Al’s Shaving Products – Lather Shaving Cream – Blue

Tags

7/10, Al's Shaving Products, amber, Coriander, geranium, Jasmine, lavender, musk, peppermint, rosewood, shaving cream

So Al’s got a new line of shaving cream which he’s in the process of developing. He sent me out a sampler pack of a bunch of scents that he’s trying out right now, including the one that he currently has available, Blue.

It’s supposed to be a more affordable option than his main line of creams. I guess the million dollar four dollar (the price difference between the two lines) question is whether or not the savings in cost came at the expense of performance? Well, IMHO, yeah, a bit.

Don’t get me wrong here, the lather shaving cream is still a good cream. It’s just not a great cream, which I feel that Al’s main line is. It lathers up easily, however I wasn’t able to get it quite as thick and creamy as I can get the main line. It’s not a very thirsty cream, so just a tad of water would be needed. Folks used to his main line should be warned not to over-water it, as it will start to thin out appreciably if you use the same amount. Still, it yielded a nice and slick cream with some good thickness. Some minor stability issues, but I do mean minor, only thinning out a bit while applied to the face during the shave. One thing it does share with the original formulation is a good amount of volume produced.

The line is designed to also appeal to those who like a more subtle scent to their shaving cream. So, well, anyone who’s been reading my reviews will know that is one aspect I’m not going to be a fan of. That seemed to be the case for the sample I tried, coming in at what I’d consider to be just under a medium strength scent. So great for those of you who don’t like their scents strong I guess.

The “Blue” is designed to be a rendition of Davidoff’s Cool Water, which was itself an homage to Creed’s Green Irish Tweed. It’s a pleasant blend, although like most “cologne-y” scents, I have trouble picking out any of the individual notes. Al says it’s crafted with lavender, peppermint, geranium, jasmine, coriander, rosewood, musk, and amber. Quite pleasant.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I’ll give it a 7/10. It’s a good cream, but I’d mostly recommend sticking with the originals instead, unless you’re one of those folk who do like their creams to not be as heavily scented.

• Cost: $14 for a 100 g tub.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Edwin Jagger DE81BL (Red)
• Blade: Sharp Durablade
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Aloe Vera, Water, Stearic Acid, Myristic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Coconut Acid, fragrance, Sodium Hydroxide

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Seattle Sundries – Smooth Shave Soap

Tags

3/10, citrus, Coriander, green tea, Lime, petitgrain, Seattle Sundries, shaving soap

So, about a month ago, I got a message on reddit from the esteemed LeiusureGuy. You know, that fellow who literally wrote the book on wetshaving? It read, and I quote, “If you should want to give a review to what seemed to me a pretty bad shaving soap, try Seattle Sundries. Indeed, if you want a free puck of their soap, let me know.”

Well, how could I possibly pass up an offer like that?

And he was right, it was indeed pretty bad. The lather was nice and slick, good lubrication. … Oh, I’m sorry, did I say lather? I think I meant “collection of bubbles”. Because I wouldn’t really call what was produced lather, and even if it did start out as lather, is sure as heck didn’t stay that way. Seriously, no stability at all. I’d estimate that the lather had about a half-life of under 5 seconds. Needless to say, by the end of each pass, there really wasn’t much there at all.

Anyhow, if I wanted something that only provided lubrication, I’d be using a shave oil or something like that. Once again, the perils of a soap maker thinking that a shaving soap is no more complex than taking some regular soap and throwing some clay into the mix.

The scent at least was nice. The “smooth” scent is made up of essential oils of coriander, lime, and petitgrain, with some green tea on top. All together, it turns into a rather pleasant scent, which I’d consider to fit the “barber shop” type aroma. The strength was pretty decent, and at least didn’t fade as fast at the lather does.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 3/10 Lather Quality

All told, yeah, I’d recommend against it. If they put the effort into doing the research into what actually makes a good shaving soap, a new formulation with this scent might be worth it, but for now, I’ll give this a 3/10.

• Cost: As mentioned, I got this one for free for the purpose of the review. You could pick it up for $9.50 for a 2.5 oz tin.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Edwin Jagger DE81BL (Red)
• Blade: Big Ben Super Stainless
• Bowl: Hand painted by myself (Yes, I know it’s ugly).

