Ladies, let down your hair--and then shave it--and feel free to use a male product.

The lovely Max Shave Cream was originally designed as a male's facial shaving aid, but who said us ladies couldn't have something so wonderful for our legs? Both myself and my partner have used this shave cream. Just in case you're feeling like getting creative with this cream, don't. It is intended for a shave cream only and you certainly don't need to try and use it as anything else. Simply lather some on your face gentlemen--and ladies, you can lather those sexy legs--and grab a razor! This cream works both as a shaving cream and for added moisturization, much added moisturization I must say! This is a fabulous cream for women who have dryness and irritation where they shave, be it your cooter or your legs, though I limit my razor to legs and pits only. My cooter gets epilated, not razored. It's also fabulous for men who have facial dryness and irritation or even pain when shaving the course facial hair.

If you're allergic to any of the listed ingredients, you should not use this or do so at your own risk. Patch testing is a good idea here. However, my Lovie and I both have great results using this, and in fact, less irritation and bumps than other shaving creams or gels.

INGREDIENTS:
Water (Eau), Cetyl Alcohol, Cetrimonium Bromide, Stearyl Alcohol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, PEG-60 Lanolin, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Panthenol, (Pro Vitamin B), Allantoin, Phenoxyethanol, Sorbic Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance (parfum), Copulandrone (Parfum), Copuline-alike (Parfum), Reconstituted Androne (Parfum)

INGREDIENT INFORMATION:
-Cetyl Alcohol: Also known as Palmityl Alcohol. Cetyl Alcohol is a derived from fats or oils. Commonly used in hair products to provide smoother, softer hair. Often used to thicken a product (think shapoo or conditioner). Also used in water based lubricants sometimes. Cetyl Alcohol does the same for skin--used as an emollient, makes it smoother and softer.


-Cetrimonium Bromide: used in a couple different ways. 1. in cosmetics and other skincare like products. 2. Used orally. This Max Shave product is not for eating my dears, so we'll focus on what it does in this product. This ingredient can cause skin irritation, but since it's normally used in small doses when put in cosmetics, it does not absorb rapidly, so there's little to worry about unless you know this ingredient irritates you. Cetrimonium Bromide is an ammonium salt, also commonly used in skincare and hair products. The CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel) has reported this to be a safe ingredient when used in rinse-off products, such as the Max Shave Cream since, you do rinse this off. I hope you do anyway. This ingredient prohibits the buildup of static electricity, cleanses skin, etc. Since Cetrimonium Bromide prevents growth of microorganisms, in turn making this an odor-preventing ingredient! So, gentlemen, if your facial hair smells, this may be something you can appreciate.

-Stearyl Alcohol: Another fatty alcohol. Found in hair and skin products, it is used both to help an emulsion and to prevent an emulsion from seperating the oil and and liquid components. It can be used to create a foam, such as soaps or shampoos do when shaken or used in combination of water. It acts as a lubricant on skin and to smooth and soften the skin.

-Hydroxyethylcellulose: Hydroxyethylcellulose is often found in shaving, bath, and skin products. Hydroxyethylcellulose is found in plant's cell walls. The CIR Expert Panel labels this as a safe ingredient. It's uses can be found in many products ranging from OTC eye drops to adhesives and included in products as an emulsyfier, skin conditioning agent, viscosity increasing agent and more.

-Glyceryl Stearate: Widely used in cosmetic & skincare products, suncreens, lotions, foundations to name a few. It works also as a skin softening product as well as a skin lubrication. This ingredient is obtained from animal and vegetable oils and fats. Glyceryl Stearate forms a barrier on the skin that prevents loss of water, therfore not only adding moisture, but locking it in as well. You'll see that a lot of the ingredients in this shave cream are skin softening and lubricating. If your skin dries easily or is as dry as mine all year round, you will truly find that this shave cream offers far more than any of the popular brands on the market.

-PEG-100 Stearate: PEG-100 Stearate is a stearic acid and an ester of polyethylene glycol. Stearates are soft to waxy solids. Found in cosmetics and personal care products. Helps clean hair and skin by helping water to mix better with dirt and oils--which often wind up on the face--and helping them rinse right off of ya!

