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.