Further adventures with shaving cream

Hi,

as my first venture into using cream rather than soap was, um, crap, I ordered and just took delivery of a tube of Irish Moos. Let's see if this is any better than the Fauldings

First reactions: nice packaging, looks expensive, metal tube is a surprise. Smells a bit medicinal in the tube - like Savlon or Bepanthen. Rub a little on the back of my hand and it smells good - spicey, herbal with a little floral.

Tomorrow morning we'll see how it shaves

Blue, are you normally a soap user and if so, did that not go well?

Mate, pretty much everything is going to be better than Fauldings - that stuff is useless. Shave sticks are good, just lather right on your face and you'll be right.

Well I just shaved with the Irish Moos tonight. I didn't have time to shave this morning and 36 hours gives me decent bristle. Not that a straight really cares about growth.

Lathered up in my palm as usual. Instead of loading a wet brush and splashing some water into my cupped palm, I wet the brush and squeezed a thumbnail sized slug of cream into my palm and whipped away. Boom! A handful of lather and the bathroom filled with a wonderful rich spicy herbal scent. A very good shave, very smooth as the razor scrapes the skin. More work required for a smooth shave than my soaps but still very easy to use.

texbilly said:

Blue, are you normally a soap user and if so, did that not go well?

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It went so badly I posted here to find out if I'd done something critically wrong! General consensus is that the cream I was using is just crap

bjh618 said:

Mate, pretty much everything is going to be better than Fauldings - that stuff is useless. Shave sticks are good, just lather right on your face and you'll be right.

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Haven't used the Faulding's shave stick. I've used a Mennen stick, are they at all similar?

CptBlueBear said:

Boom! A handful of lather and the bathroom filled with a wonderful rich spicy herbal scent. A very good shave, very smooth as the razor scrapes the skin. More work required for a smooth shave than my soaps but still very easy to use.

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If you like IM, you might try Tabac cream. I haven't (yet) but knowing IM and Tabac are made by the same company, it likely performs the same. While you're at it, try Tabac soap: one of the easiest soaps to lather and very cushioning. Just don't let the split camp opinions about its scent scare you away!! I love it!

texbilly said:

If you like IM, you might try Tabac cream. I haven't (yet) but knowing IM and Tabac are made by the same company, it likely performs the same. While you're at it, try Tabac soap: one of the easiest soaps to lather and very cushioning. Just don't let the split camp opinions about its scent scare you away!! I love it!

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The Tabac is on my must-try list. That meant the soap, but I've found a local source of the cream at a reasonable price. That's actually why I got the Irisch Moos - an Aus seller imported some to test the local market and I figured if I wait he'll probably never repeat the exercise

You might like Musgo Real, too. Nice scent, easy to lather, nice lubrication resulting in a good shave.

IMO look no further than TOBS creams and/or Godrej (for a little less coin). TOBS cream is as good and slick as any soap I've used (including Tabac, MWF, Trumpers. Cade. Cella, Valobra, etc).

Kevan said:

IMO look no further than TOBS creams and/or Godrej (for a little less coin). TOBS cream is as good and slick as any soap I've used (including Tabac, MWF, Trumpers. Cade. Cella, Valobra, etc).

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TOBS cream is also pricey

Not that I paid that much less for the Irisch Moos, but the likes of Tabac are half the price. I should add that I'm used to soap so I can't really complain when I'm using something that costs less than $10 for a years worth of shaves. I think I can justify spending the saving on something more interesting like TOBS or Irisch Moos cream

What about Speick then? It's about $7 and is miles better performing than Irisch Moos.

Kevan said:

What about Speick then? It's about $7 and is miles better performing than Irisch Moos.

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It maybe $7 where you are mate, but out here it's $11 plus $6 postage. I've found Tabac at $12 shipped. I've read that all three perform very similarly.

Re Fauldings shave stick - there isn't one, only the cream. The only locally-made shave stick easily available is the Mennen/Palmolive one, which is quite good really. I superlather mine with the Palmolive cream.

Where are your sources for the IM and Tabac creams, BB?

Sydney Guy said:

Re Fauldings shave stick - there isn't one, only the cream. The only locally-made shave stick easily available is the Mennen/Palmolive one, which is quite good really. I superlather mine with the Palmolive cream.

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Explains why I've never seen it the

I see the Palmolive sticks everywhere - even my local service station carries them along with that godawful Faulding Cream! - but I can't find cream anywhere. Must not be distributed here.

Still, I have my cheap Proraso, my Irisch Moos and now Figaro Crema da Barba to keep me going so I'm not complaining.

Sydney Guy said:

Where are your sources for the IM and Tabac creams, BB?

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The Irsch Moos cream I got from Himage.

Tabac cream along with most of the range is available from Mensbiz.

CptBlueBear said:

I see the Palmolive sticks everywhere - even my local service station carries them along with that godawful Faulding Cream! - but I can't find cream anywhere. Must not be distributed here.

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Odd, it's in all the Woolies supermarkets and every pharmacy here. (For some reason the Coles stores seem to have stopped carrying it in the last year.) Since Colgate-Palmolive is a major supplier of laundry detergents, soaps and personal care items they will certainly have their own distribution setup in every capital city, shipping directly into the store distribution centres. I presume that you can get the Palmolive aerosol shaving foams, so why not the tube cream?

CptBlueBear said:

The Irsch Moos cream I got from Himage.

Tabac cream along with most of the range is available from Mensbiz.

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Ouch! $22 for IM and $19 for Tabac, with shipping on top. As usual it's double here in Aus over what they pay overseas. Didn't you say you were getting Tabac for $12 shipped?

Sydney Guy said:

Odd, it's in all the Woolies supermarkets and every pharmacy here. (For some reason the Coles stores seem to have stopped carrying it in the last year.) Since Colgate-Palmolive is a major supplier of laundry detergents, soaps and personal care items they will certainly have their own distribution setup in every capital city, shipping directly into the store distribution centres. I presume that you can get the Palmolive aerosol shaving foams, so why not the tube cream?

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Supermarket distribution is weird in Adelaide. It dates back to the mid-80s and Coles threatening to ship from interstate if the local distributors kept supplying the independent supermarkets (and a telephone / fax order mob who operated out of suburban store fronts). The shake up from all that left us only one major distributor through whom I understand all the big brands come. Ironically, they are owned by Independent Grocers...

So a rough guide is if one supermarket doens't have it, none do

I've not seen the foam for a while either. My search has been ended by the purchase of the IM and finding Figaro Crema da Barba. If have enough to be going on with.

Of course I still keep an eye out for anything interesting or unusual

Sydney Guy said:

Ouch! $22 for IM and $19 for Tabac, with shipping on top. As usual it's double here in Aus over what they pay overseas. Didn't you say you were getting Tabac for $12 shipped?

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I looked at the price ex-europe for IM and figured that with postage it's about the same. Himage didn't charge any postage, so I can kid myself it was only $16

I know I found it for $12 somewhere - Mensbiz was just the first that came to mind I knew would have it. Maybe it was one of the discount one chemists?

EDIT: Isn't it always the way? Two minutes after I his submit I remember. I saw it for $12 on CDWow of all the stupid places.