Shave Cream

This is my first review and so you should probably read it with the following caveats: 1) I'm 3 weeks into DE shaving, so I'm still working on all of my technique - shaving, lathering, etc. 2) My ratings are probably more subjective than many since I've not tried too many products for comparison other than scent.

(As my base for comparison, I've worked my way through most of a TOBS sampler set, and have also shaved with many of the Al's products, Nancy Boy Signature and Blossomwood, and a few St. James of London samples. I've liked most to a varying degree with the TOBS generally coming in lower than the rest.)

I recently bought the Crown Supreme Glide Pre-Shave and Dino was nice enough to toss in a nicely sized sample of the shave cream.

The first thing you notice when opening the cream is the minty scent that floats up from the plastic jar. It's very satisfying, but it only hits one note at this point.

I took a snurdle of the cream and put it into my bowl. The cream has a lighter feel to it than some of the other creams that I've used - with a fluffy feeling closer to TOBS or Nancy Boy than to the denser Al's. I was a little concerned that I might not have enough product in order to get a full lather.

It ends up that I need not have worried. I wet my WD synthetic brush and squeezed most of the water out and then added less than a tablespoon of warm water to the bowl and began to build the lather. The lather developed well as I gradually added some more water to the soap. Also, as the lather whipped up, the scent opened up with more piney, vegetal notes that complemented the mint.

I was able to build up a great billowy bowl of lather very easily in about 45 seconds. The lather went on to my face in a thicker than normal layer and I quickly covered my skin with minimal effort. (In retrospect I think I may want to experiment with a little more water since it was so thick when I applied it.) Even though the layers were thick, they did not feel heavy - just light and luxurious.

Three pass shave. There was plenty of lather for all 3 passes (and then some). Did some touch-up after the 3rd without reapplying lather and my skin was smooth and lubricated enough so that I was not irritated.

While the initial outlay for Crown is fairly high, I understand that the full size container is very large - 8 oz. So I expect that it's pretty reasonable on a per-shave basis.

All in all - a great first experience with this product. I really like the pre-shave and I imagine that this may make into my top tier of creams.

My only additional comment is about the ingredients list. Most of the listings for this product imply that there is only a small number of "natural" ingredients. (By that I mean ingredients with names other than chemical descriptions.) The Crown web site makes it clear that the list of ingredients named is only a partial list, but when you look at the full list, you see that it's more than just glycerin, oils and extracts. I'm not complaining about the fact that there's more in there - I didn't see anything in the full list that should probably bother anyone. I just want to make it clear in case anyone is looking for a cream with a minimal number of ingredients.