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Comparison of 12 Taylor of Old Bond Street creams

Using up a good amount of sample packs from Taylor of Old Bond Street I thought it might be useful to share the experience on them as they cover a wide range of TOBS scents.

Also I tried to minimize the YMMV factor, meaning that besides the short comment on each of them I tried to provide an objective score in terms of:

  • slickness, and I mean here residual slickness, the slickness that remains there (or not) even after you shaved a part, but wish to return for some immediate correction (none scored for me above 3)
  • scent strength, this is definitely NOT about liking the scent itself (that is YMMV and will be in the comments) but how intense it is DURING shaving – the more intense the better
  • easiness of lathering, this also includes if the lather was enough for the entire shave process.
The scores will range from 1 to 4: 1 is the worst, 4 being the best. The overall score could be 12 at best.

In each case the shave was done in a 3-pass shave with the same equipment, face-lathered with badger.

Ok, let’s see the results, hope you can use them:

Sandalwood 11

  • slickness 3
  • scent strength 4
  • easiness of lathering 4
No surprise this is a product with high reputation; the smell is fantastic and works well as well. However, some minor irritation occured for me, but was managable.

Cedar 6

  • slickness 2
  • scent strength 2
  • easiness of lathering 2
In this case I had to use the full sachet at one use. The scent is nothing to talk about, rather mild and almost non-existent.

Luxury 9

  • slickness 3
  • scent strength 3
  • easiness of lathering 3
A fine cream, with floral notes, which is not my world but definitely worths a try.

Sensitive skin 6

  • slickness 3
  • scent strength 1
  • easiness of lathering 2
Again, a cream you forget you used already during shaving… And the whole sachet was needed. But it must be added that is was slicker than many others.

Eton College 10

  • slickness 3
  • scent strength 4
  • easiness of lathering 3
Performance-wise one of the best and also had nice and solid (but not overpowering) scent. Unfortunately some component irritated my face, so I won’t use it though I’d love to.

Peppermint 10

  • slickness 3
  • scent strength 4
  • easiness of lathering 3
Nice and good cream - a refreshing shave indeed.

Lavender 6

  • slickness 2
  • scent strength 2
  • easiness of lathering 2
The lavender is there in the color as well, but unfortunately scent-wise not strong enough so this is again a mediocre cream, there are better our there.

Coconut 8

  • slickness 3
  • scent strength 3
  • easiness of lathering 2
Worked fine, but in this case the scent must be mentioned for early warning because it’s pretty much a sunscreen scent. 🙂

Mr. Taylor 7

  • slickness 2
  • scent strength 2
  • easiness of lathering 3

A fine cream, though the scent could have been more intense. The slickness was lacking a bit as well. Also had to use the whole sachet.

Lime Zest 5

  • slickness 2
  • scent strength 1
  • easiness of lathering 2
I expected much more of this cream, and was disappointed on many levels (lack of scent, lathering etc.)

Royal Forest 6

  • slickness 2
  • scent strength 2
  • easiness of lathering 2
Meh. Another cream you forget even during shave… And had to use the whole sachet.

Tobacco Leaf 7

  • slickness 3
  • scent strength 2
  • easiness of lathering 2
Nothing special, though it must be noted that – at least for me – there was absoultely no tobacco scent in it…


Happy shaves!

🙂
 
cool review! I never noticed there to be a difference in scent strength and latherability amongst any of the TOBS creams though. There was definitely a difference in slickness, cushion and post-shave but otherwise with the exception of different scents they were more or less the same. Maybe yours were off? or had been sitting on a shelf for too long?
 
I don't think so, I got them maybe 2 months ago. As you see the differences are not that significant, in terms of performance (and I mean slickness here) they were more or less the same with scores 2 or 3 - overall if we would make a mean score it would be around 2,5 - "average" for them. (That's why I used a scale of 4, so that I won't fall into the trap of being undecided and give a score of 3 on a 5 scale.)
 
Straight Razor shaver here, and I love TOBS.

From the ones I tried I would definitely rate Eton College as my favourite. Love the scent to such an extent that I ordered the cologne, but to be honest I was a bit disappointed with the cologne.

Useless bit of info - I thought they named it just to sound posh, turns out they really had a barber shop at the famous school!

Equal second favourites would be Mr Taylor and Sandal Wood.

Coconut - not so much, and maybe subjective because the scent disappointed, I didn't think much of the lather either.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Thanks for doing this @Huszarpenge !

Sad to hear you weren't to impressed by the Royal Forest! Of course, you probably saved me some money though, so thanks again my friend!
 

Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
Great review appreciate your comparison of the lineup. In fact I had a few there I was modestly interested in trying and now not so much. I do like Eton college and sandalwood the best.
 
Thanks for this well-done review! I love the coconut scent and would describe it as anything but sunscreen (unless you're using coconut-scented sunscreen)
 
I haven't tried them all, but to me, every one I've tried has the same performance, which is terrific and equals some other brands which are more $.

As far as scents, I usually go with Sandalwood or Coconut. I'll probably try Cedar next...
 
Great post. I have the lavender. I enjoy the subtle scent, but a little stronger wouldn’t hurt. Performance is pretty good I would say, but my experience with high quality creams/soaps is limited. It’s on par with Trumpers creams I’ve tried in the past. Maybe next time I’ll give sandalwood a try.
 
I recently got the Royal Forest and Tobacco Leaf varieties. My family and I like both but I prefer the Royal Forest scent. The Tobacco leaf (much like their Sandalwood) doesn't smell at all like its name to me. Tobacco leaf is a sophisticated "soapy" smell to me.
 
I used to use their avocado sometimes. Very little scent but good performance. I don’t know if they make it anymore.
 

Ratso

Mr. Obvious
Great job on the review. I have most of the soaps on your list, but never used them in succession to do an evaluation. Maybe I’m naive about this, but I assumed they would all have the same amount of slickness. Another assumption I made was that the base ingredients would be the same except for the added fragrance. I never did a label comparison. Now for you chemists I have a question. Could the fragrance ingredients change the properties of the soap even if the rest of the ingredients are the same?
 
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