-PEG-60 Lanolin: PEG Lanolins are used in bath products, hair straightening products, skincare, eye makeup, hair spray, shampoos, and more. Another ingredient that acts as a lubricant and helps form emulsions. This ingredient is also skin softening and smoothing. PEG Lanolin ingredients are prepared from whole lanolin. Lanolin is the secretory product of sheep sebaceous glands, obtained from sheered wool.

-Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil: Derived from the seeds of Simmondsia Chinensis. Frequently used in cosmetics and skincare products. Often used as emulsion stabilizer, hair and skin conditioning agents, surfectant and viscosity increasing. Composed 97% of wax esters of alcohols, monounsaturated, and straight-chain acids with high molecular weights (carbon chain lengths from 36 to 46). This makes Jojoba Oil and its derivative Jojoba Esters are more similar to sebum and whale oil than to traditional vegetable oils.

-Hydrolyzed Keratin: Used often in haircare products. Like most of the ingredients in this shave cream, Hydrolyzed Keratin is also used as a conditioning agent for skin, nail care, hair. It's also used as an anti-static, a film forming agent and humectant. Hydrolyzed Keratin is a hydrolysate often derived from acids, enxyme or another method of hydrolysis. According to EWG, this ingredient has restriction when used in cosmetics in Canada.

-Panthenol: derived from Vitamin B5. Found in cosmetics, skin moisturizers. Once again, this is another ingredient in the Max cream that works as a skin lubricant and to leave a soft, smooth appearance on the skin. It also increases the body, feel of hair, improves texture, helps with chemically damaged hair. Often works as a viscous oil.

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...INGREDIENT INFORMATION CONTINUED...

-Allantoin: Used in bath, eye, skincare products, etc. An active ingredient in OTC skin protectant products. Functions as a skin conditioning and protectant. Allantoin is found in the urine of mammals and plants. No, it is not found in human urine. However, Allantoin found in cosmetics happens to be made from urea or glyoxylic acid, not pee.

-Phenoxyethanol: Can be found naturally in green tea, but the most commonly used type is a synthetic. Used in cosmetics and personal care products. Only slightly, but Phenoxyethanol is a viscous liquid with a rose scent to it. It functions to prevent microbial growth, protecting these products from ruining.

-Sorbic Acid: Usually used in facial products, hair care, eye makeup and more. It kills or prevents growth or microorganisms, like the ingredient Phenoxyethanol, this one also prevents products from spoiling.

-Sodium Hydroxide: Used in many products like skincare, makeup, hair dye, shave creams, depilatories, cleaning products, etc. Used to control PH levels in products. Also used to form soap and hydrolyze fats.

-Fragrance (parfum): Mystery. This ingredient is not regulated or controlled so it can pretty much be anything the manufacturer so chooses.

-Copulandrone (Parfum): Strangely enough, I've found nothing at all through researching these parfums. You can actually search this ingredient if your books fail you and guess what you get? A lot of this company's pages show up via a search engine! Weird.

-Copuline-alike (Parfum): From what I understand this is the supposed "pheremone." Apparently, Copluline is found in vaginal secretions. However, I find nothing about the ingredient "Copuline-alike" only plain Copuline.

-Reconstituted Androne (Parfum): Another ingredient I can't find information on except that it's used in this product and another one called "Happy Sperm."

For the life of me, I can't put any name to the scent of this shave cream. Why? I have no clue because I normally do well at describing scents, but this has me stuck. It's just floral and perfumey. I've tried to put my finger on a particular scent while sniffing this, but nothing at all comes to mind except for only slightly floral and perfumey. Being a person who's oh-so sensitive to scents, especially male scented products, I was impressed when this didn't give me any nose irritation or migraines. The smell is subtle and smells stronger in the bottle than it actually is on the skin. After using on the face, there's no detectable scent once you've rinsed it. That came as a surprise to both me and my hairy faced partner. We expected it to leave a smell behind on his face. Of course if it did leave an aroma on legs, you wouldn't notice it as much like you would when there's an aroma right on your face.

We're not big on scents and usually hate male scented products. There are very few colognes that don't bother me and him both. So unless you're extremely sensitive, more so than me, you should be able to cohabitate with this scent. I actually ended up liking it! My partner says it's a good scent, but it doesn't necessarily make the shaving experience more pleasurable. I enjoyed smelling it while shaving my legs though.

Like I said, smelling it via the bottle, you expect this to act as a cologne on your face. Rest assured that unless you're nose is really sensitive, you shouldn't smell anything after a good rinse.

