Razor Sharp — Shea Moisture Launches All-Natural Shaving Collection For Women
Did you know most of the shaving gels on the market are mainly comprised of compressed air? Sure, this compressed air is what creates that familiar swooshing sound as you press down on the applicator button and, for that matter, what facilitates the production of a frothy mountain of foam. But it’s also the reason why shaving can take a toll on your skin, as the lack of proper lubrication to protect your skin leaves it vulnerable to razor bumps, scrapes, cuts, and overall irritation. Enter the new collection of shaving products for women from natural skincare and haircare company Shea Moisture.
Introduced this summer, the Shea Moisture Shave for Women collection includes the following products: Honey & Black Seed Sugar Wax ($11.99 at select Target stores), an at-home waxing kit that allows you to remove hair on legs, arms, underarms, and along the bikini line by simply applying the all-natural wax (at room temperature so there’s no risk of burns) to the desired area and, using a strip of fabric, pulling out any unwanted hair; Coconut & Hibiscus Shave Butter Creme ($8.99 at select Target stores), a soothing cream that lathers ever so gently; Honey & Black Seed After Shave Regenerative Lotion ($8.99 at select Target stores), which is meant to moisturize and condition skin as well as slow down future hair growth; Honey & Black Seed Skin Healing Elixir ($8.99 at select Target stores) to help you keep ingrown hairs an razor bumps at bay; and Coconut & Hibiscus Even Skin Tone Cream ($8.99 at select Target stores) so that your skin can look radiant and unblemished.
I had the chance to try the Coconut & Hibiscus Shave Cream and the Honey & Black Seed After Shave Regenerative Lotion, and they’ve been getting me through the last weeks of summer.
The Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Shave Butter Creme ($8.99 at select Target stores) comes in the type of squat, round jar in which you’d package a body butter, making the “butter” reference in its name seem all the more accurate. Once you twist off the cap, you’ll notice the Shave Butter Creme is an eggshell-like color but it has a slight yellowish tint, similar to that of margarine. Even the smell is surprisingly buttery making once wonder whether, once applied to skin, the substance will feel greasy and sticky. Fortunately, it doesn’t. The Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Shave Cream is easy to smooth onto the skin so that it does have that slightly slippery quality that makes it so easy to grease baking pans and bowls with margarine and butter, but there’s none of that balmy, slimy sensation that makes handling butter with bare hands so uncomfortable. Because it’s a true shaving cream and not a foam or gel, when you scoop out the desired amount and smooth it onto your legs, underarms, or any other area you wish to shave, you won’t be seeing a lot of suds or foam produced but, as you rub the cream vigorously, it should lather slightly. Once you have a thin layer of shaving cream atop the skin, you can guide your razor over the area and produce a clean shave. And, since htere’s a layer of lubrication to protect the skin, there’s less of a chance of you nicking, scraping, cutting, or bruising the skin in any way.
Rather than leaving your skin vulnerable, as most air-based shaving gels do, the Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Shave Butter Creme nourishes and protects it with a formula that incorporates faty acid-rich coconut, tamanu, and argan oils, alongside hydrating and softening avocado and shea butters, and African black soap. In addition to these ingredients, the shave cream also contains olive oil, palm oil, wilow bark extract, juniper oil, pomegranate seed oil, aloe leaf exract, vitamin A, vitamin E, hibiscus extract, and chamomile extract, so that the formula is packed with antioxidants, natural analgesics and antimicrobials, and soothing agents. Because of these ingredients, then, once you’re done shaving, not only wlll your skin feel smoother because of the hair that was removed but because of the vitamins, fatty acids, and minerals that replenished, conditioned, and nourished the skin.
After shaving, you’ll want to apply the Shea Moisture Honey & Black Seed After Shave Regenerative Lotion ($8.99 at select Target stores), formulated with cocoa and shea butter, both of which moisturize and soften skin; jojoba oil, a known emollient that is easily absorbed by the skin due to its sebum-like composition; aloe leaf juice, which cools and soothes the skin; mango oil, which is believed to both nourish and firm the skin; pomegranate seed oil, which is rich in antioxidants that protect skin from free radicals and keep it looking healthy and youthful; honey, which boasts analgesic and anti-microbial properties; and Gymnema Sylvestre Leaf extract, which is believe to naturally slow down hair growth.
In my experience, the Shea Moisture Honey & Black Seed After Shave Regenerative Lotion leaves skin ready to be caressed — so much so that you’ll want to use it on a daily basis (and you can!). After smoothing it onto your skin, the lotion might take a few minutes to be fully absorbed but, once it is, you’ll notice the difference in terms of both how radiant your skin looks, how even the skin tone looks (with any redness obliterated), and how supple it feels. As for the smell, it’s the perfect combination of sweet and musky, at once buttery and woody.
