Pot of gold rewards Bob's close shave

Now he hopes to prove razor-sharp in the male grooming market.

The Westhoughton entrepreneur has invented his own brand of shaving cream by experimenting in his bathroom with grape seed oil and fruit extracts.

And bosses at a New York cosmetics company are already getting into a lather about the results.

Bob, aged 55, said: "It's taken me seven years to research and make my Ultra cream, but I believe it's now the best shaving product in the world. Men won't want anything else once they've tried it. It really is the cat's whiskers."

Retired Bob, who was once a lubrication engineer at the De Havilland aircraft company, spent seven years developing his shaving cream.

He has suffered hundreds of razor cuts during the past 40 years and finally decided enough was enough.

But the shaving cream's biggest fan is a woman. Bob's wife Pauline likes it so much she uses it to keep her skin moisturised.

The cream, which contains no animal fats or chemicals, has also become popular with customers at Pete's Barbers in Wood Street, Westhoughton.

Barber Pete Baugh, who shaves customers with a traditional cut-throat razor, says the cream is "smashing stuff" and he uses it every day.

Bob, who has asked a Devon-based firm to produce thousands of pots of his cream, realised he had a winner on his hands when he took a few samples to a trade fair in Birmingham.

Executives from American cosmetic firm New York Fragrances were so impressed they have asked him to produce 15,000 pots a month for them which could earn him £90,000 in six months.

He is now applying for worldwide patents and will be soon joining the cosmetic bosses at a trade fair in Las Vegas.

He said: "It took me seven years to make my cream and I'm amazed by the results. I'm sure it's going to be a worldwide success now.

"But I wasn't going to go to the trade fair in Birmingham originally and only went at the last minute with a few carrier bags of the stuff.

"So you could say it really was a close shave."