If ya'll have seen my other beauty/bath product reviews, you may have gotten the impression that I'm extremely picky or possibly even a prude when it comes to any product I put on my skin. If you don't already know my feelings on this matter, I'll brief you. I like natural. I use natural scrubs, facial cleansers, exfoliators, lotions, toothpaste, etc. I even homemake some of my scrubs with extra herbs and natural ingredients to get desired results. Occasionally, if a product is at a reasonable price and good, I'll use it even if it isn't totally natural, but that's if it's at a very reasonable price. I only pay extra for very effective and natural ingredients.

Being so hard on what products I use meant that I didn't expect to totally love this shaving cream. I did have a feeling that it would at least be somewhat helpful for my partner's coarse hairs. They're coarse and actually make shaving painful to him.

So we're both high maintenance in a way when it comes to these products. I'm beyond happy to tell you how much we both appreciate this shaving cream. No, it isn't natural, but when a product works this wonderfully, I can get past that.

PERFORMANCE BASED ON MY RESULTS (LEGS)
As I've said, I do not put a razor to my cooter. Only an epilator so I was not going to try this on my cooter. However, my skin is extremely, grossly dry. To be honest, I'm like an alligator lounging in the hot sun for 28 years. My legs are dry and tanning and being in the sun a lot makes it worse. I tend to need a lot of moisturizer. I suppose if you've read the ingredients info you probably have an idea of how moisturizing this shaving cream is. However, I felt it was important to tell you just how dry my skin is and that this shaving cream moisturizes and smoothes my skin better than any lotion or shaving cream I have ever used. This is coming from a girl who uses almost all natural and often personally made products! There's nothing like this shaving cream. I gave up using shaving cream not long ago because it did no good. I've used hair conditioner, every shave cream found at a Wal-Mart and more. I have even used Toko and Slippery Kitty lubricant for shaving! I am pretty positive that there's nothing out there that makes your skin quite as smooth and soft as this.

Another great thing about this shaving cream for those of us who shave our legs is that it's so thick and creamy that it won't totally strip you of your tanned skin. I had tanned previously to shaving my legs with this for the first time and got all kinds of excited about it. Shaving after tanning will rid you of your tan quickly, but this will preserve your pretty color.

As for preventing razor burn, bumps, rashes, redness and irritation, I can say it does a mighty fine job. I don't normally get burn, rash or any noticeable irritation after shaving, but I often get itchy irritation in places like my thighs or arm pits. Ladies, if you experience that tingly stinging while shaving your arm pits, this is a product you will truly appreciate. My arm pits will sting like mad after shaving sometimes and this does a lovely job of keeping that away while still giving me a close shave. It will cut down on irritation and red spots, but I can't speak for someone who is extremely prone to them as I am not.


PERFORMANCE PER HIS EXPERIENCE (FACE)

I was the first of us to use this shaving cream and I wasn't as giddy to give it back to him. I really like this stuff. However, I was so anxious to hear his experience that I could hardly stand it. As I've said, he has painful shaving experiences. He usually uses electric trimmers and even those make him yell "Damnit!" from the bathroom. He says no matter what type of razor, especially a non-electric one, it pulls and causes pain. I can somewhat understand as I used to shave my crotch, but it wasn't quite as painful and coarse as facial hair.

When he was done, he said "about that shaving cream..." and had tight lips and was slightly shaking his head. I said "No! I don't believe it. I refuse to believe that it didn't work better than anything you've used. You're lying! You must be lying!" And he broke the news. He said "I know! It works so good. Come, feel how smooth!" This guy, I'm telling you, he wouldn't shave often because of the hurtful process and now, this Lovie of mine is smooth almost every day. He isn't the type who gets terribly rashes or redness and razor bumps from shaving, but his complexion is 100% smooth after a close shave using this cream. There's not a single nic, cut, rash, burn or bump. I believe it looks smoother than I have ever seen it in the 6 years we've been together.



TEXTURE/VISCOSITY

When you think about shaving cream, words like foamy, light weight, probably come to mind. If so, it may take you by surprise to learn that this shaving cream is actually a cream. A very thick cream I might add. The look and feel of it is similar to that of a thick, professional foot or body lotion/massage lotion. Some of my professional foot massage lotions aren't even as thick as this stuff. The creamy, lotion like feel had me less than ecstatic while rubbing down my legs. Not because it was so lotion-y, but because most products that feel that way end up gunking up your razor and being too thick to allow a close shave. Thankfully, this still allows a close shave and doesn't cling to your razor.

