Rapid Beard Grooming Kit for Men

Some people have found this set to be the best they have found. I appreciate their enthusiasm. Just as I appreciate the even handed review left by MW. I've had this kit now for about 2 weeks. It's good, not great. The star of this kit is the comb. Well made and does a great job gliding through my own curly mat. The comb can help spread either the beard oil or balm through your beard without it gathering on the tines or spine. The sidekick to the comb are the included shears. For what the cost of this kit is, the shears are well made and decently sharp. I have been able to easily trim stray hairs, and even out the areas of my beard using the comb as a guide. It's a good idea to rub a little of the beard oil on the blades of the shears before and after a good wipe down when the job is complete. Especially if you run the shears under water to clean them off. Make sure they are completely dry, then a good oil rub will keep them moving smooth when you need them. Then here comes the hogs....or boars. The brush is the size of an old Nokia, with medium softness bristles. If I comb my beard out all wild like, the brush comes in handy to bring it down and keep a full appearance. But immediately I noticed a ... smell ... to them. I thought it was because of manufacturing or packaging. But it is still there. I have tried to wash and dry it thoroughly, but to no avail. Maybe the boar scent is supposed to be an underlying hint to the ruggedness of your beard. In any case, while it is not overpowering, it is noticeable. I can not return it so I use it sparingly, as I have other brushes to do it's job. EDIT - I almost forgot the unsung hero of this kit. The bag. It holds all the aforementioned items neatly and is emblazoned with the image of a rugged looking man, with a near perfect beard, looking off into the distance.....probably with the bubbly guts wondering if that flatbread pizza really was gluten-free........ In any list there is a bottom, and that's occupied in equal parts by the oil and balm. I will start off on a positive. In terms of effectiveness, the oil and balm work. They do the job they were made for, much like 'comrade picking potato'. So my gripe is not with the effectiveness of the product. Though if you like the smell of oils used to cook food hanging under your nose for about a half hour or so, you'll love this. Otherwise, you might find yourself growing impatient as you expect to hear the sizzle of meat on those oils you smell. Now, MW offered up a wonderful suggestion to use essential oils of //FLAVOR OF YOUR CHOICE// in the beard oil. That may be the way to go and the best part is, you get to play the role of chemist as you concoct your smell of choice. But the fact I have to resort to masking the scent of saute oils is why this is on the bottom. The final player, the beard balm, just happens to bring up the rear. If the idea of smelling something between candle wax and crayons excites you. You are in for a treat. Aside from fond memories of grade school, there's not much else that comes from the smell of this wax. If you take the approach of using essential oils on this. You'll have to gently melt the wax, add the scented oils, and then mix it. Once mixed, let it cool and see what happens. Overall, it's not the worst thing you can spend your money on if you're looking for beard care products. If you don't want or need the included oils and balm. Then save a few bucks here and grab a set with the comb, brush, shears and of course...the bag. Then spend that money on a different oil and balm. Cause you'll need it, though you might want to avoid the subtle scent of a first year culinary student playing at cooking and making notes with their crayon box. UPDATE: So for some reason, this sat with me wrong. I upped my rating to 4 stars (originally 3) because there's more I like about this kit than I don't. I truly do appreciate function and efficiency over form. This kit has that, though it's 'form' is the unscented products they use. Now I will say, their customer service department reached out to me to offer to fix this issue. I want to help them put together a better product, and maybe...just maybe.....our sullen, bubbly gutted lumberjack on the bag, might get a smile. If I were running R&D for these guys, I'd take the base wax and oil...and start working on fixing the scent factor.....variety is the spice of life. UPDATE 12/3/2019 - It has been almost 2 years since I bought this kit. The oil and balm being the worst of the bunch just got trashed. I could not stand the smell anymore. The brush eventually just had bristles coming out like it was shedding. That and when it got wet, it wouldn't dry completely and just smelled awful, so that too was trashed. The scissors started showing rust in the center and their ability to cut was gone within the first year. Trashed those in the beginning of 2019. All that is left, that has been holding up all this time is the comb. It is wood, it's a solid piece and it works like a charm. There were 5 items in this kit, each one lost was a star lost. I took this from a 3 star rating, to a 4 star and now down to a 1. Good things aren't cheap and cheap things aren't good. This is exactly that. For everyone who rates it 5 stars....I'd love to see what they have to say after 6 months.