Sweyn Forkbeard - Product Reviews

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Norfolk, UK
Here is the thread for the chosen 10 (11!) to post the reviews of the two product samples we have dispatched - Sweyn Forkbeard Peppermint and Sweyn Forkbeard Almond.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Happy Christmas everybody!

Agent A.
 
Fantastic performance rich lather and great cushioning and slickness. I prefer the peppermint scent which is subtle over the Almond but that might be because I have other Almond soaps (Cella, TOBS) but no peppermint! Thumbs up from me and expect an order for that peppermint! Thanks for organising this trial and for providing the soaps and of course for letting us know they even existed!!
 
I've ised the almond so far. As I face lather, some cream was scooped out and put onto the brush. It didn't produce much of a lather so more cream was added, using half the pot. Again, the lather wasn't that thick, thin infact and seemed to dissapate quickly. There was barely enough for a third pass, considering I used half the pot which is a good amount given, I was surprised.
The cream had a lovely scent, sweeter than Cella maybe? But that could be down to the age of the Cella. At first my skin felt nice and moisturised but soon felt dried out and tight, needing some balm to be applied. Nothing major though.
Overall if I'd bought the cream out of my hard earned pennies then I may lean towards being disappointed. Harsh to say after one use, so it may improve.

Thank you for the freebie sample!
 
Used the mint today. Same as before really, not a great lather, protection was good though but ended up using half the sample. I wouldn't mid how much product it took in order to get a stable lather but when it doesn't get thicker then its annoying.
Not a fan tbh, wouldn't buy a pot in the future.
Thanks for the opportunity to take part.
 
3rd shave yesterday, with the peppermint scent this time:
I couldn't build a thick lather, I used about half of the cream left in the jar, the texture was barely satisfactory, and gave me only 2 passes, I had to face lather again for the 3rd pass. The lather dried rather quickly too despite the watery texture. On the other hand protection and slide are really good even if the lather is close to soapy water.
So a big + for the protection and a big - for the lather.
 
First shave with the Peppermint soap. Tech razor, Personna blade, bowl lather using a synthetic brush.

Initial impression - a thick consistency that, unsurprisingly, needed a little more moisture in the brush than other products to actually form the lather. The lather was quite thin but gave a decent coverage over the beard.
The shave itself was smooth and there was enough lather for 3 passes (just). At first my skin felt very well moisturised but now, some 30 minutes later, it feels a bit dry.

I will try the same product again tomorrow using a little less moisture in the brush to see how we get on.
 
First shave with the Almond.
RazoRock Hawk
BodyShop synthetic brush
Bowl lather
No pre shave

Scent from the jar was equal to Cella. Using a good finger full and a soaked and rung out brush proceeded to create a lather. Although plenty of lather is produced its mostly air and a very thin one. I added more cream incase I had added too much water but the quality of the lather didn't improve just the quantity.

Applying to a 2 day growth and working it didn't help, still thin and I could see my skin.

1 pass with the RazoRock Hawk went without issue but by the end of the pass the remaining lather on my face had almost dispated and the lather in bowl was going the same way...I had to try and work the bowl contents again with my brush.

2 pass was no different. Weak thin lather and the scent had completely gone. I didn't bother with a third pass. Face feels dry and chalky

Opinions. Being an Almond scent it's easy to compare to Cella and to be honest Cella out performs it in all areas. Cella is a cheap soap and even if this cream is half the price I still wouldn't recommend it.
 
First shave with the Peppermint
RazoRock Hawk
BodyShop synthetic brush
Bowl lather
No pre shave

Today I tried the peppermint. The scent in the jar is good, not blow your head off mint but equivalent to openning a new pack of gum.

