First Place

Hey guys! Yesterday at the mall of america I inquired about the lack of crab's west indian lime shaving soap. Well, wouldn't you know it she retrieved from a box the new product before it had even touched the shelves. No need for a bowl, says I and pay cash. 10.seventy something for 3.5 ounces of triple-milled goodness! My g-d, that's got to be over a year's worth of shaves with my modestly sized badger brush! Very exciting.

So here I am, about to plunge into an exciting new shaving journey! I'm going to use my Christensen (American) razor, it's a smallish 5/8th round-point. About 3 shaves in with a really good edge. Just thought I'd share with everyone out there in cyber-land that I got first place!

Oh boy. I don't know if I made a mistake in changing too many variables for the first use of this soap. I removed the other soap from the (subcontinental) Indian wooden soap bowl and put a little mineral oil, just a light coat, on the parts that looked like bare (untreated) wood was exposed. I wiped off the slight excess off with a piece of paper towel.

The new puck of West Indian Lime produced a lather more like the Cyril L. Salter's "Sublime Citrus" cream I have. A looser, foamier lather that built a thick, gel-like residue on the surface of the skin that was both slick (glide) and protective (cushion) for the open razor shave. Not like the creamier, rich lather most of us are used to. I wonder if some mineral oil was altering its properties, if there was enough residual mineral oil to be a problem. I did look at the ingredients listing and see they've changed the formula for this (no kernolates, instead have other stuff).

But that's life on the exciting frontier of modern wet-shaving!

Moving this one to the Soaps & Creams forum where it might get more attention...

Axel, by "crab" I'm assuming you are referring to Crabtree & Evelyn? If so I didn't realize they came out with a new scent.

BTW, you never said how the shave went lol

Whoah, Ryan82... you're a mod, now. Uh... I guess you ARE the boss of me, now... damn...

Yes! I was the first one to smell and hold the new Crabtree & Evelyn "West Indian Lime" triple-milled shaving soap! I've had a second shave with it (DE) and the layer of gel, or solid residue is akin to Williams Mug Soap and Cyril L. Salter's "Sublime Citrus" shaving cream, very slick and good protection/cushion. It still needs refreshing and I pushed it and got a little bloom here and there, so it's no super shaving medium, but it works just fine. I actually wonder if it's a better soap, like my Salter's cream, for beginners because it just gloms on and becomes a protective slickness that persists. I find washing it off to be a bit of a chore, just like Williams' and Salter (not to mention "the bomb").

Verdict is in: very good soap. Not the same creamy meringue of the other C&Es but definitely a good, slick, protective soap for safety razors and open razors. Another note: this soap, to my nose, is milder than the other, strongly scented soaps from C&E. There are currently four soaps in production right now (that I am aware of): Sienna, Nomad, Sandalwood and the new West Indian Lime. For people who object to strongly scented soaps/creams this seems like the best option if determined to give C&E a go.

Wow, thanks for sharing. Another one on the list to try out!