Once again this may be a lengthy post, so bear with me.
I was so impressed with the Captains Choice North cream sample I tried that right away I started looking for and reading reviews of his creams. I didnt find as many as I hoped too, but I did read that many think of the 45th Parallel as a "food" type scent and specifically chocolate covered Cherries so I felt I had to try it as I enjoy those types of scent profiles.
I ordered a tub from Maggards and was excited to try it. When I did try it, I found the scent underwhelming. Very light, much lighter than the North sample and certainly not as bold, nor as lingering. So I sent The Captain himself a PM as he's a vendor on this forum and explained to him my thoughts. He replied right away, apologized for my experience and promptly put another tub in the mail for me, only asking that I leave a review of it. So, here I am once again.
When the parcel from him arrived to me in Canada, very quickly I might add, it was professionally packaged as one would expect. On opening it I found the tub quickly in among all the packing peanuts and just caught a glimpse of something else white on the bottom of the box. I had to dig around a bit to find it, but I found a very nice surprise. Not only did he send me the tub of 45th, he also sent me another sample of North, and a sample each of Sandalwood and Lime, along with a handwritten note.
This is the type of customer service, and care, I very much appreciate and given the fact that his products are of such quality, I wont hesitate in ordering from him in the future!
On to todays shave...
I've been wanting try my Gillette post war Tech and a Gillette 7 O'Clock Sharp Edge(Yellow) for quite some time so today was the day.
I bowl lather with an Omega 10005 boar brush, soaked and well shaken out, then I dipped the tips into the tub, dipped them into water and proceeded to make my lather.
I should add that I soak my brush a good while in hot water, 10-15 minutes and thoroughly shook it out so it was just damp.
A little bit of cream goes a long way and I was easily able to load my brush for what I expected to be a full 3 pass shave with 2-3 cleanups.
Start the first WTG pass and was struck by how smooth it went. Some of that I'm sure falls to the razor and the blade of choice, but without a good lather, that smoothness wont be there.
Second pass XTG and more of the same, smooth and comfortable.
Third pass again, smooth, slick and comfortable, no surprises.
Fourth, fifth and sixth buffing passes all on my neck and jawline ATG went the same. No lather issues. It didnt fall apart and my last buffing passes the lather was as slick and rich as my first. I will say that I used much less lather on my last (third) buffing pass and really the residual slickness and a touch of water was more than enough. My last clean up over the points of my chin I didnt even lather, only wet my hand, shook the drops off and smoothed out any remaining lather.
The finish, as always with the right combination, BBS with cool comfortable skin, but like I said in my review of the North cream, the post shave feel is something I've thus far only felt with Captain's Choice creams and still not sure how to describe it, but just a very strong feeling of being clean.
The scent...
Chocolate covered cherries, sort of. To me its more like...
Or maybe...
Either way its light and sweet, but at the same time deep, delicious and not powdery. I'm finding I dont really like the powdery scents so much now and none of these creams have that powdery scent to them. Its really hard to explain, but this scent is light, airy and yet deep and rich. Its very compelling.
I personally would prefer a stronger scent, even if it lingered, which it doesnt at all. With the North cream I could still catch a whiff of it over an hour after shaving with it. Not the case with 45th Parallel.
So, in summary; Another top shelf product from someone I'm thinking is among the best in the business, and I dont say that lightly. Scott is a great guy that values his customers. Thats becoming a rare trait in todays world. He makes an outstanding product and going by the scents of his Lime and Sandalwood, North and 45th Parallel arent the only two standouts in his field of products.
I'll also add this as I believe it an important fact. On opening each sample for a smell, I almost spilled the Sandalwood. Its viscosity is quite thin. I thought North was a slightly thin cream, the 45th is a slightly thicker viscosity than North, but the Sandalwood is very thin. More a thick liquid than a cream, and the Lime is more like almost a soft soap, or croap I suppose is the term.
I asked Scott why the variance in viscosity among the creams. His reply to me was that he only uses natural essential oils and because of that, the oils he does use affect the overall viscosity of differently scented creams in different ways. He went on to explain that if he used synthetic oils, the viscosity may be more consistent across the scent profiles.
The ingredient list as shown on the label.
To that, in my review of his North cream I stated that the sample I have had a distinct antiseptic or clinical scent to it. On the sample Scott sent me, that is much reduced and on smelling it, it smells the same as the first sample I tried, after I lathered it.
On exploring this Scott and I both feel that, to use his words, the first sample was an "odd duck" and I agree. Perhaps it was the high heat we had here at the time affected it somehow, I dont know.
What I do know is, he makes a fantastic product.
To Scott. Thank you for doing what you did, and, what you do. You do it very well!
