Jelly Rings by Shave Dad & Strike Gold

In some respects, the shave community is like a family, and in that family, I have a “daddy,” who is my daddy, Jerry, the Shave Dad Plus. Is it “Py” or “Plesa”? It’s “Plesa,” right, Jerry? Plescia. Frank Misa of Straight Gold Shave and Jerry have put together another collaboration, which is an homage to a treat they both grew up with. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, where both Frank and Jerry are New Yorkers. Jerry is kind of a snowbird and currently lives in Florida, but his roots are in New York.

I had never experienced anything from Joyva when this collaboration first came out; I had no idea who the company was or anything about it. When you purchase the soap and splash, they send out this little single-size jelly ring. I bought off of Amazon that box and this box, wanting to ensure I had plenty to share with Alexis and Emily, my wife and daughter. I assumed that what we buy is exactly the same, and it is.

I’ve been waiting until now to discover that—don’t worry, I’ll eat those! I just remembered my mother, my real mother—not my shave mother—told me it was rude to eat with my mouth full. I’ve already scooped.

Joyva is a confectioner from New York who many people associate with holidays. I learned a lot about it; it’s a family-owned company that started in 1907 and is still family-owned and operated. I’ll try to remember to put a link to a really cool video that my wife and I watched as we learned about this company.

This fragrance jelly ring smells identical to the candy, so if you’re familiar with the candy, it smells exactly like it. The soap is a little sweeter, and the splash is a little sweeter as well compared to the candy, but other than that, it smells exactly as you would expect it to. Alexis gives it an eight for fragrance and wearability, while Emily gives it a seven. All three of us really enjoy this fragrance, which has chocolate, raspberry, and just a dash of vanilla. You know, I can’t think of many raspberry fragrances in my den; it seems unique.

I’ve got my Boba Fett mug, a silver tip 26 mm brush from Straight Gold Shave in an Arno handle. Frank mailed me the knot, and I put it into the handle that I purchased from him. I’m going to start whipping this up. This will be my third time using this knot; I absolutely love it. It has super high density and is amazing.

The razor I’ll be using is the Razorock Lupo with the 72 bottom plate. I have three different plates for it, but I’m kind of leaning toward that middle ground—the middle plate. I have too many things on my mind.

This scent is chocolate-forward. You roll into the raspberry, which is a candy-sweet type of raspberry. It doesn’t smell like a fruit, raspberry; it smells like the raspberry in these gel rings. It smells exactly like the candy, just a little sweeter. The candy is made with dark chocolate, so the slight bitterness of the dark chocolate tames down the sweetness. I wouldn’t say this is an overly sweet fragrance, but it is a gourmand. If you love gourmand scents, you will like this fragrance, and if you have a special place in your heart for Jiva gel rings, you’re going to love it. It has chocolate, raspberry, and a hint of vanilla.

Don’t forget, if you use my code “Tobin,” you’ll get free shipping at Straight Gold Shave. I do not profit from that code, but you can receive free shipping to the continental United States on any order. Typically, the free shipping threshold is $50, but with my code, whether you spend $5, $10, $30, or $49, you’ll get free shipping at checkout. Thank you again, Frank, for that!

This new base is the first release with Frank’s new formulation. Now, I wouldn’t really call it a new base, as it is merely an upgrade. Everything is the same in this base as the previous one—what was it called? Carter?—Which was the most recent release before this one. So you have the same base, but right there in the middle, you can see he’s added abini oil—if I’m saying that right—and then meof foam oil. I’ll put the health benefits up there that are listed if you do a Google search.

This is, without exaggeration, the best post-shave feel I’ve ever experienced. I don’t want to sound like I’m overhyping it, but it’s true. I feel like Frank was setting out to create the ultimate post-shave experience with this new base, and he has accomplished that. The post-shave feel from both the soap and the splash is phenomenal—no, it’s beyond phenomenal.

I didn’t use any pre-shave today; just the nice, creamy, yogurty consistency of the soap. This is yet another great gourmand from Straight Gold Shave. I almost used the synthetic brush just to get a better lather. I’ve got my rinse bowl over here. The glide is great, super slick, just as you’d expect. I’m really impressed with this soap base, particularly with the post-shave feel.

I’ve had four shaves with this set, and I’ve been wearing the splash on the back of my hand like I always do. You get a solid 10 to 12 hours of wear from it. That razor fell down into my bowl; it’s a little short with the Bulldog handle I have on it, and I also have a stainless steel thick bar handle from Razorock—I love the handle. I’m trying to get this lather nice and whipped up to really show you.

Hope you all have been doing well; I’ve been doing great! Two super busy days at work on Monday and Tuesday really kicked my butt. The scent strength off the tub and off the brush is a solid four or five, and I’d say the splash is, too, in terms of strength and projection. You’ll get pretty middle-of-the-road results.

Not bad! You can definitely get a better lather out of it than what I’ve gotten so far. Let me squirt this a little bit. I’m loving this spray bottle. If you’re familiar with Glenn Sherman and his content, this is where I found out about it. He used it when we did our outdoor shave together. This is the Expert Grill spray bottle from Walmart that cost $1.88; my wife bought it for me. I love the spray. I gave up on that other bottle; you might remember my black bottle from my last video.

This is available in limited quantities, like all Shave Dad releases. If you enjoy gourmand scents or if you like those Joa gel rings—like I said, I had no idea what they were—I think I got this on Thursday of last week, and today is Wednesday. We’ve already eaten one box and started on the second box; it’s good stuff.

I can’t emphasize enough how impressed I am with the post-shave feel from both the soap and the splash. I’ve had Lancaster for a few months now; my friend Enri, the Millennial Shaver, sent it to me as a gift. He and I are planning to meet up in June.

Well, off camera, I’ll rinse this off my beard. I didn’t explicitly say this at the start, but I did not pay for the soap and splash; they were sent to me for review courtesy of Frank and Jerry, the Shave Dad. That redness is typical for my ginger skin—it’s just a fact of life. When I was a child, like when I was a toddler, my hair was fire engine red, and as I got older, it became more of an orange color—not quite like that, but you know what I mean, right? Then as I moved into my late 20s and early 30s, it started becoming more of that color, and now what isn’t that color is turning white.

The ingredients are right up there in the splash, which is chock-full of skin foods. I’m telling you, the post-shave feel from this product has no equals. I wouldn’t be surprised if this delivers an even better post-shave feel than what you have in your den at the moment. For real! If you have this already, you’ll notice that the post-shave truly starts with the soap you use. Having good ingredients in the soap is the first big step to achieving a great post-shave feel.

The splash and its ingredients complement what the soap has already accomplished. A lot of times, we don’t think about the soap’s ingredients and how they affect post-shave feel, but it plays a huge role, and it’s extremely evident in this case. I mean, you could use the Carter soap and then this splash, and you’re going to notice the difference. The only difference is that he added abini and meof.

My friends, the scent is exactly how the candy tastes, just a little sweeter, and not a lot sweeter—just a little sweeter. That’s the only difference that we could truly pick out among the three of us between the candy and the soap, and splash; the fragrance is just a little sweeter than the candy.

These things are addictive—48 for one box, and it’s good stuff! If it wasn’t for Jerry and Frank with the collaboration, I probably would have never tried this stuff. You all take care, and I’ll see you next time.

This content has been published with permission from the original author.