Note: I was sent these items for review.

For the past month or more I have been testing some of Duke Cannon’s men’s care products — soaps, shaving stuff, colognes. At first I was leery, Duke Cannon has a strong brand and that brand is ‘manly’, which I know can be off putting for many people, especially now. However, I cast aside my doubts to give the products a fair shake, and what I found is really good products with pretty funny tidbits hidden away in the packaging of the products.

And beyond a lot of that, some of the packaging is down right cool looking, which is always a nice plus in my book. Here’s a look at what I have been using.

The Goods

Cooling After-Shave: one of my favorite products is the cooling after-shave. At the beginning of the year I stopped using an electric razor and quickly realized I needed some sort of post shaving care. This is the first one I really like, it leaves my face fresh, and not greasy at all. It can be a strong cooling sensation, which doubles as a great wake up aid. But that can suck if you are only waking up post shave. You know what I mean.

Shaving Cream: I dropped using my other shaving cream after this arrived. It is a bit heavier than a pure shaving cream, but it applies quite nicely and does a fantastic job protecting your skin and lubricating it for shaving. This stuff is my favorite shave cream, I need to buy more. I’ve tested about a half dozen and this has a nice mix if traditional feel with a gel like performance on the skin. I’m a huge fan and it smells quite good too.

Beer Soap: I actually got the travel sized bar, which just means it is a normal size bar of soap. This is a solid soap, but the smell isn’t my favorite — if you a beer person, then you will like the smell of this soap. If you don’t like smelly soap this is the least scented of the two I tried, and as far as I can tell doesn’t leave any fragrance on your skin. My wife started using it without noticing it was beer scented. So yeah.

Bourbon Soap: I’m a big fan of this massive bar of soap. First the size is great, why more bar soap isn’t made this size is beyond me, but the over sized nature makes it great to keep a handle on in the shower. The smell is strong, but I would be lying if I said it smells like bourbon. It smells like something, but to me I don’t smell bourbon. I do however really like the smell of this. I could still detect a trace of the fragrance after I was done showering as well — though I don’t know if that was just because it is a rather fragrant bar of soap and I was smelling the bar still or if it was on me. Either way, I really love this bar of soap.

Solid Cologne: I am not cologne wearer, and this was my first go with solid cologne. It easily has the coolest packaging and I love the sent (smells like that soap). It works well too, and I am now a solid cologne fan as it is very easy to control how much you are putting on to make sure it is just a hint and not an Axe body spray commercial. Two thumbs up, speaking of thumbs…

Bloody Knuckles Hand Repair Balm: here’s how I tested this one, I moved across the country and handled tons of boxes. Those will eat your hands alive, unless that is you are using this hand balm. So yeah, two smooth feeling thumbs up. It takes a bit longer than I would like to soak in, but otherwise great stuff.

Duke Cannon could have easily just been a gimmick brand with no real substance to it, I’ve seen that more than a few times. But at every turn the products were well above average and that’s saying a lot in the age of everyone outsourcing and branding cheap crap. This is not cheap crap. I wouldn’t be writing about it if it was.