Continuing in the rise-and-shine theme of launch week at BillyKnowsBest, today’s product is Nu Boss Shave Cream.

For those of you who don’t know me well, I should tell you that I exhibited precocious secondary-sex characteristics.  One of the benefits of my Yale education was learning to use big words to say simple things, but since there’s not all that much to say about shave cream, I figured I’d sneak in a vocabulary lesson. Precocious you probably know: more developed, especially mentally than is usual or expected at a particular age. It’s often used in a derrogatory way, which is the way I generally heard it as a hair-splitting child. Personally, I’d take a hair-splitting kid over hair-raising one anyday, but that’s just me. And until they come with a generous return policy, I’ll leave parenting to the rest of you.

Before I digress too far, a quick quiz for those of you feeling linguisticly superior and ready to skip the definition of secondary-sexual charateristics: Define precocious as it applies to trees, and name a tree that is precocious. Anyone? Don’t google it. I’ll answer tomorrow. Back to secondary-sex characteristics. It almost sounds naughty. But it means those traits that distinguish males from females, but aren’t part of the reproductive system. (The reproductive organs are the primary sex characteristics.)

Two hundred and two words to say what I could have said in seven: I started shaving at a young age. And I have a thick beard, sensitive skin and a general aversion to scented shaving products. And I have tried dozens of them: creams, gels, oils, soaps… at any given time, you’ll probably find half a dozen half-used shave products in my medicine chest as I continue my quest for the most comfortable shave.

I once stockpiled a decade’s worth of Lancome aftershave when they discontinued it in 1989. Now that was an incredible product. I still haven’t found anything I like as much in an aftershave — Avon had one for a while, but discountinued it before I could secure a stockpile it. But I have found a shave cream I love.
It’s formulated for African men, so it’s a small miracle that I stumbled upon it at the Sav-on drugstore in Beverly Hills, and while they no longer stock it, you can find it online at Africanmarket.com for $6.95. I bought a wholesale case.

P.S. The pre-shave toner is okay, if you like such products, but don’t bother with the aftershave.