Scott at Captain’s Choice sent me a free sample pack of CC’s 5 shaving creams to try out and provide objective feedback upon. So I shaved with each of them 1 morning for 5 mornings using the same setup each day, just changing creams.* Here’s my review of the 5. First the scents, then the performance, and a wrap up. My comments are all subjective, so I won’t try to objectify them with numbers or letter grades. Others likely will have different impressions, but here are mine.
THE FIVE SCENTS
1. North. This is a scent unique to Captain’s Choice in my experience. Like the aftershave, the shaving cream smells of dense fir and juniper boughs. Not pine. That’s different. This is fir and juniper. It’s not sweet at all and doesn't smell like a woodshop Still very woodsy. Unmistakenly masculine. I’m not sure how long the cream scent lasts, because I followed it up with Captain’s Choice North aftershave. [Then I donned my red flannel shirt, grabbed my ax, and felled the neighbor’s trees. J/k of course, but the scent is pretty lumberjacky. In a good way. I wouldn’t wear the AS every day myself, but I do occasionally, and you could make it your signature scent confident that there wouldn’t be five other guys in the room who smelled like you.] The shaving cream scent doesn’t linger (and neither does the AS really), but it’s a nice change of pace from sweeter or more perfumey soaps and creams.
2. Bay Rum. One of the best bay rum scents in the biz in my opinion. Strong scent that includes clove but isn’t all about clove the way so many bay rums are. Not overwhelming and left a subtle spice scent, not an overpowering or objectionable one.
3. 45th Parallel. I didn’t know what to expect of this from the name, but when I opened it, I smelled something very familiar and surprising in a shaving cream. Just to be sure I wasn’t crazy, I turned to my companion and asked her to take a whiff and tell me what she smelled. “Whipped cream,” she said. Bingo. Someone else described it in a review posted here as cherry cordial. I can see that. It’s definitely sweet. A nice change of pace if you’re used to scents like Sandalwood and Bay Rum (or North). Because it kind of looks like whipped cream, don't store it in the fridge.
4. Lime. It smells like lime. Not pure lime juice, but more sweet, like lime sherbet or lime merangue pie. Unmistakably lime without distracting lime + something else. Very fresh smelling. My thought using it was, “This would be great on a summer morning."
5. Sandalwood. This smells different from other sandalwood soaps and creams I’ve tried, because this has more wood smell to it. It’s not a sandalwood-scented fougere; it smells like the wood part of sandalwood. But not just any wood: Sandalwood. If you like your sandalwood unadulterated by flowery perfumes, this is your scent. It smells great. Again, a masculine smell. I hope they don't make it even more woody though, or we'd be getting into sawmill territory.
PERFORMANCE
Each of the creams performed the same for me, so I’ll review their performance as a group.
First, it takes just a bit more product to get the same amount of lather than with other premium creams I’ve tried. It’s still “almond size” but a bigger almond. No big deal.
It also doesn’t foam up richly and voluminously like other premium creams. I don’t know what the ingredient is that makes soap get big and fluffy, but this seems to have less of that. Not flat like Cremo or even like MWF on a bad day, but no billowing clouds of lather pouring out and under the bathroom door. The lather pretty much stays in the bowl, which is nice if you’re using a Captain’s Choice ceramic bowl (really nice, btw), because it’s more shallow than most bowls, mugs, or scuttles.
But aesthetics aside, the performance was really good. The lather was plenty slick to provide a nice glide for the razor. I was shaving with a Timeless razor, which is moderately aggressive, and I had no problem with razor burn even with the blade buffing I like to do. I’m not sure I know what “cushion” is, but I didn’t feel a lack of protection from the blade or razor.
As for the feeling afterward, it was unremarkable either way. Didn’t leave me dried out or extra moisturized. Fine. No problems.
CONCLUSION
So overall, really good products I would say, and fairly priced. I liked them all. None changed my life, but I’d be happy to buy and use any of them again. If someone gave me a gift of any of them, I’d think, “Sweet; I like this stuff.” You wouldn’t find me trying to sell or give away a 90% full tub of any of them. And I particularly appreciate that some of the scents are different from what you can find elsewhere.
*The Captain’s Choice bowl in the photo above came via a generous PIF from @shave/brush, and the CC aftershave was a bottle I had purchased earlier.
