Castle Forbes Lavender. Wow. Just Wow.

Finally got around to trying Castle Forbes cream. Pretty expensive for this lower middle class fellow, but I wanted to know if it really was any better than my much loved TOBS. Guess what. $39.00 does buy you more than $15.00!

Scent: A wonderful earthy lavender, from essential oil only. I love this scent! However, CF is such a fine cream, and you use so very very little to produce enough for 4-5 passes, that this lovely scent is mostly delivered as a burst on initial lathering, and then quickly starts to dissipate thereafter. Marvelous though!

Lather: Oh, wow! This cream lathers like there is no tomorrow! The fine English creams require only a tiny amount to produce volumes of lather. CF uses even less, and produces the slickest, most protective lather imaginable. I've not had better out of any other product I have ever used. Absolutely stellar!

Price: Well, even lasting 6 months, this is an expensive cream for my pay grade. $39.00 for a large 6oz. tub. Really though, if you loved CF, and it cost you $80/year to use it exclusively, would that really be an unreasonable expense? Only you can answer that, of course...

I could be happy using nothing but Castle Forbes, I think. I would need to get the other 2 scents as well - Sandalwood and Lime - in order to have enough variety to hold my interest. I know YMMV and all that, and that some may place other creams at the pinnacle of their shaving experience. That said, I'm certain that CF would at least be in the top echelon for anybody!

 

Nice review.

 

You make it sound too good, I may not be able to resist.

 

Nice review! Isn't is great when products DO live up to both the hype and price?

I find that if I amortize the cost of any shaving-related item over time, whether it be an expensive soap, razor, whatever—I can justify spending pretty much any amount. All it takes is more time.

 

Great review!

I have a CF Cedarwood and Sandalwood sample from the TSD store. It is so thick it seems more like a soft soap than a cream. In my newbie zeal I stuck an almond size bit in my bowl, and it took me through three nights of 3 pass shaves. There was still some there that I rinsed out on night 4.

Just like you experienced, mine kept lathering and lathering and barely shrunk. The shave quality was top notch as well!

 

Nice review.

I just received the CF Lime cream yesterday and can't wait to try it. I appreciate the tip on how little product it takes to produce 4+ passes worth of lather. At it's high price point, it's good to know that it'll last me a good, long time.

 

The website has been redone, http://castle-forbes.com/, it used to say that they grew their own lavender. I don't know if that is still true but the family has lived there since 1411.

 

I should note that I probably shouldn't enjoy this cream, the Gordon's and the Forbes being great clan rivals back in the day. Probably makes me some sort of traitor to my clan... :ahem: Don't tell the chief!

 

Can anyone tell me the difference (if any) in scent between the TOBS and the Castle Forbes? BTW - I love the TOBS lavender.

 

Excellent review. Perfect timing.

Wow. I just received the same sample and was blown away with the lather this morning. I'll be using a "pea" sized amount next time.

 

That's why reviews and samples are great. It looks expensive, but on a "per shave" basis the Castle Forbes cream is not a bad deal at all.

 

My TOBS samples seemed to have a stronger scent than the CF. Having said that, it may have been because the wood scents are generally more understated than the floral scents in the TOBS samples. I do not have any apples to apples comparisons on the two.

I will say that the CF Cedarwood and Sandalwood is great if you are looking for a 100% man scent with zero floral or sweet additives. It's the perfect cream to shave with before fishing, arm wrestling or throwing axe practice....

 

Wow! Thanks, great review. i will have to try it.

 

Have you compared Castle Forbes with Truefitt and Hill Lavender or the Ultimate Comfort? I have the UC and it is probably my favorite cream out there (if I had to choose that is).

 

I have compared Musgo Real Lavender to TOBS Lavender, thanks to samples from TSD. I also have some Lavender essential oil from here. To me, the TOBS smells more like the essential oil than does the Musgo. This is exactly the scent I expect when I want Lavender.

The musgo seems to have an almost woody scent that lessens the florality (is that even a word?) while adding something more than just Lavender. On the Musgo, there are undertones of perhaps cedar or maybe it is pine.

 

I don't find Musgo to have much scent at all. It's a perfectly fine cream and all, but I don't expect to reorder it when my current tube is gone. LA Shaving Co. Has a "Woodsy Lavender" that does have an added wood component, but it is the Lavender scent I enjoy most at this point. I don't enjoy subtle scents - if I'm using a lavender scented product I want to smell lavender throughout my shave!

 

I don't know if it's because i'm somewhat a noob or that i'm just overwhelmed by how good these creams smell, but I think it's fantastic that these samplers exist. So far I'm a sandalwood guy because of course a noob would think lavender or rose or lime just seems feminine. And sandalwood does smell great. But now that I've tried these scents i'm just amazed at how I can like floral or "fruity" shaving creams. If there was a netflix (without the return lol) for shaving creams and I got deliveries every month of only the very good stuff i'd be all over that. My cabinet is starting to have more scents than my wife's! Then you add a matching pre-shave, aftershave, etc and you really need that second mortgage!

 

I ordered a sample of the lavender by CF because of all the people who do nothing but talk it up. Love the scent of lavender (reminds me of my wife and baby boy since she used the essential oils during pregnancy) and I'm sooo excited to get to it and get to experience it!!

 

That is a slippery slope! Once you try the sample you'll be buying the cream - guaranteed!

 

Really great review I'll for sure pick some up and check it out