals will not dissolve in water or glycerin. You can heat menthol crystals to roughly 110 F and they will melt but when they cool back down they will recrystalize and make a mess. To get around it the simplest and best way to do it (in my opinion) would be to use Polysorbate 20. You need an emulsifier to dissolve the menthol. I have heard of using polysorbate 20, dipropylene glycol, propylene glycol, castor oil and im sure other things but the information was not as concise out there for the others. The M-Bomb's ingredients are Glycerin, Menthol, Sweet Almond Oil, Polysorbate 20, Coconut Oil, and Lecithin. Polysorbate 20 and lecithin are both emulsifiers. Most of the work being done by the polysorbate 20.

So you can make it yourself by melting the menthol crystals, adding it to polysorbate 20, then adding that to glycerin. Would be a great product. The M-bomb steps it up a notch with lechithin. It also has sweet almond oil and coconut oil. I am not sure how much benefit those add though. The M-bomb is already a simple ingredient recipe (which I like).

If you wanted to make it you would probably spend $30+ but you would have A LOT of it. This is a product you use 1,2 or maybe 3 drops at a time. A small bottle will last awhile. Of course you could sell off the extras.

Again up to you but I feel the M-bomb does a good enough job for me not to bother making it myself. If I were to make it I would do Glycerin, Menthol, Polysorbate 20. The full ingredient list M-bomb had probably helps it feel better and stay more stable. Up to you.

 

[owrichards]

Very nice review. Thanks! Only thing missing was Krampert's Frostbite. Pretty intense and great on the skin.

 

[Visage77]

The short answer:
The ingredients you buy to make it will yield you way way more than you would ever need in a lifetime and obviously costs a little more.

The long answer:
If you want to make a menthol additive for lather I don't think it makes sense to have alcohol on it. This makes the process slightly more complicated for a lather additive as opposed to an aftershave additive. If you want to add to your aftershave it is simple. Your aftershave has alcohol and you drop some crystals in and they dissolve and your done. If you want to make a non alcohol addditive for lather you need a "carrier". Glycerin is a good popular chouce but menthol crystals will not dissolve in water or glycerin. You can heat menthol crystals to roughly 110 F and they will melt but when they cool back down they will recrystalize and make a mess. To get around it the simplest and best way to do it (in my opinion) would be to use Polysorbate 20. You need an emulsifier to dissolve the menthol. I have heard of using polysorbate 20, dipropylene glycol, propylene glycol, castor oil and im sure other things but the information was not as concise out there for the others. The M-Bomb's ingredients are Glycerin, Menthol, Sweet Almond Oil, Polysorbate 20, Coconut Oil, and Lecithin. Polysorbate 20 and lecithin are both emulsifiers. Most of the work being done by the polysorbate 20.

So you can make it yourself by melting the menthol crystals, adding it to polysorbate 20, then adding that to glycerin. Would be a great product. The M-bomb steps it up a notch with lechithin. It also has sweet almond oil and coconut oil. I am not sure how much benefit those add though. The M-bomb is already a simple ingredient recipe (which I like).

If you wanted to make it you would probably spend $30+ but you would have A LOT of it. This is a product you use 1,2 or maybe 3 drops at a time. A small bottle will last awhile. Of course you could sell off the extras.

Again up to you but I feel the M-bomb does a good enough job for me not to bother making it myself. If I were to make it I would do Glycerin, Menthol, Polysorbate 20. The full ingredient list M-bomb had probably helps it feel better and stay more stable. Up to you.

Just wondering if you have tried to make some? Thanks

 

[slybrewguy]

Just wondering if you have tried to make some? Thanks

You may not get a response because the last post was about 6 years ago.

I've made some menthol aftershaves. I have oily skin and really don't like humectants so I would dose plain witch hazel with menthol crystals and it worked pretty well. The crystals would reform slightly but I could feel the menthol for sure.

1g of crystals per 100ml of fluid feels like Osage rub
1/2g of crystals per 100ml of fluid feels like proraso green or Aqua Velva

Hope this helps!

 

[Visage77]

You may not get a response because the last post was about 6 years ago.

I've made some menthol aftershaves. I have oily skin and really don't like humectants so I would dose plain witch hazel with menthol crystals and it worked pretty well. The crystals would reform slightly but I could feel the menthol for sure.

1g of crystals per 100ml of fluid feels like Osage rub
1/2g of crystals per 100ml of fluid feels like proraso green or Aqua Velva

Hope this helps!

It does, I also was thinking of how. To. Add menthol to my lather and what to mix it with

 

[slybrewguy]

It does, I also was thinking of how. To. Add menthol to my lather and what to mix it with

I don't remember who (maybe Stirling?) Makes a product called m-bomb that only requires a drop or two in your lather mix. You could also take a really neutral soap (like Arko for example), grate it up, crush the menthol crystals, and mix it all together in a tub. The menthol doesn't have to be perfectly mixed especially if you crush it up good. Ratio wise for soap... I've got no idea. I have heard that too much menthol makes it so it won't lather but I assume that would have to be a ton.

 

[Visage77]

I don't remember who (maybe Stirling?) Makes a product called m-bomb that only requires a drop or two in your lather mix. You could also take a really neutral soap (like Arko for example), grate it up, crush the menthol crystals, and mix it all together in a tub. The menthol doesn't have to be perfectly mixed especially if you crush it up good. Ratio wise for soap... I've got no idea. I have heard that too much menthol makes it so it won't lather but I assume that would have to be a ton.

Yeah someone does make drops Stirling and someone else and that's what I was trying to do really so that I can add to sooas as and when rather than have to use a speciifc soap if that makes sense.

 

[thombrogan]

Fine Accoutrements Snake Bite after-shave is a wonderful blast of menthol. Doesn’t interfere with other fragrances, either.

 

[rockthrower]

On the aftershave side, Maol Grooming's frozen versions are excellent. I have the Frankenlime. The cooling effect is greater than proraso green but by no means painful. Very kind to the skin as well.

 

[Scaramouche]

Would be interesting to see CFG's Cryogen on the list.

 

[BigJ]

Very useful reviews!!

I suggest you try Floid vigoroso, one of my favorite menthol splashes!!

 

[Earl_Grey]

Fine Accoutrements Snake Bite after-shave is a wonderful blast of menthol. Doesn’t interfere with other fragrances, either.

Yeah but considering the price for the ingrediences, it is a plain rip off IMO

 

[thombrogan]

I may have ripped myself off. I’ll look into the Floid Vigoroso or some other way of chasing that high. Thank you.