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(This post was last modified: 09-22-2015, 07:06 AM by stroppinglad.)
I have praised Village Barber balm and oil on this site. 1MorePassWill kindly sent me a travel-sized bottle of each and it was love at first shave.
So I ordered a full size of each from West Coast Shaving. They're not cheap--about $28 each.
Iain Kane, who makes the stuff, is so conscientious he puts a BBE date on the balm, meaning Best Before. The bottle I just got from West Coast Shaving has an expiration date of January 2015!
Keep in mind the ingredients are chiefly, if not solely, natural oils, which will go rancid with time. So I just paid $28 for a bottle of balm that should have been yanked off the shelf probably as of August of last year. Keep in mind that this stuff is probably going to last awhile, so I can look forward to another twelve months of expired, stale balm.
Here's a pic of the bottle with the West Coast label hanging off the bottom.
Have written to West Coast shaving and copied Iain Kane.![[Image: MbpTvyd.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/MbpTvyd.jpg)
UPDATE: Iain Kane responded with assurances that the balm is still good. As Joe from Italian Barber noted below, Iain had his products tested in a lab so, under EU law, no longer has to use BBE dates. Still, he is sending me a bottle of freshly made balm. Iain is a class act who makes a great product.
West Coast Shaving apologized, said it was an oversight, is sending a bottle of supposedly fresh balm and a mailing label so I can return the balm with the BBE date of Jan. 2015.
I'm satisfied with the responses, and particularly impressed by Iain.
So I ordered a full size of each from West Coast Shaving. They're not cheap--about $28 each.
Iain Kane, who makes the stuff, is so conscientious he puts a BBE date on the balm, meaning Best Before. The bottle I just got from West Coast Shaving has an expiration date of January 2015!
Keep in mind the ingredients are chiefly, if not solely, natural oils, which will go rancid with time. So I just paid $28 for a bottle of balm that should have been yanked off the shelf probably as of August of last year. Keep in mind that this stuff is probably going to last awhile, so I can look forward to another twelve months of expired, stale balm.
Here's a pic of the bottle with the West Coast label hanging off the bottom.
Have written to West Coast shaving and copied Iain Kane.
UPDATE: Iain Kane responded with assurances that the balm is still good. As Joe from Italian Barber noted below, Iain had his products tested in a lab so, under EU law, no longer has to use BBE dates. Still, he is sending me a bottle of freshly made balm. Iain is a class act who makes a great product.
West Coast Shaving apologized, said it was an oversight, is sending a bottle of supposedly fresh balm and a mailing label so I can return the balm with the BBE date of Jan. 2015.
I'm satisfied with the responses, and particularly impressed by Iain.
