FREE CREAM - The Shave Cream Challenge

December 7 - F

Used sample F this morning. No complaints from me about this one. The scent is spa/herbal/medicinal and people will either love or hate it. Personally I think it's fine. Cream lathered up quickly, provided smooth covering lather with good performance, had residual slickness after rinsing between passes, and postshave feeling is decent.

The scent and performance remind me very much of the Spanish cream LEA.

 

Used E this morning so far my least favorite of the 5 I've used. It has little to no scent at all it wasn't hard to lather but it was the hardest so far. The lather lasted through the whole shave no problem. It was okay on slickness but very lacking in cushion. As with most of these creams so far it was a bit drying all in all it was meh.

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Pretty much what I thought of it too.

 

Sent in my results and interested to find out what shave creams they are.

 

December 8 - G

Cream sample G today. As others have noted, it was very liquid. No problem getting a level spoonful of this one as the cream leveled itself. I suspect this is the one that ended up all over the inside of my sample box.

Good cream. Easy to lather and persisted well. Good slickness, including residual between passes, and good protection. It's a mentholated cream so it was a cool shave and a good postshave feel immediately after the shave. Quite a bit later, my face felt a bit dry but not bad.

Am I right that this is Proraso Green?

 

The suspense is killing me.

 

I know what they are. Haha! I’ve got the list!

 

I don't think so.

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Grrr...

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First shave with A tonight. This one needs a lot of water for a str8 shave. The second pass, Started drying out befor I could finish. Added more water before the third pass and all was good. Firs impression is that I could see myself buying this one.
One more shave and it’ll be history

 

Cream H today. This one is bugging me because the herbal fragrance seems familiar and I can't place it. Otherwise a good cream that ticked all the boxes, including not needing a postshave product afterwards.

I feel like I am almost failing in my duties as a critic here: I have tested 8 creams so far and haven't rejected any of them outright. I am not all that stuck on E and am ambivalent towards B's strong lemon scent but both can still give me a decent shave. Of course, all the samples we are testing are commercially available, which means they should all meet the basic requirements for a shaving cream, namely that one can shave with it....

Tomorrow I move on to the samples wrapped up in wax paper...

 

Sharing is caring...

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December 10 - Sample I

It was sample I today, a soft croap in wax paper. I took the same amount as I used of cream for the others (a spoonful) and smushed it in the bottom of my lather bowl. This cream had a very faint odor of almond like the Italian almond soaps. It also lathered like one. And felt like one on the face. And provided the same slickness and cushion during the shave, residual slickness in between passes, and the same postshave feel as the Italian almond soaps, especially the ones containing coconut. Based on the color of the sample, the smell, and its behaviour, my personal suspicion is that this particular sample is either Vitos Red label or Vitos Green label soap.

I liked it.

 

Sample G was up today. The scent was so offensive to me that I can't even consider its other qualities. Lemon and dirty diapers.

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I finished. Help me remember where to send the spreadsheet

 

I thought F might be Proraso Green

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Shaved with F yesterday I liked it. It had a very familiar scent classic and minty. Slickness was good lather was easy and lasting, cushion was good. Post shave was a little dry starting to think that's all creams at this point. This one falls right in the middle for me.

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Sample J today. Another croap wrapped in wax paper. Unlike most of the samples so far, this one had a fairly strong and long-lasting scent. What that scent is exactly, I couldn't tell you. It's a bit spicy, a bit woodsy, a bit floral or herbal; whatever it is, I quite enjoyed it. Shaving performance was excellent.

I wouldn't mind having this one in my den.

This has been an interesting experiment. What I have learned so far is that there are a couple creams whose scent I don’t care for, one or two I like, and a majority whose scent is frankly irrelevant to their performance for me. Which suggests that spending a lot of time choosing "seasonal scents" and so forth is rather pointless for me -- without a label or ad telling me what's in the scent I can't tell anyway.

The other thing I have learned is that without labels to differentiate them, the performance of these commercial creams is broadly similar and any of them will do.

I wish I had done this test before I acquired my 36 creams and 41 different soaps...