Castle and Forbes Unscented Pre-shave

I'll get right to it. There aren't too many things worthy of use as a pre-shave. I don't find Proraso Pre/Post useful, nor do I find pre-shave oils helpful. While this stuff does stand the hairs up for shaving, it doesn't seem to soften them. This stuff smells horribly as well. In the bottle, it seems harmless, but once on your face you start thinking..."where is that smell coming from", until you realize, it's the product. I find Proraso's aftershave milk to be a better preshave, cheaper on top of that.

I prefer this over oils because it is water soluble. I like it better than the Proraso because it is unscented, and it leaves no residue. This stuff eliminates irritation for me so says the alum block. Durability? Sure, it is a durable pre-shave...whatever that means.

Does anyone need this product? No. But if you like preshave products than trust me you could much worse that Castle Forbes' offering. I love that it adds a touch of glide and helps lift whiskers in preparation for shaving. I got mine online for about half the regular price so I can't complain. Lovely, heavy glass bottle that came in a nice box with tissue paper so pretty attractive for a shaving product. I think the scent is fairly light and smells nice although you wouldn't crave it. Smells like natural ingredients and I detected nothing artificial about it. I love that it didn't clog my brush or razor. My new favorite prep that's right up there with Proraso pre/post, but better by a bit. Would I pay $50 for it? Most likely not, but I wouldn't pay that much for any preshave as they don't add "that" much to the experience. I like this one though.

You get a lot for your money...compared to other high end pre-shave solutions. I just got the truffet and hill, its sooo tiny compared to it.

No scent which can be a pro or con, but I know it wont clash with my cream.

Its water soluable supposedly (no reason to doubt it) so you know it wont clog up your razor or brush.

I use it once all over my face, and after every pass on my neck... it works.

I rated durability high because I equated that to length of use, I use so little product it ought to last and last! Also I dropped it on a tile floor, somehow it didnt break. Wont be trying that again!

First, let me say that usually don't use pre-shave oil. It's just not something I've found incredibly useful. My experience in the past has been with products like AOS Pre-shave which goes on like luke warm Crisco...YUCK!

Well then I tried CF Pre-shave and it totally changed my opinion. This is a very nice product that adds an extra bit of slickness and helps with hair lifting. I've had wonderful shaves using it. That said, I think it may depend a bit on your cream. If you already use a very slick cream/soap then you may not get much added benefit. But if you have a cream/soap that you love the scent of but doesn't quite do it in the slickness department, give it a try with some CF.

Unfortunately, as with all the CF products, they are great but really expensive too.

Castle Forbes Unscented was the product I used to take care of some tough whiskered areas around my face. I had a hard time getting a BBS because of them, and was getting irritation from blade buffing.

I put the liquid on and rubbed it into my skin after a shower. It takes only about three drops or so. It was not oily at all and washed off my hands with water only. I left it there for about three minutes while I prepared my lather.

The lather went on as usual. The first pass was WTG, and it was much smoother than normal...I actually checked the razor to make sure I had a blade in it. The result was a closer one pass shave than ever before.

With an ATG pass I noticed more. The razor moved more easily and I had no problems even with no pressure at all on the razor head. Touch ups were quick and I needed fewer buffing strokes to get the previously difficult regions. The end result was a BSS and no irritation.

I'm very impressed with the product. I varied nothing in the shaving regime except to use it. I've tried it now several days in a row with similar excellent results. On the third day, I was able to get by with one WTG pass and some touch-ups, with no ATG pass needed.

Perhaps others have noticed no difference from preshave stuff, but it works for me. The price is a bit steep, about $40 for a 4 oz bottle, and the bottle is glass, not good in a tile bathroom. But I only needed a few drops to make a good shave into a great shave.