Crabtree & Evelyn Nomad

Great scent. This is my daily shave but I use a multiblade razor. It’s a little pricey but it lasts forever. I’ve probably tried thirty different soaps and for multiblade shaving this is my favorite.

Good quality product. A bit pricey but no complaints in how it worked!

In the past I have tried C&E Nomad cream, but I never tried their soap. When I came across a puck of Nomad in a slightly strange giftstore-like store in a provincial town somewhere in my home country—which, I should add, has next to zero shaving tradition—I took it home with me, and gave it about two carts' worth of shaves (about 10 times or so).

PROS

• Scent: absolutely delicious. The packaging states it's ‘aromatic shave soap’, which is spot on. Masculine, slightly sharp, somewhat oriental, yet still fresh-oceanic and green-herbal all rolled into one package. This is, without doubt, Nomad’s main selling point.
• Lather smoothness: The packaging states that the lather is ‘rich and creamy’, and C&E weren’t kidding.
• Efficacy: effortless shaving smoothness, provided the lather is there to protect the skin (see below).

CONS

• Lather stability: Unfortunately the lather tends to evaporate and/or coarsen somewhat quicker than average, making the last strokes of the ATG pass across sensitive parts of the face a bit tricky. Too much effort placed on the creaminess, and too little on simply getting the lather stable.
• Price: is a bit on the high side with €10 per 100 g.

Moisturisation/skin care properties are great, but with the triple whammy of isopropyl myristate, bisabolol (= main constituent of chamomille eo) and vitamin E, they should be. Interesting to note: C&E Nomad is a veggie soap.

Overall, I’m reasonably happy with this product. I find it annoying that an otherwise rich formula with a lovely fragrance has been married to a somewhat less than satisfying lather stability; were this issue solved I would definitely consider Nomad to become part of the small rotation I employ at my house. I’ll definitely use the soap some more in the future, but I’m not sure I will replace it once it’s finished.