- Messages
- 4,630
Since there is no dedicated spot for pre-shave reviews, I thought I'd lump it in with the cream review.
The only Castle Forbes product that I had used before the 2 mentioned above was their Limes After Shave Balm. The balm is nice stuff, and smells like a very strong Opal Fruit (Starburst, for those of us less than 25 years old). Since then, I have quite fancied trying some of their other stuff, so I ordered the Lavender Shaving Cream (I like lavender scented stuff) and a travel-sized CF Pre-shave.
Cream first.
Nicely packaged. Comes in a gift box which looks classy. The cream itself comes in one of those flat-but-wide containers, (great if you have a large brush, as I do) and I was a little disappointed that it was made from plastic and not glass. Having said that, this stuff is expensive enough as it is, so adding the cost of a glass jar would make it HUGELY expensive.
Unscrew the lid, and you are met with a nice, pure lavender scent. Remove the inner lid, and there is the cream. It's just a cream/beige colour, as CF don't add colour to their creams. The lavender scent is not as strong or as raw as the Taylor lavender cream, and there is a slight hint of a 'paint' note in there. Obviously something in there is giving me that note, but I have no idea what!
In use this cream is really luxurious. I first tried face lathering, but it didn't really work, so for the subseqent shaves I lathered in my palm. The results were superb. It's a very thick cream, and you don't need a huge amount to get enough lather. 4 quick swirls of the brush in the pot, then onto my wet hand to lather. Very protective (although I have only used it with the pre-shave, more about that in a bit), nice lavender scent, but not as strong as I'd hoped for, and leaves my skin in good condition (again, used with the pre-shave).
A great cream, if a little expensive. The scent is a little weaker than I was hoping for, but that's the only downside.
On to the Pre-shave.
The only pre-shave that I have tried before is the Trumper Skin Food. It didn't appear to make any difference to any aspect of the shaves that I used it for, but still found myself inquisitive after watching Robert's shaving video, where he uses the CF Pre-shave. I ordered a 30ml travel bottle to try it.
It comes in a handy, plastic, screw topped bottle, and is unscented. It does have a smell, but only of the ingredients; there is no scent added. It smells a bit synthetic, but the advantage of this is that it will not interfere with the scent of your chosen cream or soap, and once your lather is applied, the smell from the pre-shave goes away.
The directions on the bottle tell you to wash your face and then towel it dry. This, to me, is contrary to the whole idea of wet shaving, so I wash my face, rinse it, and then just run my hands over my face to spread out any water droplets. I then get a small blob of the CF pre-shave, and apply it to my beard. I massage it in thoroughly and leave it there while I prepare my lather. It seems to work best when left on the face for a couple of minutes.
The shave was a little more slippery on my usual WTG and XTG passes, but the real difference seemed to come when I decided to go for an ATG pass. Normally, I can struggle with an ATG pass with a DE razor, and only on rare occasions that I can manage it without any drama. Since I have been using the pre-shave (and I have only used it with the CF Lavender and Proraso creams) I have been able to shave ATG, and get BBS with every shave where I have used the Pre-shave. I have not been able to do this previously.
So, again, it's expensive, but it did make a difference to my shaves, and I will be ordering a 120ml bottle.
Ian
The only Castle Forbes product that I had used before the 2 mentioned above was their Limes After Shave Balm. The balm is nice stuff, and smells like a very strong Opal Fruit (Starburst, for those of us less than 25 years old). Since then, I have quite fancied trying some of their other stuff, so I ordered the Lavender Shaving Cream (I like lavender scented stuff) and a travel-sized CF Pre-shave.
Cream first.
Nicely packaged. Comes in a gift box which looks classy. The cream itself comes in one of those flat-but-wide containers, (great if you have a large brush, as I do) and I was a little disappointed that it was made from plastic and not glass. Having said that, this stuff is expensive enough as it is, so adding the cost of a glass jar would make it HUGELY expensive.
Unscrew the lid, and you are met with a nice, pure lavender scent. Remove the inner lid, and there is the cream. It's just a cream/beige colour, as CF don't add colour to their creams. The lavender scent is not as strong or as raw as the Taylor lavender cream, and there is a slight hint of a 'paint' note in there. Obviously something in there is giving me that note, but I have no idea what!
In use this cream is really luxurious. I first tried face lathering, but it didn't really work, so for the subseqent shaves I lathered in my palm. The results were superb. It's a very thick cream, and you don't need a huge amount to get enough lather. 4 quick swirls of the brush in the pot, then onto my wet hand to lather. Very protective (although I have only used it with the pre-shave, more about that in a bit), nice lavender scent, but not as strong as I'd hoped for, and leaves my skin in good condition (again, used with the pre-shave).
A great cream, if a little expensive. The scent is a little weaker than I was hoping for, but that's the only downside.
On to the Pre-shave.
The only pre-shave that I have tried before is the Trumper Skin Food. It didn't appear to make any difference to any aspect of the shaves that I used it for, but still found myself inquisitive after watching Robert's shaving video, where he uses the CF Pre-shave. I ordered a 30ml travel bottle to try it.
It comes in a handy, plastic, screw topped bottle, and is unscented. It does have a smell, but only of the ingredients; there is no scent added. It smells a bit synthetic, but the advantage of this is that it will not interfere with the scent of your chosen cream or soap, and once your lather is applied, the smell from the pre-shave goes away.
The directions on the bottle tell you to wash your face and then towel it dry. This, to me, is contrary to the whole idea of wet shaving, so I wash my face, rinse it, and then just run my hands over my face to spread out any water droplets. I then get a small blob of the CF pre-shave, and apply it to my beard. I massage it in thoroughly and leave it there while I prepare my lather. It seems to work best when left on the face for a couple of minutes.
The shave was a little more slippery on my usual WTG and XTG passes, but the real difference seemed to come when I decided to go for an ATG pass. Normally, I can struggle with an ATG pass with a DE razor, and only on rare occasions that I can manage it without any drama. Since I have been using the pre-shave (and I have only used it with the CF Lavender and Proraso creams) I have been able to shave ATG, and get BBS with every shave where I have used the Pre-shave. I have not been able to do this previously.
So, again, it's expensive, but it did make a difference to my shaves, and I will be ordering a 120ml bottle.
Ian
