Anytime you decide to grow facial hair, you have to go through that
itchy stage. You can also get a little itchy and scratchy every time
you decide to trim your facial hair. There is a product on the market
now that promises to ease your itchy problem and soften your scratchy
stubble, so I put it to the test in my review of The Soft Goat Stubble and Goatee Softener.
The problem with short facial hair such as a goatee
or scruff is that those short little hairs can be itchy as facial hair
is much thicker and more coarse than the hair on your head. When
trimming facial hair, the hairs are cut at an angle which can be very
sharp. Yes, that rugged scruff may look sexy, but few women will
actually appreciate a long make-out session with you. Beard
conditioners and beard oils (I love Jack Black Nourishing Oil
for this, by the way) work well on longer facial hair, but don't do
much good on short beards. Finding a solution to this problem would
certainly please your mate as nobody wants to end a make-out session
looking like they've been rubbing their face with a wire brush.
Is The Soft Goat the answer? Uh, maybe?
The one-of-a-kind The Soft Goat Stubble and Goatee Softener is,
basically, a very fine grit sandpaper affixed to a sponge pad with a
finger strap. It contains no oils or creams, only sandpaper -- not like
the kind you buy at the hardware store, but much, much finer. This
device is supposed to file down the sharp ends of freshly trimmed beard
hairs. You do this by rubbing this pad on your beard for half a
minute. That's it. Hmmmm... sounds a bit fishy, but I'll give it a
try.
Per the package instructions, after trimming
my beard, I rubbed The Soft Goat over my face in a circular motion for
thirty seconds. The thing did begin to feel a little warm and produced a
slight smell later in the process, but it wasn't too bad. I have a
pretty average beard and skin, so I didn't experience much irritation
(only a little redness that faded quickly). If you do have very
sensitive skin, you may want to skip this product as it may cause
irritation. You are also supposed to use the product on clean, dry skin
(which I did).
And the result? I didn't hope for much as this
product just sounds so gimmicky to me, but it did actually seem to make
my beard softer and it had a nice exfoliating effect on my skin.
Perhaps my mind was just playing tricks on me but I did notice a slight
improvement in the softness of my facial hair. Of course, my stubble
didn't end up as soft as rabbit fur or chinchilla, but maybe (maybe) it
softened things up a bit.
I'm afraid this review leaves me
undecided about the benefits of the prouduct as I my experience with it
is so mixed. After looking at other online reviews, opinions about this
product were also 50/50. Reviews of the product on Amazon revealed
that users seemed to either really like it or really hate without much
in between.
Here is the good news. The Soft Goat Stubble and Goatee Softener comes in a three pack for around twelve bucks. A fairly reasonable price and I would guess each pad would last for a few months' use, so there is not much risk involved.
My
recommendation, based on my undecided review of the product, would be
to purchase a box and try them for yourself. Make out with your mate
and see if she (or he) notices a difference. If so, then keep using
them. If you don't notice the difference, you're only out twelve bucks
and you can always use them to sand very tiny pieces of furniture. Shaving your face will also keep your mate happy, unless she likes that scruffy feeling.
By David Alexander
Men's Hair Expert