The cream is white in color and is thick enough that it stays exactly where you put it. It won't drip or run off your legs or face. Of course it goes on your skin white as well. You can see that from my photos.

Again, the thickness was so thick that I expected left behind residue. I just knew my legs would be greasy after using. Surprise! No residue. Only very smooth, soft and even skin.

I use less of this than I do when using a shaving cream. The thickness allows it to spread easily and doesn't require a lot of applying. I usually cover a full leg (thigh to ankle) in two applications.

You can rest assured that this thick, creamy shaving cream rinses away easily. Only splashes of water will remove the cream and any scent right off of that smooth face or legs. Soap is not necessary to remove the product, but washing up comes after shaving in your showering ritual, that's no problem. You will still be left unbelievably smooth and soft afterwards.

The Max Shave Total Body cream comes in a black 4 fl.oz bottle with a snap-top lid. While it's easy to simply flip the cap open and squeeze the cream out, when the bottle is still full, it wants to run out everywhere as soon as it's opened. Ladies, you may have experienced this with soap or liquid foundation products. Since this type of bottle stands up with the cap down, all the product is right at the opening. We learned to hold it upside down for a minute before flipping the cap open, that way it doesn't keep running out as soon as we open it.

The bottle is discreet except for one thing. It says "sexual attractant" on it. However, it's on the back and in very tiny words so it could be ignored. Or if you want to buy this product for your lovely father, you can always get creative like me and take a needle or pen and scratch the "sexual" word out. Or you can get a black Sharpie marker and just black it out.

As stated, there are pheremones in this shaving cream. However, you should really consider whether or not you want to try them out. They can cause "overload" for some people, although they're used in pretty low amounts in this product, vague studies have shown that the copulins can have an effect on people. I dug deep into this since I've used pheremones myself for two years. In the beginning, I used Love-Scent's Scent Of Eros for women as well as the pheremones alone just for fun. Then, I fell in love with the scent! They were the only pheremones that really showed effective. For a long time I thought it was coincidence when my partner would obsess over how nice I smelled. I believe the pheremones truly do have a subtle effect on someone who's close to you all day everyday, and it helps if that person is already attracted to you. I can dab on some of my pheremone perfume and it never fails that he notices. I can't honestly say that it makes him all over me or more attracted to me, because it does not. Well, I don't think. He hasn't showed signs of suddenly being more attracted to me when I wear it. He's usually very handsy toward me so I can't really say that the perfume I own does that. It's possible that it helps. He does notice and love the scent though.

It's important to also not expect strange people to suddenly be drawn to you when using a pheremone enhanced product. This type of thing really only works (if any at all) if you already have a lovie who's going to be really close to you while you're wearing it. Say you and your lovie are hugging, they may be affected in that case, but it works when someone is already drawn/attracted to you. Like I said, if it even works at all. It depends on the person, the amount of 'mones, and the attraction level.

Now, I can say my partner notices and loves my pheremone perfume. I didn't notice a darn thing with him using this shaving cream. Apparently copulines are also what secretes from the vagina therfore when the male uses them, he attracts females. The studies (vague studies) show that men who used copulines were shown to be more attracted to women who were not attractive to them before. Whether or not this is a legit study is beyond me. This is one of those cases where you'll have to use your own judgement and research. Not likely in the case of this. First, you should notice that the 'mones are listed as the very last ingredients, meaning this product contains less of them than any other ingredient listed. However, I have had someone tell me that when her partner used the same copulines, they all got in the car and were so affected by his pheremone enhanced cologne that her and her kids began to be in a "drunken-like" state. According to her, they all had to go right back home and let the strange side effects wear off. That's why you should be careful when using anything with 'mones. It can affect you differently than others. I can't say her story was true, but I also cannot say it is false. It's just something you should keep in mind. I personally feel doubtful about this product having that intense of an affect on anybody.

As I said, I didn't notice being more drawn to or turned on when my partner used this stuff.

As I've already said, both my partner and I are very fond of this shaving cream. It helps with coarse hair and is great for guys who have a painful time shaving.