Dreadnought Shaving Cream Video Review

A Love Triangle?

“It was love at first sight.” ~Joseph Heller, Catch 22

“It was love at first shave.” ~Douglas Smythe

“All’s fair in love and war,” ~Francis Edward Smedley, 

Always on the lookout for a new shaving soap, I stumbled quite accidentally, upon Dreadnought Shave Cream (Blue Beards Revenge in the UK). Typically, I am a classic shaving puck kind of fella, but today I was feeling reckless and I thought I would try something new, glad I did…and so is my girlfriend. Sigh.

My first mistake was opening up the shipping package in front of her. We both gazed enamored at the shiny cross sword and helmet logo on the box as I held it up to the light. She immediately wrestled it from my grip.

“Ooooh what’s this?” There was provocation in her breathy tone.

I became possessive and nervous quite instantly, with good reason. Since I introduced her to the lost art of wet shaving a few months back her appetite for all things related to the act had nearly matched mine. Only days before, her second vintage Lady Gillette razor had arrived in the post- she had the itch now and I found it both amusing and fascinating to watch as she tumbled into the rabbit hole I had been fumbling around in myself for the last decade. No doubt, there would be backlash.

“It’s MY new shaving cream.” I exclaimed, trying to control the emotion in my voice.

Her eyes suddenly became small and piercing, I could hear the wheels turning inside her skull. I realized then that there was absolutely no way I was going to get 50 plus shaves, as advertised on the box, out of this jar.

***   [pullquote]She didn’t…she did![/pullquote]

The next morning I awoke excited and eager to try the new cream. I had nearly fallen asleep the night before with my computer on my lap and my girlfriend, the cunning little vixen, looking over my shoulder as I feverishly read review after review on Dreadnought Shaving Cream. Mind you, these were glowing, rave reviews. My curiosity now was growing, as was my girlfriends, unknown to me at the time.

By just looking in the jar one could easily be lead to believe this was just another new, classic style shaving cream, nothing more, nothing less. But that my friends, is not the case with Dreadnought.

Dreadnought Shaving Cream possesses something the other creams on the market do not, Decelerine. Decel-a-what? You may ask, and I respect that. It’s important to know what you are putting on or in your body. Decelerine is a proprietary additive that has hair retarding properties. Lauric Acid, a plant derivative is the key active ingredient in the blend. The company claims that with regular use, one may see a noticeable reduction in facial hair. Not baldness but a thinning of the whiskers so to speak. Taking this into consideration, Dreadnought may be a great daily shaving cream for a gent w/ unruly, thick bristles that struggles to achieve a truly close shave. (Mark Herro breaks it down a little more in his review here.)

***

So there I was, standing in the hallway in between my bedroom and the bathroom. I could smell pancakes and could hear my girlfriend in the kitchen humming as she flipped flap-jacks. My, she sounded chipper. Soon I would realize why.

I began to fill my scuttle with hot water, sticking my brush and razor in it to heat, as I do every morning. “Now where did I put the Dreadnought?” I said out loud to myself. I was sure I had left it on top of my shaving station the night before- and that’s when I saw it.

There it was, seal broken and sitting precariously on the side of the tub with a Lady Gillette balanced on top of it, like a flag staking claim. She didn’t…she did! I could only blame myself for encouraging this lifestyle and besides, payback can sometimes be as sweet as the chocolate bar that you found the day before, stashed in the nether-lands of the crisper. I made a mental note to visit “candy land” after my shave. I hopped into the shower.

With product of current focus in hand, I scooped out an almond sized dollop from what was left in the jar and began to whip up a fantastic, yogurt-esque lather, amazing. I applied the creamy suds to my face like I was basting a cake with cool whip.

I started my first pass WTG. I opted to use my vintage Merkur Slant with a brand new Laser blade to test the overall shielding quality of the lather. Not bad at all. I rinsed and flipped over my shaving mirror to the magnified side to check for any redness or agitation. Nothing.

I dipped my brush in the water trickling from the showerhead and began to rehydrate the lather and yowser did my scuttle runneth over. The vessel was blooming again with foamy cream. Maybe I was going to get my money’s worth out of this jar after all.

Second pass XTG. The glide was slick and cushioning with no drag. Examining my face after round two in the mirror again, I could have easily decided to stop there and had been satisfied- but for the sake of this review, I chose to lather on.

I rehydrated the Dreadnought again and was once more impressed with the integrity this product displayed. My third and final pass was ATG and without incident. I rinsed off and checked my progress one last time for nicks or razor burn. The quality of the shave was unusually close for just three passes and not a hint of some small degree of redness one would typically see with such results. I was shocked and slightly dumbfounded, more so than usual.

I jumped out of the shower and quickly toweled myself off, excited to share my experience with my girlfriend. But not so excited that I didn’t remember to hide the jar of Dreadnought under the sink and behind the pipes.

9.5/10 Lather

9/10 Glide

10/10 Shield

5/10 Scent (Not bad, just not memorable)

9/10 Overall Performance

Dreadnought is a supreme shaving product, though a touch on the pricey side, this really is a, “you get what you pay for” kind of find. After a week of unknowingly “sharing” it with my girlfriend, we collectively give it four thumbs up!

Afterward: A week later I climbed into the shower again only to find once more, the jar on the edge of the tub with Lady Gillette keeping guard. I was fuming, that is until I noticed the receipt taped to the shaving mirror w/ a tiny message scribbled on it:

This is just to say… RELAX, I bought my own!

She can be cute. Happy Shaving!

[vsw id=”zgplse4h_z0″ source=”youtube” width=”525″ height=”444″ autoplay=”no”]

ABOUT DOUGLAS SMYTHE

Creator of fine male grooming products and founding member, contributing writer & editor for “ How to Grow a Moustache”, an innovative, cutting edge blog dedicated to all things facial fur, wet shaving, style & travel [basically a Man Blog]-His mission: Create facial awareness and use his super powers [read: moustache] for good.

Contact Douglas: whiskers@howtogrowamoustache.com