Total body shave, shaving gel

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Text by: Anastasia Karpushkina
Photos by: Alyona Ryne

Russian version

Body hair number seems to be always wrong: we either want to increase or to reduce it. People tend to remove hair from specific zones and transplant hair to other parts of the body or even tattoo hair. Human beings seem to be always changing their mind.

Let us make no mention of people who strive to save their natural look, and let us focus on those who want to make certain improvement. When it comes to porno industry’s trends, for example, the second group of people proves to be much larger. Nowadays, there are plenty of methods to remove hair: shugaring, wax, laser epilation and electrolysis. The old-school method to remove any hair is depilation, or shaving. This is the fastest painless way to make your skin smooth and silky. Everyone who has ever opted for this method is aware of the difficulties one can face during the process and afterwards. Irritated or dry skin, burning sensation, allergy, light scruff on the following day or even two hours after shaving-these are annoying things to torture everyone who uses razor with regularity.

To date, a great number of shaving creams and gels are available, people try many to finally sel ect the one that fits them and use it for a long time. While girls usually apply some cream or moisturizing products on their skin after shaving, men frequently skip this finishing stage of skin care. However, as a matter of fact, face skin the majority of men shave, is sensitive and requires delicate care.

When I first heard about this shaving gel by JO, I thought it must be something incredible. But I found it rather expensive to pay a 1000-1500 roubles for a bottle of 240ml. And I felt like testing it!

Sometime later, I got the desired item in my hands. I realized I could bottle the gel into a number of small containers to share it with my people and thus make this test more comprehensive.

The way it looks

This is a transparent plastic bottle with a silver-colored tap typical for System JO. A transparent matt sticker is placed on the bottle making it look like a condensated bathroom mirror, very cool. The company uses two colors in their packaging design: silver and clear blue. The name and the logo are written in English (as well as the other information about the product) and are placed in plain view. The bottle itself is rather big and heavy, still it looks stylish. I did not care about placing it on my bathroom shelf: if you share your bathroom with your parents or children, the bottle is unlikely to give rise to extra questions, I am quite sure of it.

My impressions

The packaging has a protecting seal-just like other skin care products of the brand. I feel great every time I open any. The dispenser is the same as with other brand’s products. It seems to be ok, but some drops tend to stay on the external part of the tap despite of thorough wiping. This is not a big drawback, I may say, but in my case the gel froze to form a jelly-looking pea and blocked the dispenser-I had to pick it.

The gel itself is very dense, so very small amount is enough for one shaving zone (legs, in my case). I tried to make it foam, but I failed, so I spreaded the gel along the lower leg and I could see the gel forming a thin film. I ran the razor along the leg once-no hair remained while the film was still there. Usually, the most traumatic thing about shaving is destroying the upper layer of epidermis due to aggressive scrubbing (the razor can damage skin through scratching). With this gel-no problem, the skin looks wonderful!

Very little amount of the product was enough for me to shave my lower legs and I realized the product’s quality was actually worth its price. All I had to do is wait for my skin’s reaction to the gel as I skipped the finishing moisturizing stage. Normally, my legs tend to show red spots praying for some moisture. And I wondered what would happen if I refused to use any soothing product. I took my bath before going to bed, so I was going to estimate the result on the following morning.

When I woke up, I forgot to make an examination of my legs for spots or irritation. An hour later, having my coffee, I realized I was passing my hand along my leg with no problem. Absolutely! Nor hair, no dryness, no tightening sensation on my skin, no flaking. The skin looked a bit dim and I felt like applying some cream. However, it was more about beauty tricks rather than necessity. The following days I did not apply any cream and I felt ok.

My evaluation for the gel is almost A+ (the only problem might be the dispenser, but it is generally ok). And now I will tell you about my people’s impressions of this product.

A young man, 18 years old, daily face shaving. Problem combination skin

"I liked this gel. It is economical, the little bottle you gave me can go a long way. I refrained fr om applying any lotion after shaving and 15 minutes later I felt some discomfort. Again, my skin is difficult to deal with, so I think the gel by JO actually did a good job. I will continue shaving, and when the bottle is empty, will you replace it, please?"

A young man, 25 years old, face and intimate zone shaving every three days. Normal skin

"The coolest thing about this gel is that I can run the razor along the same zone many times without adding more gel. This is my biggest problem. The hair on my face grows too thick and hard, so sometimes the razor cannot cut it at the first attempt. I used to shave twice to get a smooth skin. Now I do not have to. That is great!"

A man, 40 years old, daily face shaving, dried-up aging skin

"The gel is good. I liked it, it is transparent but easy to work with. I have tried tons of various stuff along the way to combat my beard. This gel can be compared to that I used in a hotel in France during my holidays. I failed to find that gel but this gel is something cool. Thanks!"

A woman, 45 years old, armpit and leg shaving only

"The coolest thing. All you need is one drop of this gel to fully cover the lower leg with a thin film. The razor glides well, no dryness or irritation after shaving. I will go on using this gel with pleasure and will give a couple of bottles as a present to my male family members."

Composition

I liked the gel’s properties and so did my friends. Among my people, there is a wax and shugaring specialist. She does not use razor so there was no sense to offer this gel to her for test. However, having a degree in Medicine, she agreed to comment upon the gel’s composition.

"The product is good thanks to a great number of soothing, regenerating, anti-inflammatory and moisturizing components. Fortunately, these are not listed at the bottom of the ingredient list (the closer to the top-the higher the concentration is). Glycerin soothes the action of surfactants, attracts molecules of water and helps to make them stay on skin-that is called ‘moisture". Chamomile extract relieves irritation and has anti-inflammatory action. Cucumber seed’s extract also relieves irritation, soothes and tones up the skin. Allantoine soothes the skin and prevents inflammation. The gel is perfect for sensitive and damaged skin, it restores the epidermic barrier function. Aloe juice is good to rapidly relieve irritation and inflammation and has regenerating action. Antarcticine is an active ingredient to restore and regenerate skin and has a favorable effect on collagen production. It is listed at the end of the ingredients, though.

Well, the composition is good, the gel is excellent. Summary: to cart!

We thank S-Market company for providing the product for test.