Derby Menthol

I used to think this was pretty good stuff. Then I tried Ingram.

Other than the fact that this stuff is cheap and in a pretty sturdy tube...It's a pretty "Meh" product. The lather is about average, but it takes quite a bit of it to really get a good lather going. The scent is hardly noticeable, and the menthol kick is hardly there.

If you want a tube of cream for travel that you won't miss if you loose, this is it. Otherwise, try something else.

This stuff lathers up very well and smells nice but it's not at all "slick". I whipped it into a lather with small, dense bubbles but the resulting lather isn't at all dense and spreads on thin. Fittingly the shave was bad as there was no glide. While this stuff is cheap (I paid $2.50 at WestCoastShaving) it's still not worth your money.

I have used the Derby Menthol and what I found is that you really need to work the lather. It takes a little longer and a lot more water to really get it going.

I take it with me when I travel but it isn't my day to day cream...

Typically when I review a product, I try to use it exclusively for a week and then intermittently to compare directly with other products. On occasion a product performs so poorly that this method is not possible, and this is one such occasion.

Despite the variation from my normal evaluation techniques, I do feel that I’ve now used the product enough times to allow for a fair and thorough rating/evaluation in all categories.

Price – This is a value priced cream. You could easily purchase every scent in the Derby lineup without breaking the bank.

Packaging – The packaging of this product is as poor as that of any other product I have ever used. While the tube does come in a cardboard box, the overall presentation directly matches the price of the product. The tube itself is plastic and while cream dispensing is easy, there is no way to roll the tube as the product is used.

Scent – The Menthol version of this product smells like a very low quality or cheap cologne.

Moisturizing Properties – While I didn’t find this cream to be drying, it certainly did nothing in the way of skin moisturization.

Latherability – The Derby creams lather quickly and make what appears to be a fairly moist lather. Even with generous amounts of product, however, the lather remains fairly lightweight.

Quality / Efficacy – I find the overall quality/efficacy of this product to be very poor. While I never felt the razor hanging or skipping, I did receive MANY nicks while using this product. Typically I might nick myself once or twice a week while shaving with other products, but the Derby cream consistently left my face a bloody mess and mildly razor burned. My final shave with this product produced 15-20 small nicks, a phenomenon that I’ve not experienced since my introduction to DE shaving.

Further, for you menthol lovers, I detected absolutely zero menthol cooling/tingle from this product. The name, in this case, does not represent the experience.

Summary – I was very, very disappointed with this product. Its undesirable scent and lackluster performance place it into the category of one of the worst lathering products I have ever used. While I initially considered passing this cream on to another member, I could not in good conscience do so.

As much as I love Derby’s razor blades, I am equally non-impressed by this first rendition of their shave cream offering. I truly hope that they will continue to work on their formula and produce a cream that is in line with the quality of their blades though I doubt this will be the case.

For discussion of this product, see this thread.