With St. Patrick’s Day coming up I thought it was the right time to try something related to the holiday, New York Shaving Company’s (NYSC) Old St. Patrick’s shaving cream.
Background
From the NYSC website:
“A fresh gentlemen’s fragrance that opens with an enveloping fusion of nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and bergamot notes, and emerges into a perfect blend of coriander and cypress with subtle lavender and geranium undertones. It finishes with a base of patchouli, musk, and cedar softened with vanilla and benzoin.Our Shave Cream is designed to moisturize the skin for a close and comfortable shave. This rich cream contains such beneficial ingredients as Coconut oil, Glycerin, Organic Cocoa Butter & Organic Aloe. Developed for all skin types, our shave cream solution protects the skin from nicks, cuts, razor burn, irritation and ingrown hairs. It can be used with or without a brush. Developed in our NYC Tonsorial Parlor.”
Ingredients: Water, Myristic Acid, Stearic Acid, Coconut Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Organic Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa), Seed Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Organic Aloe, Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Allantoin, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Sorbic Acid, Fragrance
PARABEN FREE • SULFATE FREE.
My Experience With NYSC Old St. Patrick’s Shaving Cream
According to search engines, Irish-themed scents are generally considered to be things like “light” florals (lily of the vallye, jasmine, lavender), woods (cedar, oakmoss, patchouli), and marine/ocean notes.
Scent
I’m not sure how well NYSC’s Old St. Patrick’s shave cream picks up on the Irish-themed scents. Off the tub I get moderately-strong florals and woods from their website description above but it’s hard for me to pick out individual elements that would make me think of Ireland. However I’ll be the first to admit I have a notoriously insensitive nose. I do like the scent, though.
Lather
Lather of Old St. Patrick’s, like other NYSC shave creams I’ve tried, builds easily and generously. I find the lather juuuust a touch thinner than some other high-end shave creams, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing since I sometimes have to “thin the mix” of some of those other shave creams to get the blade to cut a bit closer.
Performance
NYSC’s shave creams are in Sharpologist’s “Best Shaving Creams” list for a reason: performance is excellent. Lubrication/glide, cushion/protection, and after-shave skin moisturization are all top shelf, competitive with the best.
Summing Up
St. Patrick’s Day was an interesting, and kind of goofy, holiday when I was growing up. My favorite uncle, Uncle George, had his birthday on 17 March (St. Patrick’s Day). And there would always be quite the birthday celebration for him, usually Irish-themed–despite him not having one drop of Irish blood. New York Shaving Company’s Old St. Patrick’s shaving cream seems like an appropriate homage. It is available on their website and on Amazon (affiliate link). NYSC also offers the Old St. Patrick’s scent in a number of other products.
