You guys must have different water than me. For me, AOS is just ok as far as shave characteristics (lather / closeness / irritation). I was blown away by the lather / closeness / no irritation the first time I use Bigelow and it has been my go-to since. I guess this is a case of YMMV.
Maybe so - I'm not saying AOS creams are magic, but I do feel they perform similar to my Truefitt & Hill Sandalwaood, which in my view is a darn good shave cream. I know you can get two variants of the AOS cream. One is in a dispenser and that is more fluid and harder to lather, while the other is in a classic tub, and I find it quite easy to lather and I live in a city with HARD WATER
I once tried the AOS Sandalwood cream, and it smells gorgeous. The problem is that I have very sensitive skin, and the fragrance oils or essential oils gave me a very bad irritation and rash. On the other hand, I had no problem at all with the lavender cream.
I just used an AoS cream for the first time yesterday, lemon, and it's the best cream that I've used so far. It even beat Castle Forbes Lime, my previous favorite, performance wise but not scent wise. I've also tried DR Harris Arlington, Trumpers Coconut, QCS Tangerine, and TOBS creams, Eton College, Jermyn Street, and St. James.
WoW - you sound convincing I already bought both the AOS Sandalwood and AOS Lemon. I have only used each of them twice and will use them 2-3 times more each before I review them here and on a Danish wet shave forum. I'm not sure the AOS outperformed neither my 2 Castle Forbes (lemon & lavender), nor my 3 Penhaligon or my Acqua Di Parma, but the AOS creams in the tub definitely is on par with my Truefitt&Hill Sandalwood and Ultimate Comfort ShaveCreams - so they are darn good ! Will probably rate them 9.25/10 - which is a very very good grade. My Acqua Di Parma, Acca Kappa 1869 & Santa Maria Novella ShaveCreams gets 9.75/10, Fitjar, Penhaligons & Castle Forbes all get 9.5/10 in my book AOS has been removed from all of the European Market by Proctor@Gamble so have to reorder next year from the US to update my supply of AOS creams, which I surely will since I also find this cream great ! Btw how would you rate Dr Harris Arlington, Trumper Cocunut, Jermyn street and castle Forbes compared to AOS creams on a 10 scale ?
It's kind of hard for me to give them a rating but I can rate them relative to each other. AoS Lemon Castle Forbes Lime DR Harris Arlington Trumper Coconut TOBS Creams (Jermyn Street, Eton College, St. James, and Avocado) I will say that the scent of the CF Lime is the best scent of the group. For me, the performance of DR Harris Arlington, Trumper Coconut, and TOBS creams are nearly the same. It's hard for me to tell the difference between the three. However, I ranked TOBS behind the other two because I'm not a big fan of the scents. They are very artificial to me, especially the avocado.
Surprised you rank the AOS Lemon in top spot over CF Lime I own both the AOS Lemon & Sandalwood and both Castle Forbes Lime & Lavender. I find my two CF are some what better overall than my two AOS creams. The lather of my two AOS is better than my two CF, but scent and moisturising props are better with my two CF's YMMV as always, but I like to hear your opinions and personal views on this subject though
The Castle Forbes Lime is a close second after my AoS Lemon. I'll have to use my CF Lime again so I can get a fresh idea of what the lather was like.
