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2017 - The Year of Creams

Hello gents,

As SWMBO and I cleaned our out closet, there were more than a few comments about the amount of shaving products that amassed in the early days of my wet shaving career. Last time I was in India for work, my colleagues surprised me on my last day in the office and gave me a bag filled to the brim with Indian creams (after I had gone and gotten shaves each day from a local recommended barber and talked about my love for traditional shaves.)

Originally I had planned on making 2016 the year of using creams, but we moved in September and I decided to use up some of my heavier soaps. I am worrying about the creams longevity, so that, coupled with the comments from SWMBO confirmed that 2017 is the year to go through my stash!

This will be where I document my journey for myself. Hopefully this will be useful for some people as I work my way through some common (and some uncommon) shave creams. I am exclusively a face latherer, and use synthetics about 95% of the time. My standard morning shave before work is a quick one pass plus touch ups that, with good product, results in a DFS.

As a dedicated 3017-er, I tend to weigh my products before, during, and at the end of their lives to document the average usage and price per shave. I plan to continue that with creams as well.

Here is the starting stash of creams :

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Up first will be one of the few non-Indian creams, a partially used tube of Palmolive picked up in the U.K. a few years ago. I'm already very familiar with this cream - it is a great cream that seems to have a very wide water sweet spot. It doesn't take any special attention to hydration or product quantity for me to get a super thick, creamy, yogurty lather. Unfortunately I don't know the starting weight of this tube, so can't do g/shave calculations, but it is a great benchmark to measure future creams against.

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Ad Astra

The Instigator
You're going to need more than one face! :lol:

Because that's more than one year's worth, for sure.

They speak of an almond-sized doot of cream. I find that just a semi-doot - about a peanut - will do.


AA
 
Mine weights in at 114 g

Thanks Anders, noted in my Excel sheet! :001_cool:


I had thought I remembered a similar thread being posted not too long ago! Although most all of them are from India so I won't exactly be as global as you fellows!

You're going to need more than one face! :lol:

Because that's more than one year's worth, for sure.

They speak of an almond-sized doot of cream. I find that just a semi-doot - about a peanut - will do.

I tend to abide by the "life's too short for inferior shaves" school of thought. If a cream doesn't deliver good shaves, I'll place it aside for a PIF and move on. Palmolive will be a good benchmark for this. If a certain brand doesn't measure up, I could start moving through these rather quickly!
 

I'm dedicating 2017 to creams after using a puck of Williams in January... Looking forward to La Toja. I don't think I'll use the CF Lavender until later, though. The Musgo tube is almost empty, but I think I have another. The TOBS, partial Tabac, a couple of AOS samples, and Maca Root are gone. Working on the Erasmic tube now.

Several soaps are gone, too.
 
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[MENTION=16143]beginish[/MENTION] I never nabbed any Coates creams before they went extinct. I've heard good things though.

The Palmolive continues to deliver exceptional results. I hadn't used this cream in well over a year and a half, and right now I'd put it up against any of my favorite soaps (Haslinger, Stirling, Mikes) in terms of performance and post shave. Scent is a very pleasant Irish Spring-y scent, although distinctly different than the Palmolive stick I 3017ed earlier this fall.

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@beginish I never nabbed any Coates creams before they went extinct. I've heard good things though.

The Palmolive continues to deliver exceptional results. I hadn't used this cream in well over a year and a half, and right now I'd put it up against any of my favorite soaps (Haslinger, Stirling, Mikes) in terms of performance and post shave. Scent is a very pleasant Irish Spring-y scent, although distinctly different than the Palmolive stick I 3017ed earlier this fall.

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I like the looks of that, Ryan.
 
Looking forward to following this one!

I just worked my way through a few different hard soaps, and have been feeling like I need to get back into some creams. Started with 2 favorites - Speick, and a tub of TOBS Eton College
 
I like the looks of that, Ryan.

You and me both, Tony! The lather checks off every one of my "top lather" boxes :lol:

I find the regular palmolive to be a very excellent cream. The sensitive makes my face itch and tingle.

I had never seen the sensitive until a quick Google search just now. Very interesting!

I'll be honest. I had forgotten how good these creams can be until I forced myself to use them again.

I had written creams off as something good when learning to get comfortable with wet shaving, but generally inferior to my favorite soaps. This past week with the Palmolive cream has made me do a complete 180 and I'm very much looking forward to the year ahead.
 
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