Thread: Seven Wonders, October 2015

Originally Posted by Phrank

Hilarious - I saw your list - promptly ordered some St.James of London (I've wanted to try it for awhile), read the additions in the thread and thought, "Oh no, Obie doesn't like that one!" Then saw the Baum.be, which I went and picked up locally the other day, very nice soap, definitely a keeper.

Well, we'll both get to try the St. James then, I ordered the Mandarin & Patchouli, what did you decide on?

Frank,

You will not go wrong with St. James of London. Actually, I have used it for a number of years; I had just run out and had to order some more. It's a superb shave cream. If I had Eight Wonders, it would include it.

The list I made works quite well for me, especially with my sensitive skin. Mitchell's Wool Fat, for instance, which has fans and also detractors, loves my Hollywood face. I suppose I could have let D.R. Harris Arlington take its spot, but Mitchell's treats my skin well. That's why I often include it in the Seven Wonders list.

Two other products, one soap and the other cream, that work well for me, under the circumstances, are Lea, from Spain, and Taylor of Old Bond Street Jermyn Street shave cream. Both are easy on my Hollywood face, and I have them in rotation permanently.

Back to St. James, I love that cream, and I'm sure you will, too. Good stuff.

Yeah, I was wondering your thoughts on Taylor of Old Bond Street Jermyn Street. It was the soap (or cream) that made me realize I'll be wet shaving for the rest of my life. Then I found a bunch more, but that was the clincher for me.

Great list Obie.
Like your good self I have sensitive skin and our Hollywood faces needed to be pampered with the best! I haven't tried numbers 5 &7 but will keep them in mind.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by HopChugger

Yeah, I was wondering your thoughts on Taylor of Old Bond Street Jermyn Street. It was the soap (or cream) that made me realize I'll be wet shaving for the rest of my life. Then I found a bunch more, but that was the clincher for me.

Hop,
I'm quite fond of Jermyn Street. It lathers well, has plenty of moisture, with good cushion and glide, and it's easy on the skin. I love the fragrance. too. Actually, these Taylor of Old Bond Street creams are underrated. I think they are fine creams, and worth the low price.

Obie,

Your last Seven Wonders list is what convinced me to try MDC and XPEC, thank you for that. Your new list is great, although I have yet to use Esbjerg cream. MWF, while fantastic in most regards, has a scent that leaves me flat.

I had the opportunity to try Baum.Be for the first time recently and definitely am a fan of it. I already have more soap than I can use in a couple hundred years but I'm going to buy that one anyway.

Originally Posted by Obie

Hop,
I'm quite fond of Jermyn Street. It lathers well, has plenty of moisture, with good cushion and glide, and it's easy on the skin. I love the fragrance. too. Actually, these Taylor of Old Bond Street creams are underrated. I think they are fine creams, and worth the low price.

Well, like St. James of London, Taylor of Old Bond Street shaving creams can be summed up in one word: Creightons. I'm not sure about underrated, though, as the brand is quite popular and generally well regarded. As it should be.

And Baume.be shaving cream, well, very much top-tier. I love everything about it and would warmly recommend it; definitely one of my favourites.

Now that we're at it, Obie, I hope you don't mind me chiming in with my own list, in no particular order:

1. Castle Forbes "Lavender": easy, rich, skin-friendly, wonderful single-note scent. The only way to improve on it would be to put it in a tasteful glass container.
2. Baume.be shaving cream: same as Castle Forbes in terms of ease, lather and skin-friendliness and also a truly wonderful scent. Slightly less efficient, but that is nit picking and pretty much a moot point when bearing in mind its quality.
3. Green Mountain Soaps "Lime & Vetiver": works miracles on my skin, with this I do not need an aftershave balm, ever. The distinct, subtle scent is very much to my liking, too.
4. Meißner Tremonia "Dark Limes" (both soap and cream, as they are effectively the same thing): also works miracles on my skin, with a lovely rich and moisturising lather. Its scent is a definite winner in my book. The colouring is a fun curiosity (it looks slick), but nothing more than that.
5. Esbjerg "Sensitive" shaving soap: not the richest lather nor the easiest to lather, but highly functional and truly great on the skin (second to none, really) with a lovely crisp citrus scent. I do not use it nearly often enough.

An honourable mention goes out to St. James of London "Cedarwood & Clarysage": its scent is so-so, but performance, ease of use and skin friendliness is solid. The main reason for including it here is the price-performance aspect: it is a solid performer and was laughably cheap, I think I paid £4 for 150 ml at the time (which, sadly, it is a thing of the past).

I will probably have to give Saponificio Varesino a try, see if lives up to the praise it gets. The same goes for some of the smaller batch French soaps I have read much about recently.

Before I make the coming statements about baum.be and Esbjerg, keep in mind that I have been using MdC for a month+ now. So some of my judgements may be based on comparison with that soap.

I bought some baum.be cream not long ago to try. Performance wise, it was pretty top notch. Insane amounts of lather. Nice and slick. But I found the smell to be a little weird. I couldn't get past it. Maybe its the carrots they put into the formula.

When I bought he baum.be, SRD also sent me a sample of Esbjerg cream and AS gel. I tried it a couple of days ago. Made loads of lather from just the little sample. Pretty good performance... not my top 5, but pretty good stuff.

The Esbjerg AS gel, BTW... that was some good stuff, and the wife absolutely loved the scent.

My heart is gladdened to see so many positive posts about Baume.Be. Baume.Be is my favorite cream, yet seems to go unnoticed by the vast majority of posters here; I always worry production will be discontinued due to lack of sales, as have many products I have become enamored with through the years. Hopefully these praises by outstanding SRP members will increase sales. (I am in no way associated with the makers of this product.)

Pithor, you mention its lack of efficiency. Rub a pea-sized amount on your face and face lather, you will be amazed at the amount of lather produced. For reasons I cannot explain, bowl lathering seems to require a larger amount.

Originally Posted by CZMark

My heart is gladdened to see so many positive posts about Baume.Be. Baume.Be is my favorite cream, yet seems to go unnoticed by the vast majority of posters here; I always worry production will be discontinued due to lack of sales, as have many products I have become enamored with through the years. Hopefully these praises by outstanding SRP members will increase sales. (I am in no way associated with the makers of this product.)

Pithor, you mention its lack of efficiency. Rub a pea-sized amount on your face and face lather, you will be amazed at the amount of lather produced. For reasons I cannot explain, bowl lathering seems to require a larger amount.

I used it this morning and was once again impressed by how thick a creamy a lather it produces. The one thing it lacks is a significant scent, I put it this way because it is not unpleasant in any way, just lacking in character and something that would increase its popularity. Compared to it, even MWF has more going for it with its scent, something I didn't fully appreciate when I first started using it.