I was so impressed with the Captains Choice North cream sample I tried that right away I started looking for and reading reviews of his creams. I didnt find as many as I hoped too, but I did read that many think of the 45th Parallel as a "food" type scent and specifically chocolate covered Cherries so I felt I had to try it as I enjoy those types of scent profiles.
I ordered a tub from Maggards and was excited to try it. When I did try it, I found the scent underwhelming. Very light, much lighter than the North sample and certainly not as bold, nor as lingering. So I sent The Captain himself a PM as he's a vendor on this forum and explained to him my thoughts. He replied right away, apologized for my experience and promptly put another tub in the mail for me, only asking that I leave a review of it. So, here I am once again.
When the parcel from him arrived to me in Canada, very quickly I might add, it was professionally packaged as one would expect. On opening it I found the tub quickly in among all the packing peanuts and just caught a glimpse of something else white on the bottom of the box. I had to dig around a bit to find it, but I found a very nice surprise. Not only did he send me the tub of 45th, he also sent me another sample of North, and a sample each of Sandalwood and Lime, along with a handwritten note.
This is the type of customer service, and care, I very much appreciate and given the fact that his products are of such quality, I wont hesitate in ordering from him in the future!
On to todays shave...
I've been wanting try my Gillette post war Tech and a Gillette 7 O'Clock Sharp Edge(Yellow) for quite some time so today was the day.
I bowl lather with an Omega 10005 boar brush, soaked and well shaken out, then I dipped the tips into the tub, dipped them into water and proceeded to make my lather.
I should add that I soak my brush a good while in hot water, 10-15 minutes and thoroughly shook it out so it was just damp.
A little bit of cream goes a long way and I was easily able to load my brush for what I expected to be a full 3 pass shave with 2-3 cleanups.
Start the first WTG pass and was struck by how smooth it went. Some of that I'm sure falls to the razor and the blade of choice, but without a good lather, that smoothness wont be there.
Second pass XTG and more of the same, smooth and comfortable.
Third pass again, smooth, slick and comfortable, no surprises.
Fourth, fifth and sixth buffing passes all on my neck and jawline ATG went the same. No lather issues. It didnt fall apart and my last buffing passes the lather was as slick and rich as my first. I will say that I used much less lather on my last (third) buffing pass and really the residual slickness and a touch of water was more than enough. My last clean up over the points of my chin I didnt even lather, only wet my hand, shook the drops off and smoothed out any remaining lather.
The finish, as always with the right combination, BBS with cool comfortable skin, but like I said in my review of the North cream, the post shave feel is something I've thus far only felt with Captain's Choice creams and still not sure how to describe it, but just a very strong feeling of being clean.
The scent...
Chocolate covered cherries, sort of. To me its more like...
Or maybe...
Either way its light and sweet, but at the same time deep, delicious and not powdery. I'm finding I dont really like the powdery scents so much now and none of these creams have that powdery scent to them. Its really hard to explain, but this scent is light, airy and yet deep and rich. Its very compelling.
I personally would prefer a stronger scent, even if it lingered, which it doesnt at all. With the North cream I could still catch a whiff of it over an hour after shaving with it. Not the case with 45th Parallel.
So, in summary; Another top shelf product from someone I'm thinking is among the best in the business, and I dont say that lightly. Scott is a great guy that values his customers. Thats becoming a rare trait in todays world. He makes an outstanding product and going by the scents of his Lime and Sandalwood, North and 45th Parallel arent the only two standouts in his field of products.
I'll also add this as I believe it an important fact. On opening each sample for a smell, I almost spilled the Sandalwood. Its viscosity is quite thin. I thought North was a slightly thin cream, the 45th is a slightly thicker viscosity than North, but the Sandalwood is very thin. More a thick liquid than a cream, and the Lime is more like almost a soft soap, or croap I suppose is the term.
I asked Scott why the variance in viscosity among the creams. His reply to me was that he only uses natural essential oils and because of that, the oils he does use affect the overall viscosity of differently scented creams in different ways. He went on to explain that if he used synthetic oils, the viscosity may be more consistent across the scent profiles.
The ingredient list as shown on the label.
To that, in my review of his North cream I stated that the sample I have had a distinct antiseptic or clinical scent to it. On the sample Scott sent me, that is much reduced and on smelling it, it smells the same as the first sample I tried, after I lathered it.
On exploring this Scott and I both feel that, to use his words, the first sample was an "odd duck" and I agree. Perhaps it was the high heat we had here at the time affected it somehow, I dont know.
What I do know is, he makes a fantastic product.
To Scott. Thank you for doing what you did, and, what you do. You do it very well!
