18 Best Shaving Creams for Men in 2024
Every man needs a good shaving kit to give himself a clean, smooth shave. Your razor is undoubtedly important, but so is your shaving cream; after all, your shaving cream determines how likely it is that you nick yourself, how smoothly your razor slides across your face, and how soothed and comfortable your skin feels afterward.
Good news! We’ve broken down 18 of the best shaving creams for men one by one. Each of these has certain benefits and key features, so read our reviews carefully to determine the best shaving cream for your unique needs.
1. Blu Atlas Shave Cream
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When it comes to a quality shaving cream, you want something slick, smooth, and soothing. That’s why Blu Atlas Shave Cream is the best shaving cream for men, hands down. It’s easy to use immediately and is specifically formulated to reduce irritation on the face and neck: two of the areas with the most sensitive skin on your body.
More importantly, this well-designed shaving cream is meant to prevent nicks and cuts thanks to its special formula, which includes oat bran extract, tocopheryl acetate (a form of vitamin E and a key antioxidant), and Aloe barbadensis leaf, a natural moisturizer. In fact, you can count on this shaving cream for men to be primarily made from naturally sourced ingredients, ensuring quality shaving results and good skincare in equal measure. Try this shaving cream today and you won't want to go back.
2. Cremo Original Shave Cream
cremocompany.com
Cremo’s Original Shave Cream is another good choice if you’re looking for a new shaving product. It’s highly affordable, making it a great choice for guys who buy shaving cream often, and it’s almost impossibly slick. As a result, it’s a great choice if you want to avoid razor burn and shaving cuts at any cost.
The close, comfortable shave you receive with this cream is complemented by a subtle citrus fragrance. This doesn’t overwhelm any other fragrances you may choose to use, so don’t worry about that. The product is made with ingredients like olive leaf extract, macadamia seed oil, aloe vera, and lemon extract. Plus, it’s totally paraben free. What’s not to like?
3. Edge Shave Gel for Men, Sensitive Skin
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Maybe you're looking for something even more affordable and standardized. In that case, Edge Shaving Gel for Men, which is specially formulated for guys with sensitive skin, could be just the ticket. It’s made with natural aloe vera and even includes an aloe vera fragrance. The resulting cream should ensure that each time you shave, your face feels smooth and free of irritation.
Indeed, this cool and refreshing shaving gel moisturizes, soothes, and protects all at the same time. On top of that, this shaving cream is really affordable, so it might be a great choice if you want to pick up a lot of shaving cream for the next few months and not have to worry about it in the meantime.
4. Gillette Series 3X Action Shave Gel
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Gillette’s Series 3X Action Shave Gel is from the popular razor manufacturer and it’s among the most affordable shaving products you can buy as a man. It’s infused with aloe vera, one of the most common and effective shaving gel ingredients, and includes some artificial lubricants to protect against irritation and cutting during shaving.
While this isn’t the shaving cream with the most natural or organic ingredients, it’s still a good pick if your skin isn’t especially sensitive to artificial compounds. It’s also lightly fragranced to help refresh your skin, but not in an overwhelming way; you probably won’t notice the fragrance if you apply deodorant or cologne to your body after shaving.
5. Van Der Hagen Shave Butter
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Van Der Hagen Shave Butter is among the best shaving creams for men overall, partially due to its affordability. It's yet another effective, budget-friendly shaving product you can buy. It comes with a unique mango scent, however, so keep this in mind if you're looking for a shaving cream that smells a particular way.
Other than that, this product has a lot to like. The formula is made with macadamia oil, cocoa butter, and shea butter, for example. It’s also specially formulated so it doesn’t foam up, meaning it doesn’t create a mess or a lot of secondary product that you have to clean up after shaving. This can also be handy if you are learning to shave, as the shaving butter won’t cover up the area you are trying to work on.
6. Nivea Men Sensitive Shave Foam
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Nivea is among the most popular skincare brands for men, and for good reason; Nivea usually produces stellar products. This shaving foam is formulated for guys with sensitive skin and is affordable, so it's another great choice if you are on a budget.
More importantly, this shaving foam is designed to improve razor glide, helping your razor cut smoothly and successfully without any nicking. It also softens your stubble, so it might be a great choice if your facial hair is fairly thick and coarse. Ingredients like vitamin E, chamomile extract, and witch hazel do a lot to ensure that the shaving cream is comfortable and soothing to use from start to finish, even if your skin normally shows some irritation after shaving.
