I'm not an experienced poster so you will have to bear with me,
I began my traditional shaving journey about 5 months ago, in that time I have gathered a reasonable amount of products based mainly on recommendations on here. I thought that I would write a little something on each cream/croap that I have. These are creams I have settled on in my rotation. Sorry about the length.
TOBS Almond: One of my first creams along with Eton College. Well presented tub and the cover inside made me feel like I had a premium product - none of my cans of goo had fancy covers. After removing my fancy cover the first thing that hit me was the smell. Quite a strong smell of sweet almonds and faint hints of cherry. This being my first cream and the fact I love cherry bakewells I thought I had hit the jackpot and would never use another cream - how wrong was I. The first couple of shaves with this and Eton College I was using a Men-ü shaving brush, a cheap brush from the local Boots. A mix between my poor lathering skills and this brush I found the performance nothing special at first. I upgraded my brush quite quickly to a Baxter of California Silvertip and over time my lathering technique has improved. This changed my opinion of performance of this cream. It now produces bucket loads of creamy thick lather, with a super slickness to it. The scent from this cream fades a little when on my face but it's still obviously there which I like. It doesn't have any adverse effects on my skin and all in all is a pleasure to use. My question to you is, what is your experience of this cream and is there any better almond out there?
TOBS Eton College: This was a huge surprise, I love citrusy scents particularly anything with orange in it. Because of this love I wanted a citrusy cream to go with the almond, something not as heavy. I was originally going to go for the lemon and lime but after reading the reviews on here and the description of the scents on Taylor's website I gambled on this - best decision I ever made. Again I removed my fancy cover and the smell smacked me in the face, I would describe it as a citrus orange scent with a hint of lime, something in it makes it very fresh and modern. It's a modern gentleman's scent. Similar to the almond my lather wasn't great in the beginning but has since greatly improved and I get super slick shaves and loads of lather. The scent does fade, I would like it to stay more prominent. This is a great cream and my favourite scent of all. Funny enough I work in Windsor and Eton in the UK so that's a nice touch - Dr Harris Windsor I hear you say, stay tuned! My question to you is, what do you think is the best modern day gentleman's scent?
Cella: After Eton College I went through a period of buying a bunch of samples to get a feel for the other creams out there. This was good and gave me time to work on my lathering skills whilst getting use to my Merkur Futur. My next cream was Cella more of a croap. Spur of the moment buy whilst searching for some new blades to try on Connaught Shaving. They were advertising Cella two tubs for £9 - bargin after what I had heard on B&B. I gave the second pot to my dad who I had converted to traditional shaving in the past month, he had already amassed more razors and product than me! The almond scent was nice but there was something stopping me from loving it as much as the TOBS almond. Maybe the tallow or the fact it's not as sweet smelling. I had brought a new scuttle from Steve Woodhead Ceramics and wanted too try that out so once the Cella arrived I went straight to it. This being my first time with what I would count as being more of a soap I messed up the lather. However the lather improved by the next shave and from then on. I really like the performance of this croap, very slick and good lather - when you get it right. Overall I'm not a massive fan of the smell but performance is very good and will stay in my rotation. My question to you is, what is the best croap out there?
Dr Harris Windsor: This turned up at my door along with an Ikon Deluxe OC, whoops not sure how I got that pass the missus. I had tried this as a sample first and when that arrived I wasn't 100% on the scent, that soon changed and I love it now. I think the fact I so badly wanted to like it as I work in Windsor as previously said helped a lot - just thought it would be cool. The scent is a hard one to pin down, there are very small touches of citrus in it but then a leathery scent to finish. The performance of this cream is fantastic, it blew TOBS out the window. At the point of using, this was the slickest cream I owned. It holds it's scent through the shave but it's not over powering. Great cream, another top gentleman's scent. My question to you is, is there a cream or soap that for some reason means something to you? For example the fact I work in Windsor and Eton and love both creams.
