I received four samples of Captain's Choice shave creams when I ordered one of their shave bowls (an excellent bowl). I just got finished trying them all and wanted to report what I found. Sandlewood: Lathered using my Crown King scuttle. The scent is very nice, not too strong at all. The lather was very hard to whip up and it never really got thick. It was thin, with little bubbles. This caused it to dry a bit on the skin during the passes. The cream did provide decent protection and slickness. I had to use the entire sample to create enough lather for a three-pass shave, which seemed like a lot. North: Lathered using my Crown King scuttle. The scent was like the north woods, primarily pine. I liked the scent. The lather however had the same problem as the Sandlewood. After having the lathering problems with the first two creams, it dawned on me that the cream may not be good in a warm scuttle. I know there are creams that don't like heat. So I decided to lather the remaining two in the Captain's Choice bowl, which was room temperature. That ended up making a significant difference in the way the creams lathered, although putting cool cream on my face was quite an eye opener (not in a good way) after using a scuttle for so long. 45th Parallel: I had a heck of a time figuring out the scent on this one. It seemed odd to me, but I couldn't nail it down. I asked my wife to give it a sniff and she nailed it immediately - Cherry Coke/Dr. Pepper. Yep, that's it! The lather in the CC bowl was very good, reasonably thick slick. It lasted better after applying to my face and provided good protection. Fortunately, the scent dissipates quickly. Lime: The scent was citrusy, as you would expect with the name. The scent was stronger after applying the lather to my face than it was as a cream in the container. The lather whipped up decently, not quite as good as the 45th Parallel but much better than the creams in the scuttle. It provided a decent amount of protection, but I had a bit of irritation afterwards that could have been more about the fresh 7 O'clock Green blade I was using than the cream. As you can see, my overall experience was mixed. If you use a shaving bowl to lather, you'll be pleased with the performance of the creams. If you use a heated scuttle, probably not so much. A word about the Captain's Choice shave bowl. I bought it as a travel bowl since it's smaller than my scuttle. I like the bowl a lot. The ridges help to whip up the lather quickly and it's easy to hold with the little button on the side. I highly recommend it. I wish they made a scuttle. Lastly, the company itself is a great little company. They support the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans with some of the company proceeds. If you needed any reason to buy their products, that would be it. You can learn more here. I'll be looking at their aftershave balms in North or Lime scents as I liked those scents.
I love my scuttle so it sounds like these might not be for me. Nevertheless, I'm glad to see another artisan trying their hand at creams. After finally trying some creams last month, I've come to appreciate them a lot more than my soaps since they are so easy to load and lather up. I think that these creams are relatively new so hopefully they improve over time as more people provide feedback.
