Tips on lathering Toms of Maine cream?

[cvac]

Today I tried Tom's Calendula cream for the first time. It seemed to have a jelly like consistency and was hard to dissolve, and much harder to get a good water to cream ratio with compared to TOBS Avocado or Proraso.

For those that use and like Tom's what are your tips for lathering this cream?

I know I didn't get it right because the blade seemed to gum up with the cream/jelly and I didn't get a great shave out of it.

Does it work better with a fresh blade?

Today I experimented with using a "Swede" for the second time instead of throwing it out after the first shave. I have very tough whiskers and sensitive skin. Results were not as good as the first time with the blade using Proraso.

[kubrick]

It's been a long time since I've used my Tom's Cream. I was bored so I did a little experimenting.

First, make sure you knead the tube. I think the Tom's cream has a tendency to separate, so kneading it before you use it seems to work better.

I have very soft water where I live, so your experience may be different(hence your issues), but I soaked my brush, gave it a good squeeze, and a couple of shakes. I dumped the water out of my scuttle and all that was in the bowl was probably less than a teaspoon. I then put a snurdle of tom's cream in the bowl(first pic). The 2nd picture is after about 10-15 seconds of swirling with no additional water added. I added just a few drops of water after that and continued to whip up my lather. The final pic is after about 45 seconds, maybe a minute. I used very little water and managed to get a great lather. I already shaved this morning so I can't really answer the gummed up blade question, but the later was slick and had plenty of cushion. It didn't feel gummy in my hand, it felt like normal cream lather.

[cvac]

Thanks for the pics. I think my tube may have seperated b/c the cream came out translucent with a gummy texture. :eek:

How do I go about "kneading" the tube without breaking it open or spraying out a ton of cream from the opening?

[Howard Newell]

Just fill your sink up with hot tap water and place the tube with its cap on in the sink. After about 10 minutes the cream should have a toothpaste consistency and be white-ish.

[soapbox]

Today I tried Tom's Calendula cream for the first time. It seemed to have a jelly like consistency and was hard to dissolve, and much harder to get a good water to cream ratio with compared to TOBS Avocado or Proraso.

For those that use and like Tom's what are your tips for lathering this cream?

I know I didn't get it right because the blade seemed to gum up with the cream/jelly and I didn't get a great shave out of it.

Does it work better with a fresh blade?

Today I experimented with using a "Swede" for the second time instead of throwing it out after the first shave. I have very tough whiskers and sensitive skin. Results were not as good as the first time with the blade using Proraso.

Tom's performs well for me, but I did notice a change when I moved from an area with relatively soft water (Atlanta city water) to hard-as-a-brick water (DC/Maryland). First, yes, while your brush soaks, as others have noted, soak the tube in hot water. Tom's shave cream is not a semi-liquid, it's a plastic solid! Second, though it claims to be brushless, ignore that claim. It's only suitable, IMHO, for use with a brush.

If the blade is gumming up, use more water. It shouldn't gum up. Though, while I like to use Cremo from time to time, it does gum up my blades, hard water or soft. In really hard water, true soaps "curdle" and leave piles of soap scum. Further, to overcome the minerals in the water, you have to use more soap to get a lather, so it's easy to get a lather without enough water.

Please try this, if you're up for an experiment: Heat some distilled water and use that to make a lather. See how the cream and lather perform compared to a lather made with your tap water. Mostly, this experiment will tell you if you're fighting uphill against hard water. Alternately, if you're getting good results with TOBS and Proraso...maybe they're the right shave creams for you? I use TOBS as a treat, and Proraso more often, but Tom's is inexpensive and performs well for me.