Thread: Castle Forbes

Originally Posted by rum

How does it compare to Truefitt creams?

Did a lime shaving cream shoot out over the last two weeks. Samples provided by Jens Pönitzsch of The Different Scent in Berlin. Mighty generous of the old fella.

Now then. Been using CF Lime for more than half a year. Splendig stuff. Scent, lather, nothing to criticise here. Lubrication is perfect, thick and creamy, yet slick. The eminent Joel of The Other Forum has been whining about the plastic tub. Never dropped it, has he? Long story short, it is hands down the best lime shaving cream with the most natural lime scent of the three creams I tested.

Cyril R. Salter - Essential Lime is much more like what you would expect to get when you buy a shaving cream. Lathers up well, but the scent did not excite me. At all. All nice and dandy them saying it is natural, only it does not smell that way. Add to that the soapy component, and you have a bog standard cream with artificial flavour. Shaves well, but no match for the CF Lime. Lubrication is worse than CF and T&H, up to a point where my blades started to pull. Also does not moisturise at all. Decent show, nothing more, nothing less.

Truefitt & Hill - West Indian Limes Shave Cream is an interesting one. Nice scent, albeit more chemical smelling than CF. Nice lather, too, both in terms of texture and lubrication. But (and this may well be because I did not sacrifice sufficient amounts of goats to the God of Straight Shaving, or simply because my technique leaves everything to be desired) I ended up with no less than six ingrown hairs. Needless to say that I was underwhelmed by this result.

Summary: CF Lime is bloody expensive, but it will last longer (in the case of T&H significantly so) than the other two creams. Is it too expensive? Well, no. Admittedly, you can get a good razor for the price of one jar. But if you have sensitive skin or have room for optimisation with regards to your shaving technique, it is also the most forgiving cream of the bunch, and will significantly add to a satisfying shaving experience. And at the end of the day, that is what this is all about. That, and the fact that you can train your survival instincts if and when the wife has caught you buying more kit on BST. Again.

P.S. Just in case you are wondering why I did not give Geo F. Trumper's Limes Shaving Cream a whirl: I found the scent completely disheartening.

P.P.S. If you live in Germany and are looking for a good online shop, The Different Scent is for you. If you are lucky enough to live in Berlin, do pay Herrn Pönitzsch a visit. His shop is wonderful, and carries massive amounts of stunningly good hand crafted perfumes beside a nice variety of shaving kit.

CF Cederwood and Sandlewood is my absolute favorite cream of all time. It's got a very earthy scent though that might not be for everyone. I liked it so much I recently got some of their aftershave balm. Can't get enough of that scent.

Oh my!!

Well I e-mailed CF a few days ago requesting some samples and forgot about it.
This morning I received three samples in the post - a Lime Oil cream, a pre-shave sample and the Cedarwood and Sandalwood cream as well.

I opened the Lime Oil sample first... the scent was sooooo good. In fact, my cabinet now smells of it and I am kind of addicted to it. I may use up all the others first, so saving the best for last. All I need to do now is check that I can actually shave with this cream (I don't see why not), before placing an order for it.

All these glowing endorsements of CF products pushed me over the edge. Just ordered up both the Lime and Lavender shave creams and also the CF Lavender after shave balm. Separately ordered up some Pussers Lime Aftershave to go with the CF Lime SC.

Originally Posted by psdarby

CF Cederwood and Sandlewood is my absolute favorite cream of all time. It's got a very earthy scent though that might not be for everyone. I liked it so much I recently got some of their aftershave balm. Can't get enough of that scent.

Yeah, that's some fine stuff!

I've mostly been using MamaBear shaving soap.. how does this stuff compare to that? I just found it on straightrazordesigns.
What's the best place to order from in the US?

How does the cream work in comparison to the soap?

I love Sue over at Mama Bear and I have serveral of her soaps that I use regularly. Infact they lather so well I often mix them with creams to get a super later. That said, There is nothing like Castle Forbes cream. It is the crispest scent with the most outstanding lather of anything I have tried and a quick walk over to the shave den says that it is out of 26 different soaps and creams in the cabinet. And I use less with it than I would use with other creams and often still have some left in the bottom of the lather bowl left over. Its worth it.

Yesterday I finally finished my tub of CF lavender cream which I got for Christmas 2006 and have been using for at least every other shave since. Good value for money in my book and I suspect I'll be buying a tub of the lime shortly as I've never used anything which lathers as well.

Where is the best place in the US to order from?

I got mine from vintage blades.