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Olive Oil, Castor Oil, Bentonite Clay, Green Tea, Shea Butter, Vitamin E Oil, Coriander Essential Oil, Lime Essential Oil, Petitgrain Essential Oil

Wm. Neumann & Co – Old Fashioned Soda Shaving Cream

Tags

9/10, Birch, cinnamon, citrus, clove, Coriander, floral, Fruit, lemon, mint, Neroli, nutmeg, Orange, shaving cream, soda, spice, Star Anise, vanilla, Wintergreen, Wm. Neumann & Co, wood

Now, some of you have probably noticed that I’ve been pretty lazy with getting these reviews out lately. For that, I apologize. It’s had one side effect; rather than trying several soap or cream a couple times, without getting updates out, I’d just been reusing and reusing one of them. So, rather than getting the usual 2 – 3 tries that other soaps and creams get, this upcoming cream has gotten used about ten times that. One of my most thoroughly reviewed products ever!

Wm. (William) Neumann & Co’s schtick is that the descendant of a pharmacist from the turn of the last century found a notebook wherein said gentleman had found the recipes for a bunch of custom scents that the fellow had created.

So I was prompted to purchase this product after seeing Mantic’s review of it. He says that he smelled Cola and Root beer, with a bit of cream soda; his wife got a citrus cream soda vibe. Personally, I’d say it’s cola, root beer, with a bit of Dr. Pepper. It’s a sweet, slightly tangy scent that I think if I were to sniff it blind and be asked what it smelled like, I would probably reply with something similar to “Old Fashioned Soda”. Really suits what they were going for. They describe it as a “secret combination of Orange, Lemon, Nutmeg, Coriander, Neroli, Cinnamon, Wintergreen, Clove, Birch, Star Anise, and Vanilla”, which seems like a reasonable description to me; it comes together quite nicely.

The strength of it was pretty good. It starts off pretty much perfect, although it does experience fairly significant fading as the shave progresses. Still, it was “strong enough” for the time it took to finish off each of my cheeks and the neck, which isn’t too shabby.

As for the performance of the cream itself, it’s very good, although I did find it a bit tricky to get just right. In particular, I found it was fairly easy to over-do it with the amount of water added, leaving a lather that’s too thin. Not too much water is needed at all, and a bit easy to overshoot. That said, when you do get it right, it does result in a very fine lather with some great glide and cushioning, and some good moisturization to boot.

• 10/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 8/10 Scent Strength
• 10/10 Lather Quality

All in all, I’d say it’s a pretty damned fine cream. Fine enough that I believe it deserves a spot on the top ten list; I think I’ll be putting it at number 8 for the time being. 9/10.

• Cost: $24 for 8 oz (236 mL) of the shaving cream, in a container with a hand pump. They do also make a shave soap, an aftershave (which they can’t ship outside the US due to its alcohol base), and an aftershave balm in the same scent.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Ladas Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Water, stearic acid, glycerin, myristic acid, potassium hydroxide, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, olea europaea (olive) oil, aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice, hydrolyzed silk, fragrance (contains natural oils), menthol, tocopheryl acetate (vitamin e), butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, retinyl palmitate (vitamin a), allantoin, camellia sinensis (green tea) extract, aphanizonmenon flos aquae (blue-green algae) extract, urtica dioica (nettle) extract, stellaria media (chickweed) extract, ulmus rubra (slippery elm) extract, silybum marianum (milk thistle extract), althaea officinalis (marshmallow root) extract, hydroxyethylcellulose.

Al’s Shaving Products – Scent of the Month: Al’s Spice Shaving Cream

Tags

8/10, Al's Shaving Products, allspice, Cardamon, cinnamon, clove, Coriander, geranium, lemon, nutmeg, pepper, shaving cream, spice

Heya folks. Long time no see; sorry I’ve been a bit busy lately, haven’t gotten around to writing up any reviews. But the next on our plate is a cream from one of my favorite artisans; one of Al’s Shaving Products scents of the month: Al’s Spice (pun intended methinks).

