Pacific Shaving Minis

My wife hosted an event at work that involved a swag bag for the attendees. They had extras, one of which was shaving related. Sure, I'll take a freebie shaving related gift. In this case, it is kind of an odd item. Pacific Shaving Co. Single Use Minis. Yeah, what the...... They are like the single use Coffee Pods of the shaving world, apparently. But I am a manual grind kind of guy. I see that Mantic actually posted a review of them recently on his blog

I think I will have to try it out at least once, just out of curiosity. Expectations are....not high. Tomorrow morning I see if a Mini can get me through my usual 3-pass.

Weird.

If you can get a decent shave with them, that might not be a bad thing for traveling.

So this morning, I went ahead and used a Mini. With face lathering off the table, had to choose an alternative. I wanted to use a brush as opposed to just rubbing my hands together, so i went with a palm lather.



First, you have to dribble some water on the pod to dissolve it's casing. The idea that whatever the casing is made from will be mixing into the lather and then going on to my face was admittedly unappealing. As was the gooey texture and sight of the pod as it broke down and I put my brush to it.




Scent wise, very basic here. A pure mint that reminded me of Wrigleys spearmint gum.

On the positive side, the little pod does generate a substantial amount of lather. My 26mm knot was saturated and had no issue with 3 passes. Also, the lather was thicker than I thought it would be, and remained stable.  



Slickness and protection did not stand out. My face was a bit raw afterward, and I did not sense much in the post shave department. A splash of Speick afterward burned more than usual.

Not going to make me sell off my soap collection any time soon, but hey, I applaud the attempt at innovation.

Rob, thanks for this.  At first, I thought that this would make a nice alternative to canned shaving gel when I travel.  From your description, though, it sort of sounds like canned gel in a different format.  Honestly, gel probably feels about the same, is less expensive, takes up less room in a travel shave kit, lasts longer, and is not as gimmick oriented.

Very nice experiment, Rob and thanks for sharing!