One local entrepreneur is taking shaving to a whole new level.

Ron Christensen, the owner of Game Day Iowa 805 Second St., Coralville, invented a new shaving product called Revolt, which boasts complete recyclability. Christensen, though, hopes to do more than reduce landfill matter — he also hopes to create more jobs in Iowa.

“I’m a mechanical engineer, and about five years ago, I was to the point where I couldn’t wear a collared shirt because I had razor burn so bad,” he said.

Instead of giving up on shaving, he decided to create a new product.

His product is twofold. One of the oils protects the blade and allows it to last for much longer than average, and the other oil replaces the normal shaving cream and water.

Dan McGivern, a friend and customer of Christensen’s, said the product extended the life of his two blades for around three years.

“I used those two blades [starting in] October 2009 and just changed them out the first of this year,” he said.

Christensen grew up here in Iowa City, graduating as a mechanical engineer from the University of Iowa. McGivern has known Christensen for years and calls him a passionate person.

“He thinks bigger than most,” he said. “He’s got a vision.”

Christensen believes that by eliminating the waste that comes with average shaving, a lot can be done to help the environment.

“It’s environmentally perfect because nothing goes to landfill,” he said. “We need to do what we can, and the reasonable thing to do is send less to the landfill.”

Along with the materials that are recycled, water is also saved.

“The average person uses 2,000 gallons of water a year to shave, so for every million people, that’s 2 billion gallons,” Christensen said.

He also hopes to do his part in helping the local economy.

“Eventually, we’ll put distribution centers and manufacturing centers in the area,” he said.

He estimates this could create 3,000 to 4,000 jobs.

“[I want to] create more jobs and keep this area going,” Christensen said. “It’s taken a lot of work to keep the unemployment down here and the quality of life up.”

McGivern is not surprised Christensen hopes to bring jobs here.

“I’ve known Ron for a long time,” he said. “He has shown over the last several decades that whenever he has a product, he brings it to Iowa to create jobs.”

Don Christensen, Ron Christensen’s adult son, is proud of the work his father is doing.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “Anytime you can bring more jobs to Iowa, it’s a good thing.”

The process for the product is simple.

“You put the oil on, shave off the whiskers, and then take a dry towel and rub it into your skin, because it’s good for your skin,” Ron Christensen said.

He began work on the product five years ago, made it through the patent office, and is now found in local Hy-Vee stores. Christensen, though, plans to go bigger.

“Right now, we are just in the initial portions of launching it,” he said. “We put it in 20 Hy-Vee stores. When we get the new re-branded label, we’ll be in all 250 of the stores. And after that, there’s 600,000 other locations that sell shaving products, so we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

Dan Christensen is not astonished by how well his father has done with the product.

“[I’m] not really surprised,” Dan Christensen said. “He’s a pretty smart guy.”