As the almond was watery I thought I'd forego soaking the brush and add drops of water as I went. The texture of this cream was lumpy, not the smooth cream of the almond. The lumps didn't want to combine. I put half in my bowl and started lathering adding drops of water when it was looking thick. Several minutes and drops later this was going no where. More cream, more drops more lathering. After 10 minutes and more than half the 10g sample gone I had a lather, not as weak as yesterday but nothing to get excited about and at the stage were if I added more water it would have fallen. Bearly enough for 2 passes.

On the skin there wasn't any great feeling of mint to get from other creams or soaps. Seems slick but no volume. Coming to the end of the first pass the last of the lather was drying on my face and it felt like I have mixed talc with water and dorbbed it on.

2 pass no different. I can honestly say I never want to see this stuff again. I've never used a shaving cream or soap that at the end I've actually had to wash my face with proper soap to feel clean. I've Derby creams in tubes that are a fraction of the price, easier to use and perform better.
 
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With all the competition and the artisan soaps available around, it's definitely going to be very hard for Forkbeard to struggle. Forkbeard's lather doesn't match the other artisan's at the moment.
 
Having used both creams I have come to like both scents especaly the mint however I found it quite difficult to produce a really thick lather and each sample lasted two shaves. The lather although not as thick as I would like was quite slick and offered just enough protection.
I am a soap user normaly so this may have been cause for me not getting the mix quite right.
Thank you for the oppertunity to road test these creams, much appreciated but I'm sorry they are not my cup of tea.
 
Had the Vanilla & Tobacco...smell was pleasant, not a major tobacco scent tbh.

It didn't lather, and didn't really do much other than spread across the face...like a Very thick, heavy balm. It's got lot of Shea butter in there, so doesn't mix great with water...a bit too thick, so it sits on the face rather than absorb post shave IMO.

Found it clogged the Voskhod quickly, and was a lot of effort to get an average shave at best.

Ended up BST mine...you need a lot of it each shave too, so although you get a lot for your money, reckon you'd struggle to get more than 20 shaves from a tin.

Shame, but for me it missed the mark. Was a bit like a home made shaving cream you'd get on Etsy.

Heard good things about their beard products though, so maybe that's their strength....?
 
Tried the peppermint today,

I found the smell great, but the foam it produced lacking, the glide was ok, and surprisingly no irritation, I first used my gold dollar straight, but I found with my normal prep, that the whiskers were not as soft as they should have been, I swapped to another straight and the problem continued, so I swapped out to my Schick injector, which did the business,
It's certainly not the goldilocks soap for me, the smell was good, but the soap lacked foam and the foam was thin and wasn't as hydrating as it should have been, despite me pasting my face for a considerably longer length of time than the soaps I normally use.
 
I've used both creams now. One face lathering and the other in a bowl. My conclusions are similar for both.

Despite using plenty of product and giving plenty of time and effort to build a decent lather; one didn't come. The enhanced slickness of the product made it useable and I enjoyed a reasonable shave, but nothing to write home about.

Post shave in both instances was more than reasonable and I found the scents pleasent. In particular the peppermint.

To sum up. This has the potential to be a good product but the formulation needs some work as the current latherability and following on from that cushion, isn't really up to scratch.
 
Almond yesterday - with my newly acquired Niazi ~1908 straight. I decided to try face lathering, no prep for my cheeks only. Managed to get together a lather relatively easily directly on my whiskery face but with much effort and a difficulty in gauging the water content. Using my body shop synthetic brush, I managed to get a stable-ish lather but it provided far less glide than I was hoping. It felt sticky under the razor and I couldn't comfortably shave until I made it a far wetter mixture. The smell was okay but far too sweet for my liking - smells like neat benzaldehyde. Face felt a little hot and tight post-use and had the beginning of a bit of razor burn but nothing substantial.
Comparing to my only other usable soap, P&B sanskrit, I had a decent neck tidy-up without prep, issue or uncomfortable post-feel using a face lather also.

Tl, dr; good enough if you've not got much else but needs to be wet and almost relies on decent pre-shave preparation.

Will try the peppermint after the weekend.

Edit: the later breaks down a bit during use.
 
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