The health and beauty section of your favorite retailer undoubtedly includes an impressive assortment of men’s grooming products, including a wide variety of shaving creams and gels. But one Challenger Brand is trying to cut through the foam and take its place among the big boys: Cremo Cream, the “astonishingly superior shave cream.”

Mounting a challenge to corporate giants such as Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson requires something special, and Cremo Cream makes impressive claims. Tired of starting the day with bits of tissue covering your face? This challenger “dramatically reduces cuts, nicks, scrapes and razor irritation.” It also boasts a close, comfortable, long-lasting shave that leaves skin astonishingly soft and smooth.

Most importantly, Cremo Cream’s ingredients are unique to its industry – it contains no glycerin and instead is made up of ingredients like macadamia seed oil, aloe leaf juice and papaya extract that contribute to a frictionless shave.

While most shaving products are foams containing air, Cremo Cream is a rich, thick mixture that protects and moisturizes the skin. The product, which comes in a tube, was designed to be applied with the fingers, but for those who are a bit more traditional, a brush and bowl can also be used. The cream is available in a light citrus fragrance, and fragrance-free and tropical scents are in the works.

• On drugstore.com, Cremo Cream was the  top-selling, 5-star customer-rated shaving cream
• The product is currently available at small chain stores, individual retailers and online at sites that include Amazon and CVS
• It is priced at $7.99 per tube

Created in a lab by a team of chemists, the product’s development took much iteration over several months. The main developer, a Stanford-educated engineer, teamed up with Kyle Schroeder, a model-turned-business-developer who now runs the company as President.

“We give the consumer a choice,” explains Schroeder. It’s crazy that you go into the supermarket and read the first five ingredients of the top three brands and they’re all the same.” He notes that the brand leaders’ only differentiation is through marketing and fragrance.

The company has taken a personalized approach to building a relationship with the customer. “We have to find unusual ways to compete with the big guys, like personalized notes and gift-with-purchases,” Schroeder explains. The web site features live chats, and he posts his personal cell phone number and signs rebate checks himself. Cremo Cream hopes this approach will shave a few points from the leaders’ market share, creating smooth sailing ahead.