Institut Karite Shave Cream

I found this to be a horrible cream. Never got it to lather properly!

PipPip;1775009 said:

I did a bit of research on how to lather with shea butter based shaved creams before using this product, which I didn't actually buy - my wife got it amongst a load of IK products that she bought at significant discount. The technique I used was to soak the entire tube in hot water at the same time as my brush whilst I showered. Then I took an almond sized blob of cream onto the palm of my left hand, shook nearly all the water out of my brush and started working the cream into the brush. Twice I dipped the tips of the brush into hot water whilst doing this. Once the brush was well loaded and cream brokern down I warmed my bowl in hot water and then switched to swirling the loaded brush in the bowl. Twice more I dipped the tips of the brush in hot water whilst working up the lather in the bowl. The result was rich, thick and creamy lather that did a nice job. I preferred it to my usual TOBS Lemon/Lime cream.

Click to expand...

Common sense really. Does it tell you all this on the packaging?

I did a bit of research on how to lather with shea butter based shaved creams before using this product, which I didn't actually buy - my wife got it amongst a load of IK products that she bought at significant discount. The technique I used was to soak the entire tube in hot water at the same time as my brush whilst I showered. Then I took an almond sized blob of cream onto the palm of my left hand, shook nearly all the water out of my brush and started working the cream into the brush. Twice I dipped the tips of the brush into hot water whilst doing this. Once the brush was well loaded and cream brokern down I warmed my bowl in hot water and then switched to swirling the loaded brush in the bowl. Twice more I dipped the tips of the brush in hot water whilst working up the lather in the bowl. The result was rich, thick and creamy lather that did a nice job. I preferred it to my usual TOBS Lemon/Lime cream.

I got a sample tube of this cream when I bought a cake of the IK soap. I had read the reviews and was not expecting much. I can confirm that this cream will not make a big fluffy lather, but what it does make is not bad at all, thanks, I presume, to all that shea butter. The scent is not strong. I found it unpleasant, but I don't like scented products in general. I had no trouble rinsing,

I am not tempted to buy a full tube of this stuff, but I will use up the sample to "stretch" my regular Trumpers Almond.

Well, what to say about an I.K product? Everybody knows about the good services and properties of the soap or even the after-shave...maybe this one could perform by the same standards!!

Unfortunately, big, big delusion ! But allow me to explain my protocol this morning:first, a nice almond size of cream on the badger brush...a regular swirl on the mug...a small amount of lather was created but nothing fancy...lack of water maybe, just a drop just to see...the lather diluted...another almond maybe...best results but still too thin...more cream...mega swirl, better but not enough to lather all the face...another nut size cream...water, still too thin...anyway after 6 or 7 additions of cream the lather was passable, nothing too much professional for my standards. Let's try on face, on the right side...on the left side...under the chin and neck...today derby on futur...what the h#$% where is the lather!?!Did i forgot to pass the brush!? Unbelievable, the lather was gone in 1mn!! Let's repeat again the previous steps, same struggle even with my silvertip this time.

It's really the first time this kind of things happens to me...on low standards creams OK but on a I.K product...it was a mix of surprise and delusion.

And the scent? I don't know what i was but i didn't like it...The hard soap has a nice, clean scent but this one was strange, metallic, to say so...like blood on mouth...

This cream is hard to lather...struggle is the word, i will defeat you...you know, resistance is futile......i was tired, it tooked longer than normally to shave and it was a task to be done at the end, not the hobby as usual.

At the final rinse (and between the WTG/XTG rinses) i noticed a glide it's true...but it's the kind of a pre-shave gel glide gives you when you apply it without lather. OK but not enough for what i was expecting.

At the end a plum size of cream was gone, i think, for results so-so.

There are better products out there at better prices, for sure.

I.K needs to upgrade this product, but it's true, no one is excellent on all fields.

But maybe some more reviews too on this product will help to have a better overview of this product.

I have myself the big tube, maybe on the next days i will find the right recipe to build a nice lather...and on this case i'll be back to edit this post and say more positive things, i hope.

Well, I bought the Institut Karite soap and instantly fell in love with it. Fantastic clean scent, and it did an awesome job on the whiskers. Nice glide and cushion. It left my face feeling good and rinsed away clean.

The cream has to be more of the same, right?

I found it otherwise. The scent is there - wow! Smells really good. A powdery clean aroma that makes me want to shave. I started in with it and instantly was disappointed. No matter what I did, I did not get a lather that stayed. It disappeared shortly after applying it to my face.

The slide and glide of the soap was notably lacking too. It was OK, but compared to the soap? Nah.

Cleanup is a mess. The stuff does not want to come out of my brush or off my face. That's OK if you want the moisturizing of this stuff, and it excels at that. But it's a so-so shave cream.

I'm glad I bought the small tube. Less to toss out. It is quite pricy for what you get, and frankly there are far better creams out there. Sorry, Institut Karite. You missed the boat here.