7. The Art of Shaving Sandalwood Shaving Cream
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The Art of Shaving offers an exceptional sandalwood shaving cream that’s among the best shaving products for men overall. That’s because it protects your skin against cuts while you shave. It also softens and lifts your whiskers while you work, ensuring that your razor gets an even closer shave than you anticipated.
Plus, ingredients like glycerin, coconut oil, and sandalwood oil combine to create a pleasing fragrance and moisturize your skin over time. Thus, it's a great shaving cream for guys who have naturally dry skin, which is more likely to become irritated or inflamed after shaving, anyway. You only need a little bit of this product for a full, clean shave across your face and upper neck.
8. Harry’s Shaving Cream With Eucalyptus
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Harry’s Shaving Cream is infused with its titular ingredient, along with ingredients like aloe vera and mint. This shaving cream is highly refreshing and moisturizing as a result, trapping moisture in the skin and leaving your face feeling fresh and youthful after a clean shave.
This shaving cream is naturally formulated to sit close to the skin. Therefore, you shouldn’t have any difficulty seeing where you need to move your razor next. You also won’t need to wipe off a first layer to see if you missed any hairs only to have to reapply afterward. It's a convenient, results-focused shaving cream that a lot of guys like for its effectiveness and its affordable price.
9. Thayers Gentlemen’s Collection Shave Cream
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Thayers shaving cream, part of the titular Gentlemen’s Collection, is one of the cheapest you can purchase. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a great shaving cream product overall. It’s infused with aloe vera and witch hazel, which ensures that the cream both soothes and moisturizes in equal measure.
The proprietary witch hazel extract, in fact, has 195% more tannins compared to what’s in competitors’ products. This tightens up your pores, reducing redness and inflammation after shaving. In the long run, it can even provide ancillary advantages, like oil production and acne control, as well as infusing your skin cells with beneficial antioxidants. In this way, this is a shaving cream that’s good not just for shaving but also for pursuing long-term facial skin health.
10. Proraso Shaving Cream
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Proraso’s Shaving Cream is an ideal choice for guys with sensitive skin. It features a fairly powerful menthol fragrance, however, so keep this in mind if you’re looking for a shaving cream that blends in easily with other fragrance products.
This formula uses eucalyptus oil and menthol to tone and soothe your skin while also facilitating a smooth gliding action with any razor you choose to use. This shaving cream must be whipped up into a lather, so it's best for combining with a traditional shaving brush and a straight razor rather than a modern safety razor like you may be used to. When it comes to a premium shaving experience, you can't do much better.
11. Pacific Shaving Company Natural Shaving Cream
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The Pacific Shaving Company offers a shaving cream made with natural ingredients, such as vitamin E and shea butter. It’s a great choice for guys who are looking for a protective shaving cream that simultaneously hydrates and moisturizes their skin.
When you use this shaving cream, you’ll find that it helps your razor move smoothly and safely across your skin. But after shaving, you’ll also discover that your skin is better at retaining moisture throughout the day. Because of this, it could be a good choice to replace a facial moisturizer after shaving. This way, you won’t have to use two products to achieve the same goal.
12. The Body Shop Maca Root & Aloe Softening Shaving Cream
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The Body Shop’s Maca Root & Aloe and Shaving Cream is another stellar choice for guys, especially if you’re looking for a latherable cream perfect for use with a straight razor and brush. This luxurious and smooth shaving cream is infused with aloe vera and maca root, which leaves your skin feeling soft, smooth, and completely clean after a shave.
It’s a 100% vegetarian product that’s designed to afford fantastic protection and soothing results each time. It’s not even very expensive, and you don’t have to use too much of the product to build a good lather. So while it’s not as cheap as a few other shaving products, you shouldn’t have to repurchase it all that often.
13. C.O. Bigelow Premium Shave Cream
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C.O. Bigelow's Premium Shaving Cream is formulated with coconut in eucalyptus oils, and is a fairly affordable, budget-friendly package. Menthol and camphor combine to ensure that your skin feels refreshed, reinvigorated, soothed, and protected after every shave.
Meanwhile, the coconut and eucalyptus oils both help hydrate and moisturize your skin while revitalizing it in the middle of your shaving session. The shaving cream is very good at softening your whiskers, preventing razor burn and allowing your razor of choice to cut through facial hair much more easily than with many other shave creams.
14. Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood Shaving Cream
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Taylor of Old Bond Street offers another excellent shaving cream option for men. This one is designed to smell like sandalwood, and it incorporates fragrance notes like rosemary, lavender, and rose. It smells great, but it doesn’t linger for too long, meaning you can easily combine it with other fragrances like colognes and deodorants.
As far as shaving results, you’ll certainly be pleased if you try this shaving cream option. It’s intended to be worked into a lather and used with a straight razor, offering phenomenal consistency and good shaving protection, even if you aren’t that experienced with this shaving style. The only real downside is that it needs to be stored at room temperature very consistently; otherwise, the cream can become overly chunky and not useful for a quick shave.
15. Nivea Men Sensitive Calm Liquid Shaving Cream
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Nivea's next shaving cream option is formulated specifically for guys with sensitive skin. It's an easy-to-apply liquid, so it's perfect for straight razors and safety razors alike. Most importantly, it's packed with vitamin E and hemp seed oil, which help provide your skin with additional nutrients so it revitalizes itself every day.
The fragrance is a strong citrus, however, so keep this in mind if you plan to wear cologne after shaving. In any case, this is a good shaving cream for eco-conscious guys as it’s made with natural ingredients and even a recycled pump bottle; except for the pump mechanism itself and the label, the container is made with 97% recycled materials.
16. Bulldog Original Shave Gel
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Bulldog’s original shave gel is a top choice thanks to its formula composition, which includes green tea, aloe vera, and camelina oil to foster comfortable and soothing shaves. This formula is very smooth and nourishing to the skin, especially if you work it up into a gentle lather before applying your razor to your face.
In addition, you’ll find that this shaving cream is relatively moisturizing, making it a good choice if you have naturally dry skin or don’t want to have to apply a separate moisturizer after giving yourself a close shave.
17. Marlowe Shave Cream for Men
amazon.com
Marlowe’s Shave Cream for Men is formulated with coconut oil and shea butter, offering a natural and soothing shaving experience compared to many gel-based products. This is an excellent shaving cream for guys with sensitive skin who desire a very close shave. It has a light citrus fragrance that wears off relatively quickly.
On top of that, this shaving cream is made without any parabens and it isn’t tested on animals. All in all, it’s a good all-around soothing and relaxing shaving cream that incorporates willow bark extract for even more antioxidant and skin defense properties.
18. Magic Razorless Cream Shave
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Magic’s Razorless Cream Shave is a novel means to get rid of stubble, all without a razor, as the name suggests. Apply this cream to your face, wait a few minutes, and when you wipe it away, you’ll find that even the newest stubble has been effortlessly removed. This could be a particularly good choice for men who experience razor bumps or skin irritation no matter what shaving cream or razor type they’ve tried.
It's also a great product for removing hair on top of your head for obvious reasons. This cream comes with a fresh fragrance that isn’t too noticeable. Give this a try if you haven’t had any success with a traditional shaving routine.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is shaving cream important for men?
Odds are when you were taught how to shave, you were also taught to use shaving cream by default. But why exactly is shaving cream so important for men?
In truth, shaving cream is important for men (and women, when shaving their legs or any other areas) for one big reason: friction reduction. In a nutshell, shaving cream is important when you shave because it creates an artificial barrier between your razor blade(s) and your skin.
Think about where your razor goes when you do a full, clean shave. It shaves the sensitive skin around your cheeks, lips, and throat. All of that skin is relatively thin compared to the skin on your arms and legs, for example. That’s why it’s so easy to accidentally cut or nick yourself with a razor blade.
Shaving cream—when it’s formulated properly and made with the right ingredients, at least—helps minimize the likelihood of nicks, cuts, or razor burn. By making the surface of your skin slippery, it reduces the likelihood that your razor blade will catch on your skin and cut you by accident. At the same time, shaving cream is designed not to be thick enough to prevent your razor from cutting whiskers.
In addition, shaving cream is important for men because it:
- Often helps soothe the skin depending on its ingredient composition. Soothed skin always feels a little better after a clean shave, particularly if you use a new, sharp razor or your whiskers are relatively thick and difficult to cut
- Can moisturize your skin after a shave. That’s important because shaving usually scrapes away facial oil and dead skin cells on the surface. That’s not a bad thing, but if you’re already prone to dry skin, you might find that your shaved skin is too dry for comfort unless you use a moisturizer afterward
Bottom line: you should never try to shave without shaving cream. It’s a vital component for any shaving experience and any skin type.
