Apologies, as this may be a lengthy post.
I received this cream sample along with a GEM MMOC graciously given to me by ccpastork and he asked if I wouldnt mind doing a review of it, so here I am.
In all fairness I've only ever used a single shave cream, Nivea Sensitive Skin Shave Cream. That was my first ever proper shave cream that didnt come from a can. I went from there to Proraso Green and then White and have used up most of each tub. Since then I've bought several Stirling soap samples and have been using them exclusively although sometimes making a super lather with the Nivea cream.
Anyway, on to the Captain's Choice.
When I initially opened the package the razor and cream was in yesterday, the cream had seeped out of its container a little from the high temperatures we've had here the last few days. I was a bit worried that I may not have enough for more than a single shave and I'll admit the scent was quite strong and slightly clinical or made me think of antiseptic.
That initial impression has lessened today, especially with using it.
I was hoping to get more than a single shave from what is in the container so after my brush had a soak and was thoroughly shaken out and only damp, I carefully scooped out a small dab on my finger tip maybe the size of my thumb nail hoping it would give me enough lather to load my brush for a 3 pass shave.
I bowl lather with an Omega 10005 boar brush and with that tiny bit in the bristles, I dipped the tips into the water and started working up the lather. With Stirling soaps I'm very good at consistently making my lather how I like it, a touch thin, and Stirling never fails in giving me a nice, smooth, rich and dense lather.
When I was finished whipping up the lather, I was and still am happily surprised that not only does this cream lather very well, it gave me a lot of lather. My bowl is 6"s in diameter and 2 1/2" deep and that small dollop of cream gave me almost half a bowl full. Enough for three, three pass shaves!
The shave was another interesting experience.
Gillette NEW SC - Gillette Black second use, flipped.
Omega boar
Captain's Choice - North, bowl lathered.
I dont mean this to be a direct comparison to Stirling, or anything else, but as I only have very limited experience with any soaps/creams I only have so much to go by.
The lather from this cream was very light and smooth. The consistency and viscosity are very good. I had thought Stirling light and fluffy, but it's much more dense than this lather and that affected the shave for me.
Standard three pass shave as always when I try something new to me. WTG, XTG and ATG, with considerable buffing on my ATG pass.
First stroke, first pass my initial feelings were confirmed. It is a very light lather. The razor glided over my skin as though on a cushion of air and left my skin, on each stroke, clean and I felt too dry for buffing. Such was not the case as I found out on my third pass.
I finished the first pass and my skin felt really good. Nicer than usual and a quick check with a damp hand found I had a nice DFS first pass.
Second pass XTG again went without any issues and I had a very near BBS shave.
Before starting my third pass I wet my hand and felt around, lathered for a full pass even though I didnt need one and started buffing ATG over my entire face and neck.
I said that at first I didnt feel there was enough residual slickness from this lather after the blade cleaned it off, but just a quick rinse of the razor and that little bit of water turned my skin into oiled glass. Extremely slick and I feel very protective because of it.
My first use of these Gillette Black blades left me with horrible irritation. A fresh blade and a second attempt with them last week was much better but not as comfortable as this shave and I honestly believe this cream made a larger difference than anything else I've done thus far.
Its been about an hour since I finished this shave and I've never had a post shave feel this nice, ever. Smooth, cool and comfortable and just a very strong feeling of being clean. I'm not sure how to put it into words.
The scent. This is an aspect thats very hard to describe for me. While having a clinical type scent to at first sniff my opinion changed and it made me think of rabbit hunting on a cold January morning along a creek covered with Juniper and swamp Cedar. Cold, clean and refreshing, yet warm and familiar. It makes me think of menthol, but I didnt feel any menthol coolness on my skin. A very nice, complex and bold scent that I personally find very appealing. I still get a whiff of it after an hour, very light, but it is there.
In thinking about it I have a picture of a place that smelled almost exactly like this to me. If you can imagine the scent in the air from this picture, the scent of the cream will be familiar to you.
In the end I really need to try more soaps and creams lol. This experience has taught me I'm missing out on the finer aspects of wet shaving. I cannot wait to use it again and a sample pack has moved to the top of my list!
Thanks again to ccpastork for the enlightening experience!