Proraso Green: I am a bit of a snob when it comes to new hobbies, I always have to have the best of the best. For that reason I put Proraso off due to the low price tag -stupid I know. However after hearing so many good comments on B&B I decided I would be silly to miss out on this fantastic cream - how could I have the perfect selection of creams without the king of them all! I purchased the green pre-shave cream to go with it and when they arrived couldn't wait to team these two up. As this is a croap I thought a brush with a little back bone would help in the lathering process so I acquired a New Forest Mountain Badger brush - fantastic little thing, grab one if you can (half the price of what it should cost from a big brand). I slapped on the pre-shave and shed a few tears - note to self don't use as much next time. My goodness this cream is amazing. The scent is very clearly eucalyptus and menthol, not amazing in the pot reaches it's full potential when on the face. The lather is creamy, rich and super smooth. I loved this and it took me by complete surprise. I don't think any rotation should be without one of the Prosaso products and for the price it is quite incredible - learnt my lesson. My question to you is, how much would you be willing to pay for this croap?
Castle Forbes Lime: The one I am sure you have been waiting to see if I have in my rotation - if I didn't I would be completely discredited. So to be completely honest with you when I first looked at changing from carts to DE and read the massive changes that could be had with this old fashioned method I thought you were all mad. That changed after the first shave and all the irritation I got on my neck was gone. I read a little more and I learnt about the three T's, and read the amazing reviews, I thought can a cream really be that different?! My CF lime arrived from traditionalshaving.com after a little wait due to being back ordered but arrived promptly after being dispatched. I opened the tub up and removed the cover and a strong smell of limes filled the room, just how I like it. The lime scent is extremely natural, you don't want to put it down you just want to keep sniffing the pot. I heard that some people had difficulty lathering this up, for me it seemed pretty easy - you only need a very small amount and that's coming from me who likes the whole "more is better" thing. It took maybe a minute to work up enough lather for 4-5 passes if needed. Once I had lathered it up I felt a bit between my fingers and the glide was awesome. I whacked it on my face and went to work. Some people say this is slick, I say this is more than slick - I don't think I could feel the razor moving. Whilst shaving the scent remains strong and it makes you want to lick your face. I don't think there is a negative to this cream. If I had to say one thing it would be my face felt a little drier before I applied my balm, however I usually use Proraso pre-shave which I think helps in protecting and moisturising the skin but I forgot too use this, I was in to much of a rush to try the cream. I finished my shave off with Trumpers Lime Skin Food which goes really nicely with this followed by some All Seasons Lemon Cologne, a very refreshing shave for a hot day. This is the best cream I have, you almost can't fault a single thing about it. This is a must for everyone - if your put off by the price don't be this tub is 200ml that's 50ml more than most major brands. The amount you need is so small that the price I think is very good. This could easily last 8-12 months if you have just a few other creams or soaps in your rotation - money well spent. So, my question to you is, Can this be beaten? Maybe Penhaligons could? I'm yet to try, let me know.
Geo F Trumper Coconut: Last but not least, I was itching to try this after the rave reviews. I only shave every three to four days now I Traditional shave as my girlfriend Likes a bit of stuble and it takes about half the time for my stuble to grow back compared to what it did with a cart. As this arrived after a few other bits It had to wait a week but I found myself smelling the tub an awful lot. It has the most natural coconut smell which I am positive gets stronger when lathered up. Natural but sweet is how I would describe it - Lush, if you want to say it like my little brother. The performance like the others in my rotation is brilliant however it is a class above TOBS. Very thick and creamy with a good slickness to it which really helps me as I have very thick stuble. It seems the coconut oil in this does the trick and softens the hairs making them easy to slice through. The oil also helps with the after feel, my face always feels great. I usual put balm on in two stages, once after the shave and then again after clearing up, with this the one application is fine. After each shave with this I have near to no feedback with the alum block. This cream is a hard one to beat only rivalled by CF Lime, definitely will not be running out of this and will always have a tub handy. My question to you is, if you had one choice of scent to run through your whole shave what would it be? I know coconut would be up there for me.
If I had to rank these currently it would look like this:
1. CF Lime
2. Trumpers Coconut
3. Dr Harris Windsor
4. TOBS Eton College
5. TOBS Almond/Prosaso Green
6. Cella
This is my current rotation, not bad I think. Let me know what you think, please remember this is my own opinion yours may be different and I respect that so please add your feelings. Also answer "My Questions To You" I would love to hear your answers. If you want to know about the creams I have tried but didn't stay in my rotation please see below. Thanks for reading. My last question to you is, did you ever think this hobby could be so addictive?
