When I first jointed B&B a couple of months ago, I got a PIF from DangerousDon that included a 2.5 oz tube of St. James of London Black Pepper & Lime Shaving cream. All he asked was that I review it for B&B at some point. So...
I waited until I had a bit experience with shaving & lathers so I could at least have an idea of what I was doing when I used/ reviewed this stuff (that's why it's been a while since I got it until attempting a review.) I used it everyday for the past week. As in other reviews, I found the dominant scent is the black pepper with the lime in the background. But unlike other reviews, I thought this scent was consistent throughout the shave rather than the lime scent becoming more pronounced while shaving. I was skeptical of a "black pepper" scented cream, but it actually smells quite nice & is not overpowering at all. The scent stays with me for a few hours after the shave, but again, not overpowering.
I squeezed out a bit of cream about the size of a large almond & put it into an Omega Pro 48 brush for lathering in a VDH mug. It was easy to lather (as most creams are). This typically gave me enough lather for 3 passes and clean-up. Sometimes the lather ended up thin, but this could possibly be to me adding too much water. My water is VERY hard and it seemed like there was a fine line between just enough water to make it slick (at which point it was pretty good) and too much that causes the lather to thin out rapidly. But even when I'd added just a bit too much water resulting in thin lather, it still seemed to have decent slickness that stayed on my skin after a pass (offering me the chance to quickly go back over an area without the razor sticking/pulling... as long as I was careful and didn't get impatient.) My shaves were with the same Crystal blade (2nd one in my 2nd tuck from my initial sampler pkg.) They seemed to go fine & I attributed any difficulties to my technique (i.e. a weeper or two & some irritation here & there.)
Anyway... I think it's a pretty good cream. But given my vast experience in traditional DE/ wet shaving developed in the last 5 weeks or so... well... I might not bet the family farm on your experience matching mine. Someone a bit more skilled in the subtleties of lather development and a more refined technique might have a different opinion.
I waited until I had a bit experience with shaving & lathers so I could at least have an idea of what I was doing when I used/ reviewed this stuff (that's why it's been a while since I got it until attempting a review.) I used it everyday for the past week. As in other reviews, I found the dominant scent is the black pepper with the lime in the background. But unlike other reviews, I thought this scent was consistent throughout the shave rather than the lime scent becoming more pronounced while shaving. I was skeptical of a "black pepper" scented cream, but it actually smells quite nice & is not overpowering at all. The scent stays with me for a few hours after the shave, but again, not overpowering.
I squeezed out a bit of cream about the size of a large almond & put it into an Omega Pro 48 brush for lathering in a VDH mug. It was easy to lather (as most creams are). This typically gave me enough lather for 3 passes and clean-up. Sometimes the lather ended up thin, but this could possibly be to me adding too much water. My water is VERY hard and it seemed like there was a fine line between just enough water to make it slick (at which point it was pretty good) and too much that causes the lather to thin out rapidly. But even when I'd added just a bit too much water resulting in thin lather, it still seemed to have decent slickness that stayed on my skin after a pass (offering me the chance to quickly go back over an area without the razor sticking/pulling... as long as I was careful and didn't get impatient.) My shaves were with the same Crystal blade (2nd one in my 2nd tuck from my initial sampler pkg.) They seemed to go fine & I attributed any difficulties to my technique (i.e. a weeper or two & some irritation here & there.)
Anyway... I think it's a pretty good cream. But given my vast experience in traditional DE/ wet shaving developed in the last 5 weeks or so... well... I might not bet the family farm on your experience matching mine. Someone a bit more skilled in the subtleties of lather development and a more refined technique might have a different opinion.