If initially asked to describe this scent, I would have told you it’s like a bay rum, without the rum or the bay. It’s got a focus on the spices that often show up as supporting characters to many bay rum scents out there. Here’s what Al has to say about it:

Al’s Spice character is inspired by the Caribbean. Al’s Spice opens with notes of lemon and geranium and coriander. Cardamon, pepper and nutmeg follow in a rampant parade of exuberance. Clove, cinnamon and allspice support the incredible presence of this powerful yet classy offering. Al’s Spice’s scent is reminiscent of your last trip to Grenada (Island of Spice) very spicy with a bracing and invigorating character and a clean refreshing finish.

All in all, that seems mostly accurate, although I will say that the spice aspects of the scent predominate to my nose, with only a faint bit of the citrus and the floral aspects. Overall, I quite liked it. As did the girlfriend, which helps since we’re often in disagreement there!

The strength was also pretty good; it had great staying power, staying at a medium-strong level throughout your shave.

I would have liked just a tiny bit more oomph to it. It’s not strongly scented, but not weak either. Once applied, it does manages to last the shave without much in the way of fading.

The lather was the usual from Al: top notch. A thirsty cream, you’ll want to make sure you’re using enough water. Don’t overdo it on the amount of cream you use, with enough water you’ll get a lot of volume out of just a little bit of cream. Otherwise it’s hard to mess up, with a wide sweet spot for a good balance of glide and thickness, and some nice moisturization to the face as well.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 8/10 Scent Strength
• 9/10 Quality of Lather

Overall I’ll say this merits a strong 8/10.

• Cost: This sample was provided gratis for the purposes of this review. A 4 oz tub is available for $20.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant w/Ikon SS wave handle
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: “The forumula of Al’s Shaving Cream is Triethanolamine and preservative (parabens) free and only contains sodium and potassium salts of fatty acids (stearic, oleic, linoleic, palmitic, myristic and lauric) in addition to water, glycerin and botanicals.”

Penhaligon’s Opus 1870 Shaving Cream

Tags

6/10, black pepper, cedarwood, cinnamon, cologne, Coriander, floral, Incense, musk, Penhaligon, Rose, sandalwood, shaving cream, spice, wood, Yuzu

Yes, yes, I know. I’ve been lazy about writing reviews lately. I’m sorry! So, here’s a new one! Penhaligon’s Opus 1870 Shaving Cream! Which, judging by the fact that I can’t find any information about it on Penhaligon’s website, appears to be discontinued. It still seems somewhat available elsewhere, but if you’re a fan you might want to stock up.

It lathers up quite nicely, although you shouldn’t go by how it looks when doing so. With just a tiny bit of water, it lathered up into something that looked like it was good to go, but was still rather severely lacking in lubrication; more water and a bit more elbow grease fixed that up quite nicely, resulting in a nice thick cream, with plenty of cushioning and good glide. All in all, a rather good shave.

The scent was a bit lacking. First off, I compared it to its corresponding cologne, which I recently got a sampler of. While similar, it’s not quite there. Here’s what it’s supposed to smell like:

Opus 1870 is a complex and elegant woody chypre. Opening with a luxurious accord of sweet citrus and fiery black pepper, the heart is lit by the delicacy of English Clove Rose and evocative incense. The base notes are glorious, smoky waves of aromatic cedarwood and sandalwood. Opus 1870 is wonderfully warm and comforting, a fragrance to wrap yourself in on cold winter nights.

There’s a bit of an additional scent that I’m picking up, it seemed to me to be somewhat silty; it reminded a bit of of J&E Atkinson’s I Coloniali mango shaving cream. Also, I didn’t really detect any of the black pepper notes that’s so noticeable in the cologne. However the florals and the woods seemed about the same.

But, all that which was noticeable was fleeting; it wasn’t strong to begin with, and I found it quickly faded.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 6/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

Overall, I’ll say 6/10. Frankly, the lather isn’t nice enough to buy it just for the lather, and the scent isn’t nice enough / strong enough to buy it just for the scent. I wouldn’t bother unless you’re absolutely a fan of the EtD already.

