Creams named so far in this thread include Castle Forbes, Art of Shaving, Coates, Trumper, Proraso, TOBS, Truefitt & Hill, Penhaligons, Musgo Real, and KMF. Is it just me, or has nearly the entire canon of wetshaving standard-bearer creams been sullied here?
What's the most overrated shaving cream?
- Thread starter kingfisher
- Start date
OldSaw
The wife's investment
I'm sure that you can find someone for every product, in terms of finding it overrated.
I am leaning towards Castle Forbes Lavender as being overrated. I don't mind the price or the effort it takes to build the lather or the scent - the scent is lavender nirvana. But the other creams in my rotation are both of the Nancy Boy scents and the Billy Jealousy Hydroplane, and honestly the CF just doesn't compare in terms of slickness, cushioning or moisturizing. I actually came close to giving it away. But ... the smell of it! As my overall technique continues to improve I will get back to the CF for another try. Yes, perhaps it's a bit overrated on the whole even by my own review.
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This another one of those great YMMV threads. 
I can honestly say that some of my higher-priced creams are worth every penny to me...A morning with Blenheim Bouquet, Endymion, SMN, or CF Lavender is pure bliss.
Although this thread is about overrated creams, which I guess doesn't necessarily have to do with their price.
I've been pretty disappointed in T&H and AoS. Some nice scents, but lackluster performance in my book.
I can honestly say that some of my higher-priced creams are worth every penny to me...A morning with Blenheim Bouquet, Endymion, SMN, or CF Lavender is pure bliss.
Although this thread is about overrated creams, which I guess doesn't necessarily have to do with their price.
I've been pretty disappointed in T&H and AoS. Some nice scents, but lackluster performance in my book.
I agree
Just an observation at this juncture. No one is chiming in and proclaiming Nancy Boy is over-rated.
It is simply a phenomenal cream obviously in a class of its own
V
VR6ofpain
+1
It is good, but not as great as everyone thinks. I love the smell, but the lather is good (not like a soap or even my C&E SAO cream). Not great. If it was cheaper or more easily had, I may move it up a notch.
I am biased though, as I am a soap guy.
It's not very hard to get when you consider the fact that you can get it at every bath and body works. It's by far the best cream that I've used (I'm a soap guy too), and the fact that most other creams really underperformed in comparison is why I switch to soaps.
Compared to most top shelf cream brands, Proraso is a bargain. How much cheaper do you want it to be?
I have to agree with TOBS Avocado being overrated. Smells funny, lather is so-so, and it left my brush all scummy and needing to be cleaned every couple of shaves.
I'm not a huge fan of Truefitt & Hill either. It was itchy and lathered poorly.
I'm not a huge fan of Truefitt & Hill either. It was itchy and lathered poorly.
- Thread starter
- #52
While you've got a point, the idea was never to "sully" any cream. Nor was it to ask whether a product was worth its price.
It was, simply, to see if people had been personally disappointed by a product based on the performance they actually got versus the performance that they had been led to believe they would get; i.e., where the hype outshone the shave. That's all.
And to say that the hype was better than the shave does not necessarily mean that the shave was no good.
But its not a top shelf cream, its a highstreet cream. Costs $2 in Italy.
So yes, + another for Proraso. It's good, but no better than any other European highstreet creams; Palmolive, Erasmic, Nivea, Ingram, imo.
+1 on Proraso ...
I used it exclusively for my first 3 months, because it was all I had, and I thought it was terrific. What it was, actually, was a huge improvement over my previous canned goo, but nowhere near the performance I'm getting from other items that are now in my rotation.
Once I had a few more choices in my shave den, Proraso quickly fell out of the picture. I picked it up and tried it a few weeks ago, just for old time's sake. It went back into the closet, and my current stuff like Tabac, Musgo Real, and KMF+Williams stay on the front lines.
I still keep a few tubes of Proraso laying around for PIF purposes. Its a great beginner's cream ... but I'm not a beginner anymore.
OldSaw
The wife's investment
But statistically there can only be one that is the most overrated.
OldSaw
The wife's investment
This is a fairly accurate assessment. Many Proraso fans make this stuff sound like it is "wet your pants" good, which is a bit of an exaggeration.
Since it is probably the single most used, especially by newbies, it gets a lot of talk. Therefore it is probably the statistical winner, even if all the Proraso fans rally to its side. In fact, any such rallying would clearly prove the point and settle the score.
Gotta agree on this one! It has to be the worst creme I have ever tried. It might have been good at one time but the current formula is mostly sodium lauryl sulfate and not soap!
I don't find too many creams I'd say to be completely overrated, except for JM Fraser's Mosswood. The scent was pretty good, but everything else about it fell flat with me.
As for Coate's and Proraso, these have provided me with much much closer and more comfortable shaves than T&H, TOBS, or a lot of other creams to be honest. Another thing that's interesting about these two is that they give me amazing shaves with a straight or a DE. I've almost given up Godrej with a straight, but with my DE it works perfectly fine.
B&B is the land of hyperbole and hype machines sometimes, so no product is sacred from being overrated.
As for Coate's and Proraso, these have provided me with much much closer and more comfortable shaves than T&H, TOBS, or a lot of other creams to be honest. Another thing that's interesting about these two is that they give me amazing shaves with a straight or a DE. I've almost given up Godrej with a straight, but with my DE it works perfectly fine.
B&B is the land of hyperbole and hype machines sometimes, so no product is sacred from being overrated.
Really, for something to be overrated means that it is loved (or at least hyped) by lots of people. Nothing will please everyone, so anything that is universally lauded will be overrated to somebody. None of the small-run, privately-made creams are on here because not enough people have access to them to deem them overrated; and if someone did get ahold of one and hated it, it would just be "a crappy cream," as opposed to "overrated." This is why Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors" will be called overrated, whereas something by the MC5 won't be, even though "Rumors" is amazing and the MC5 are just pretty great.
Yeah, this is so subjective so as to render the discussion irrelevant. We haven't even established a generally accepted parameter for the term overrated. We have some very inexpensive creams being called overrated as well as very expensive. We have some creams that I've not heard anyone lauding as the best in the mix as well as some creams beloved by many.
