So, I’m one of those people who now takes sun protection seriously – as should you. I wasn’t always this way. I am a late Eisenhower-era baby boomer currently in his mid-60s. As a wee lad I spent every weekend at the beach (Mentor Headlands, just east of Cleveland, OH, and arguably one of the best sand beaches in the continental USA). While I did not slather my body with tanning oil, an all too common practice of the time, I regularly got wicked sunburns – the kind that blistered instead of pealing. Compounding this regularly repeating cellular abuse I took up, and still participate in, long-distance cycling. Who needed a skin tight lycra jersey when you could simply cycle in a tank top, or even better, shirtless?
Cancer
[Editor’s note: Amazon links are affiliate.]
The upshot of this is I was diagnosed with skin cancer at the ripe old age of 37 – surprise, surprise! So, for the last 30 years I’ve been that guy who swims and cycles in long sleeve shirts (see my Sharpologist post about SPF and the use of appropriate clothing to protect one’s skin) and wears really cool wide brim hats when out and about. There are tubes of SPF lotions on every bicycle I ride, in each car’s glove box, and of course the family beach bag. As with one’s American Express card, which I cancelled years ago: UV protection – don’t leave home without it.
Each summer, at the start of cycling season, I would put my winter aftershave balm, Burke Avenue 3 in 1 Face Balm, which is sadly (temporarily?) out of production, or Brickell Men’s Instant Relief Aftershave) on the shelf and take down my summer post shave balm – Neutrogena Men Triple Protect Face Lotion with SPF 20 protection. This past April, when I went to order a new tube for the 2026 summer season I learned that Neutrogena had discontinued the product!
Sadly, the disappearance of a beloved product is a regular occurrence in the wet shaving world, though usually it is a boutique producer that decides to close up shop and not a mass market brand like Neutrogena. The hunt was on for a replacement.
A New Search
Like all good sharpologist readers, I started by examining the site’s listing of best after shave products. Great products all, I’m sure, though I’ve not personally used all of them, however, none offered SPF protection.
Next up: a google search. This revealed…wait for it: nada!
While women’s cosmetic products regularly contain SPF protection, men’s aftershave products, in the USA, seemingly do not. The reason for this is regulatory: in the USA, SPF products are classified as over the counter (OTC) drugs, while a plain ole aftershave balm is classified as a cosmetic item. OTC drugs must pass an expensive FDA (The USA’s Food and Drug Administration) approval process, while cosmetic products do not. A secondary complicating factor is that in the USA there are only 16 approved SPF providing “compounds” (i.e. UV filters) There are nearly twice as many approved UV filers allowed in most of the rest of the world. Maybe it’s time for American Sharpologist readers to organize a letter writing campaign to their respective legislators.
While I could not find many products specifically labeled “aftershave” containing UV filler(s), one can find facial moisturizers that offer SPF protection. Not surprising, they are all offered by mass market brands who can afford the expensive FDA approval process.
My search found male-targeted UV filter containing facial moisturizing products by:
- – Jack Black: Double-Duty Face Moisturizer SPF 20
- – American Crew: All-In-One Face Balm SPF 15
- – Nivea: Age Defense Daily Face Moisturizer, SPF 30
- – Neutrogena: Hydro Boost Face Moisturizer SPF 50
I am confident there are others out there, but this was a good start. What follows is a review of the Jack Black Double-Duty Face Moisturizer.
Full disclosure: I purchased a tube using my own funds. I used this product on a three week summer trip in France and Spain as well as on a one week bicycle camping trip in Vermont in addition to normal “home” use during the summer months.
The Home Set-Up And Review
My home setup is a Feather A2 razor, Parker blades, a Parker silvertip badger bush, and a super-lather combination of Cella Aloe Vera Shave Soap paired with Wm. Neumann’s Old-fashioned Soda Shave Cream. My travel setup is a Gillette Fusion razor and what I call “airport shaving cream” – some small travel-sized tube of brushless shaving cream purchased in an airport during a lengthy layover. This can be Kiehl’s, The Body Shop, L’Occitane, etc. They all seem interchangeable to me when used with a Gillette cartridge. When I am running low, you know how I’ll be spending a future airport layover.
My current tube is Kiehl’s “Close Shavers” Squadron Ultimate Brushless Shave Cream. The title is almost too long for the small tube.
Before moving on to my review, I will brag that I once scored a travel-sized tube of Aqua Di Parma in the Rome airport. Yes, it was very nice, and no, as nice as it was, it was not worth the upcharge for such a super premium brushless product.
Jack Back
Time for my review of Jack Black Double-Duty Face Moisturizer. The TL;DR summary is: it’s a fine moisturizer that provides decent, though not great, UV protection, but falls completely flat as an after shave.
UV Protection: SPF 20 is just an “ok” level of UVB protection. The SPF scale only indicates the level of protection from UVB rays. If a product also indicates that it provides “Broad Spectrum” protection, it also provides the FDA required minimum protection from UVA rays; how much protection is unspecified. The SPF scale is not linear, so an SPF 40 lotion does not provide twice as much protection as a SPF 20 product; the scale is logarithmic. Regardless, the American Academy of Dermatology recommends using products with a minimum SPF rating of 30. While the Jack Black Double-Duty Face Moisturizer is broad spectrum, an SPF level of 20 is disappointing.
After shave performance: After shave balms contain ingredients that
- soothe and provide healing benefits from irritation and/or razor burn,
- provide hydrating humectants to draw moisture into the skin and lock it in, and
- perform some level of barrier repair which endeavor to restore the skin barrier by mimicking natural skin lipids.
As near as I can tell from both using the product and from reading the ingredient list, there is very little to help soothe a just shaved face. The product web page indicates the presence of vitamins A & C containing sea parsley (Palmaria Palmata Extract) and vitamin E containing Blue Algae Extract (Haslea Ostrearia Extract), however, both of these ingredients are quite far down the ingredient list. There are some other vitamin A, C, & E containing ingredients, but they are just as far down, or further down the ingredient list.
As a comparison, two products from the current Sharpologist Best Aftershave list, Brickell Men’s Instant Relief Aftershave and Burke Avenue 3 in 1 Face Balm list an aloe product as their first ingredient.
According to the Sharpologist, ingredients that can soothe just shaved skin include: aloe vera, chamomile, tea tree oil, calendula, witch hazel, lavender, jojoba oil, rose oil distillate, and various vitamins, Shea butter, fractionated coconut oil, glycerin, squaline, allatoin, panthenol, pea extract, green tea, sodium lactate, panthenol, hyaluronic acid, and oat protein.
Lessons Learned
Fortunately, I’ve been wet shaving long enough that my need for an aftershave to provide excellent soothing from razor irritation/burn is not great. However, I really like it when they do – it just feels better. That said, while I am happy to report that I did not suffer any major facial sun burns while using this product I will not repurchase it.
It worked ok as a moisturizing sunscreen, but did nothing for me as an aftershave product.
For my next summer’s experiment with an aftershave that also provides reasonable SPF protection, I will carefully read the label before making a purchase and look for:
- Broad spectrum protection with an SPF rating of 30 or higher, and
- the presence of ingredients that will provide soothing relief from razor irritation, in addition to moisturizers and barrier repair, that are high enough on the ingredient list to actually be felt/experienced.
