I am new here but wetshaving for many years. I have not found any cream that comes close to Castle Forbes in performance. I am looking to try creams with better, or at least comparable performance, and different fragrances. Do you guys know of any?
Welcome to TSD! Good luck on the cream, I never did try CF. That might be why all my favorites are soaps.
Its very hard to find another cream that is as great as CF - it's not only the properties that are great but also the very thick consistency which makes is a very lasting product. One that comes near the greatness of the CF creams is Valobra.
Eeeesh. Tough one. I find that in the case of Castle Forbes, you really do get what you pay for... There are, of course, plenty of fantastic creams, but CF is something very very special.
I've just started using some Castle Forbes cream that I won across the street in a contest last month. It really is something special. I'm sure this 'gift' is going to cost me in the long run. I have several different shave creams and nothing is really like CF. FWIW, I'd have to say my favorite SC is TSD Wheat of any kind; current fave is Iced Minted Sage (ahhhhh).
Love Castle Forbes, have all three "flavors". From a consistency and performance view, I think Valobra is the next best choice (I would classify them both as "soft soaps" more than a cream).
Penhaligons Belnheim Bouquet is simply superb, IMO beats CF. Another worth consideration is AOS Lavender, another superb cream equal to CF. As always YMMV, good luck and let us know how you go.
Castle Forbes is really good but if you wanted to compare the Lavender imparticular to something, I would sat the T&H Ultimate Comfort. Although CF is bar none my new favorite cream.
I found this, "the bomb", anybody heard of it? thanks for the replies. I did a google search with the words Castle Forbes/better/soap/cream/cf and I came across a site called Straight Razor Place. Apparently there is a product called "The Bomb" that is better than Castle Forbes. Do you know about this site or the product? it has excellent reviews. Need more info before I pull the plug.
This is from Alraz, the creator of this product I can make it for you in: bay rum, lime, lemon, tangerine, bergamot, sage, cedar, lavender, 2 baby formulas (like baby products), menthol (basically like Noxema on steroids), vetiver, almond and a couple more that I cannot remember. The price for any scent is $25 for a 4 oz tub with shipping CONUS on me. I have not used it yet, but probably will buy some soon
Thanks jimmyfingers, I will contact this guy and ask him about "the Bomb". If the reviews are accurate, I think this cream is worth trying.
Acqua Di Parma. If you haven't tried it, you are missing out. I consider it comparable to CF in quality, if not better. And the scent is out of this world. I've tried a lot of different creams, and ADP is my absolute favorite.
I really love my CF limes but AOS lavander and Geo. F. Trumper Violet also are amazing creams for me. :ashamed001
I finally tried The Bomb I finally tried The Bomb in Calypso (bay rhum). I was looking for an alternative to Castle Forbes but this product goes beyond that. With The Bomb, I can produce much more lather of a similar if not better quality with half of the amount of Castle Forbes. It does not take longer to lather either as I read. More importantly, The Bomb provides an unmatched variety of scents in this quality tier, around 15. Al is a great guy and he is genuinely interested in customer satisfaction. The Bomb is a MUST! for everybody. Perhaps the only problem is that Al does not have a website. I got a hold of him at Straight Razor Place. Al also sells a bay rhum after shave that is incredibly lasting!!!
Any time there is mention of AOS Lavender SC, I feel compelled to state my opinion based on my experience, and that is that Connaught Luxury Lavender shaving cream that is the house brand of Paul at Connaught Shaving in the UK is far and away the superior of AOS Lavender in both soap and cream versions. My only alternative to the Connaught Lavender is the Castle Forbes version. Just my opinion, but I'm stickin' to it! (YMMV!)