Pride and passion are part of what makes cycling such a beautiful sport. From professional athletes pushing their body‘s limits to weekend warriors out to cat-up, beat a PR, or just enjoy the ride; cyclists are quite proud and passionate about their gear, their number of victories (even if that‘s just winning a city-limit sprint), their mileage, finally clearing a gnarly section of trail, and so forth. However, pride and passion are sometimes ignored by large corporations in an effort to cater to professionals who are going to be human billboards with a global audience or to increase profit margins. This oftentimes can result in these corporations neglecting the needs and wants of a large number of their consumers.
Because of this, it is refreshing to see that Austin Baskett, president and founder of Leg Lube, actually takes pride in the fact that he‘s a lot like many of you’”a competitor but not a professional whose goal is delivering an awesome user experience whether that user is Rebecca Rusch or Mr./Ms. Weekend Warrior.
Despite the name, Leg Lube is NOT just for your legs. Leg Lube can be used anywhere you have unwanted hair – be it your legs, arms, pits, or face. Leg Lube is great for both men and women and has a nice, gender-neutral mint scent, (check the site for the full ingredients list) which was rated quite favorably by all reviewers. However, even if the minty scent is not for you, there is no residual scent, as the product washes clean away with just water. Leg Lube can be used in and out of the shower and requires very little water.
The size of the packaging means it will take up little room in your race bag, so there‘s no reason not to have it for last-minute touch-ups. At 3.4 oz, it‘s even TSA approved for carry-on bags. Speaking of the packaging, cyclists will notice that it looks like a chain-lube container. Though this may seem to be purely for aesthetics, it’s evident that this design actually works well for properly dispensing the lubricant one drop at a time.
We first asked a hardcore roadie/crit‘ and ‘˜cross racer buddy to compare Leg Lube to his normal method of shaving his legs. He normally shaves in the shower with just water. Two things really stood-out from his comparison. 1) The shave with Leg Lube was less irritating than water alone and didn‘t dry the skin as much. 2) The shave with Leg Lube was definitely closer, and after several days, there was noticeably less growth on the leg that he shaved with Leg Lube. He was also very impressed by the portability and overall design of the bottle, describing it as “genius.”
Next up, a female reviewer was asked to use Leg Lube as a quick touch-up outside of the shower. She found the mint scent pleasing, and the instructions very clear. One thing that surprised her was how little of the product was required compared to shaving creams/gels. She also liked how convenient Leg Lube was for out-of-the-shower use, especially in regards to how easy the post-shave clean-up is. She described the shave as “definitely less” irritating than traditional products. Convenience plus a superior shave equals a check in the “win” column for Leg Lube as far as she was concerned.
My personal review of the product consisted of shaving my face. As mentioned previously, Leg Lube is not just for your legs, and the packaging implicitly states that it can be used on your face. Having started shaving early and often due to a strict Catholic High School combined with a very strict Marine Corps JROTC program, and not really knowing how to shave properly, I now have a face with fairly rapid growth and hair that grows in every which direction. To combat this, my usual shaving regimen is under quite hot water, in the shower, after applying a pre-shave face scrub. For the Leg Lube review, I had gone two days without shaving. I took the ultimate leap of faith and shaved out of the shower without any pre-shave preparation. I simply applied a drop to the area I was to shave, wet my fingers, and spread it around. Areas of my face that can be adequately shaved with the grain only required one pass with Leg Lube. Areas that must be shaved both with and against the grain simply required a re-wetting of the area after the initial pass. This reactivated the lubricant in that area, allowing a close, comfortable second pass. The shave with Leg Lube was surprisingly comfortable. I purposely did not apply my usual after shave balm either. However, I‘m happy to say that my face never felt dry, irritated or tight. I was most impressed with Leg Lube‘s performance in what I would consider its ultimate torture-test.
So, no matter whether you‘re male or female, I feel the only way Leg Lube will disappoint you is if you think it‘s only for your legs. Leg Lube can be purchased through the company‘s website at www.leglube.com and through a growing list of retailers. I’d also like to thank Branton Moore at Highroller Cyclery and Ashley Roberts for their assistance in reviewing this product.
– Alex