What are the types of shaving cream?
Several types of shaving cream are available for you to try. Sometimes, one type of shaving cream will be superior to another depending on the shaving sequence you like to use and the shaving tool you like to leverage.
The basic types of shaving cream are:
- Gel shaving creams. These are relatively new and are available in aerosolized cans. Gel shaving creams are usually inexpensive and can be very refreshing, especially if they’re formulated with peppermint. However, they don't provide as much of a slippery surface as some other shaving creams. They're sometimes preferred because they’re easy to use. Just apply them to your face and you'll find that they foam up automatically.
- Foam shaving creams. Foam shaving creams immediately become foam on your face. This can help you lift your whiskers and make them easier to cut, which may lead to a closer shave than you could otherwise achieve. But foam shaving creams aren’t as lubricating or slippery as other shaving cream types, so you have to be careful not to accidentally nick yourself.
- Cream shaving creams. These are the classic, old-school shaving creams often used with straight razor shaving. Cream shaving creams lather up when you add water to them, so you should wet your face before applying them or mix them with water in a small bowl. In any case, cream shaving creams provide a smooth, slippery lubricant to your face and help reduce the likelihood of cutting yourself. That’s why they’re the preferred type of shaving cream for straight razor shaving.
Any type of shaving cream will do, but you should consider how you’ll shave in the near future before purchasing any one of them. For instance, if you use a safety razor, gel or foam shaving creams are probably fine since your safety razor is designed to minimize the likelihood of cuts.
If you use a straight razor, cream shaving cream is really your only choice. You definitely want to maximize lubrication.
Should you always use shaving cream when shaving?
Yes. If you don’t use shaving cream while shaving, you could put yourself at a greater risk of developing razor burn, razor bumps, skin cuts, and other types of skin irritation. While you certainly can shave without shaving cream, you’ll find it to be a more painful and irritating experience.
Shaving cream helps lift up whiskers and make them softer, which makes them easier to cut no matter how sharp your razor happens to be. Furthermore, many of the best shaving creams for men have additional ingredients to help soothe or moisturize your skin, so skipping shaving cream means skipping out on these benefits as well.
What if your shaving cream causes skin irritation?
If you find that your shaving cream causes skin irritation, it’s no big deal. It just means that your current shaving cream has one or more ingredients that don’t agree with your skin type.
Maybe you’re slightly allergic to an ingredient in your current shaving cream product. In that case, you just need to swap out your current shaving cream for an alternative.
However, some men find that most shaving creams cause skin irritation, or the act of shaving itself is always enough to make their skin red and angry looking. In those instances, those guys should look for shaving cream formulated for sensitive skin specifically.
Shaving cream for sensitive skin usually comes with aloe vera and other soothing compounds, which can help reduce skin inflammation and irritation of all kinds. Try out a few different products until you find the right shaving cream brand for your needs, then stick with it as long as you can.
How much shaving cream should you use?
Usually, you don’t need to use too much shaving cream to get the job done. If you’re doing a full shave around your jaw, lips, and upper neck, you’ll need to apply enough shaving cream to cover the area thoroughly. Make sure that the layer of shaving cream is thick so that you can’t easily see your whiskers.
If you are shaving away a complete beard, use an automatic trimmer to cut most of your beard hair away before using a razor and shaving cream. Don’t try to cut through a long, hairy beard with a normal razor; those small blades aren’t meant to cut through that much hair or hair strands that are so thick.
What ingredients should you look for in a shaving cream?
Generally, the best shaving cream ingredients are those designed to moisturize and soothe your skin over time. Some examples are:
- Aloe vera, a natural moisturizer and one of the best soothing ingredients
- Hyaluronic acid, which is a natural moisturizer and is often found in face moisturizing and cleansing products. This is a good thing to look for if you have naturally dry skin
- Vitamin E, which is a key antioxidant to reduce inflammation and irritation on your skin
However, it’s most important to look for shaving cream products that don’t have a lot of artificial ingredients like parabens or sulfates. Shaving creams with a lot of artificial ingredients are more likely to be irritating to your skin, even if you’re lucky and have combination skin without any major issues.
Furthermore, shaving creams with natural products are more likely to be better for the environment and better for your skin in the long run. You may find that using a shaving cream with natural, healthy products to be ideal for your skincare routine as well.