• Cost: I had a sample sent to me by a kindly redditor who wanted to know what I thought of the cream. Otherwise, the cheapest listing I found was on amazon for $41.36, for a 150 mL / 5 oz tube.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: 1966 Solid Nickel Gillette Tech
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Not sure! Probably rather similar to that of the Blenheim Bouquet, but I can’t find a listing online.

New York Shaving Company – Old St. Patrick’s

Tags

7/10, benzoin, bergamot, cedar, cinnamon, Coriander, cypress, geranium, ginger, lavender, musk, New York Shaving Company, nutmeg, patchouli, shaving cream, vanilla

New York Shaving Company’s Old St. Patrick is a clean fresh scent; I’m not quite sure why they called it Old Saint Patrick’s, I had assumed before trying it that this might be their attempt to emulate Creed’s Green Irish Tweed, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. It’s a rather complex scent, one which I’d say overall is rather pleasant, if rather hard to describe. Here’s how they describe it:

A fresh gentlemen’s fragrance that opens with an enveloping fusion of nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and bergamot notes, and emerges into a perfect blend of coriander and cypress with subtle lavender and geranium undertones. It finishes with a base of patchouli, musk, and cedar softened with vanilla and benzoin.

Maybe it was Irish Spring soap they were going for there, I’ll admit I can’t quite say as it’s been forever since I’ve used that soap.

The strength is middling; it wasn’t all that strong, but it didn’t fade significantly during the shave, staying nice and steady at that lightly scented stage. Which I know some of you definitely prefer!

The lather provided a good shave. I was able to hit the sweet spot for a good combination of thickness and slickness each time, with a bit of tinkering; it seems to be a reasonably sizable but not large range of acceptable water content. Very good lather stability, decent moisturization.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

So, overall I’ll say it’s a pretty good shaving cream, I’ll give it a 7/10. Apparently they re-formulated their product within the last year or so, so if you tried it in the past and didn’t like it, it might be worth a shot again.

• Cost: I haven’t seen samples of this scent readily available (this one was provided to me from Men Essentials). A 2 oz travel container goes for $12, or $18 for a full-sized 4 oz.

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: Feather AS-D2
• Blade: Ladas Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Dunno! Couldn’t find a current listing. Best I could give you is this from their website: “This rich cream contains such beneficial ingredients as Coconut oil, Glycerin, Organic Cocoa Butter & Organic Aloe.”

Taylor of Old Bond Street – St James shaving stick

Tags

7/10, amber, bergamot, citrus, Coriander, floral, Fruit, geranium, lavender, lemon, mandarin, ozone, patchouli, pine, shaving soap, Spearmint, St. James, Taylor of Old Bond Street, wood

St James is nicely scented, a rather complex scent that I would have failed to realistically describe, so I’ll let the manufacturer speak to that:

A fresh masculine fougere opening with bergamot and mandarin intertwined with citrus ozone notes supported by a fruity floral heart resting on a woody amber base. Contains Coriander oil, Geranium oil, Lavandin Grosso, Lemon oil, Patchouli oil, Pine oil and Spearmint oil.

So… kind of reminiscent of Eton College, with some woody and ozone notes added. All in all, I think I slightly prefer Eton College, but they’re both nice enough scents.

Strength-wise, it’s decent enough. It isn’t really strong at all, but it also doesn’t seem to fade noticeably during the shave, staying at a nice medium level steady-state.

I was rather pleased with the lather as well. It lathered up easily, producing a thick cream with great glide, and excellent stability (it managed to stay there while writing most of this review). Not much in the way of moisturization properties, and the volume produced was perhaps a bit sub-par, but all in all, it’s what I’d say is a good shave.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 8/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

So, Overall, I’m going to say a 7/10. It’s a nice middle of the road shaving soap, nothing outstanding about any aspect of it, but nothing to complain about either.

• Cost: While I got this one off someone on /r/shave_bazaar, a new one can be had for $14.50. This scent of soap is unfortunately only available in the stick.

Gear used:

• Brush: Wee Scott
• Razor: Gillette Travel Tech
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum

Ingredients: Glycerin, stearic acid, aqua (water), potassium hydroxide, myristic acid, sodium hydroxide, parfum (contains: benzyl salicylate, linalool, hexyl cinnamal, limonene).