I received this cream sample along with a GEM MMOC graciously given to me by ccpastork and he asked if I wouldnt mind doing a review of it, so here I am.
In all fairness I've only ever used a single shave cream, Nivea Sensitive Skin Shave Cream. That was my first ever proper shave cream that didnt come from a can. I went from there to Proraso Green and then White and have used up most of each tub. Since then I've bought several Stirling soap samples and have been using them exclusively although sometimes making a super lather with the Nivea cream.
Anyway, on to the Captain's Choice.
When I initially opened the package the razor and cream was in yesterday, the cream had seeped out of its container a little from the high temperatures we've had here the last few days. I was a bit worried that I may not have enough for more than a single shave and I'll admit the scent was quite strong and slightly clinical or made me think of antiseptic.
That initial impression has lessened today, especially with using it.
I was hoping to get more than a single shave from what is in the container so after my brush had a soak and was thoroughly shaken out and only damp, I carefully scooped out a small dab on my finger tip maybe the size of my thumb nail hoping it would give me enough lather to load my brush for a 3 pass shave.
I bowl lather with an Omega 10005 boar brush and with that tiny bit in the bristles, I dipped the tips into the water and started working up the lather. With Stirling soaps I'm very good at consistently making my lather how I like it, a touch thin, and Stirling never fails in giving me a nice, smooth, rich and dense lather.
When I was finished whipping up the lather, I was and still am happily surprised that not only does this cream lather very well, it gave me a lot of lather. My bowl is 6"s in diameter and 2 1/2" deep and that small dollop of cream gave me almost half a bowl full. Enough for three, three pass shaves!
The shave was another interesting experience.
Gillette NEW SC - Gillette Black second use, flipped.
Omega boar
Captain's Choice - North, bowl lathered.
I dont mean this to be a direct comparison to Stirling, or anything else, but as I only have very limited experience with any soaps/creams I only have so much to go by.
The lather from this cream was very light and smooth. The consistency and viscosity are very good. I had thought Stirling light and fluffy, but it's much more dense than this lather and that affected the shave for me.
Standard three pass shave as always when I try something new to me. WTG, XTG and ATG, with considerable buffing on my ATG pass.
First stroke, first pass my initial feelings were confirmed. It is a very light lather. The razor glided over my skin as though on a cushion of air and left my skin, on each stroke, clean and I felt too dry for buffing. Such was not the case as I found out on my third pass.
I finished the first pass and my skin felt really good. Nicer than usual and a quick check with a damp hand found I had a nice DFS first pass.
Second pass XTG again went without any issues and I had a very near BBS shave.
Before starting my third pass I wet my hand and felt around, lathered for a full pass even though I didnt need one and started buffing ATG over my entire face and neck.
I said that at first I didnt feel there was enough residual slickness from this lather after the blade cleaned it off, but just a quick rinse of the razor and that little bit of water turned my skin into oiled glass. Extremely slick and I feel very protective because of it.
My first use of these Gillette Black blades left me with horrible irritation. A fresh blade and a second attempt with them last week was much better but not as comfortable as this shave and I honestly believe this cream made a larger difference than anything else I've done thus far.
Its been about an hour since I finished this shave and I've never had a post shave feel this nice, ever. Smooth, cool and comfortable and just a very strong feeling of being clean. I'm not sure how to put it into words.
The scent. This is an aspect thats very hard to describe for me. While having a clinical type scent to at first sniff my opinion changed and it made me think of rabbit hunting on a cold January morning along a creek covered with Juniper and swamp Cedar. Cold, clean and refreshing, yet warm and familiar. It makes me think of menthol, but I didnt feel any menthol coolness on my skin. A very nice, complex and bold scent that I personally find very appealing. I still get a whiff of it after an hour, very light, but it is there.
In thinking about it I have a picture of a place that smelled almost exactly like this to me. If you can imagine the scent in the air from this picture, the scent of the cream will be familiar to you.
In the end I really need to try more soaps and creams lol. This experience has taught me I'm missing out on the finer aspects of wet shaving. I cannot wait to use it again and a sample pack has moved to the top of my list!
Thanks again to ccpastork for the enlightening experience!
