How does "The Body Shop" shave cream compare to Taylors?

[Birds]

Recently I have been using the shave cream sold by "The Body Shop", this after using Tom's of Maine for the previous seven days.

Personally I find The Body Shop's product to have a bit more lubrication than Tom's and I've been able to get a little bit better shave in some difficult areas. The one draw back I find with The Body Shop cream is that it appears to dry out more quickly on my face than Tom's of Maine.

How do folks feel The Body Shop cream compares to Taylors?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Sam]

Here is how I rank the Shave creams, forget the scent, but the shave itself:

cream division only:

1. Trumpers, Castle Forbes
2. Taylors, Coates
3. Truefitt and Hill, Charles Thywhitt, J. Fraser
4. Body Shop

 

[mrob]

Chris,

I think your "take" on TBS shave cream is right on. It was the first "hi end" SC I used back in my M3 days, and I thought it was decent--it just didn't have much smell.

Maybe I should go back for a second shot?

 

[Dennis]

Here is how I rank the Shave creams, forget the scent, but the shave itself:

cream division only:

1. Trumpers, Castle Forbes
2. Taylors, Coates
3. Truefitt and Hill, Charles Thywhitt, J. Fraser
4. Body Shop

You need to add some Cyril Salter to that list. That cream is better than most I have tried, including the 3Ts (except maybe old formula Taylor Avocado...). The mint is just excellent.

Dennis

 

[Steve]

I use both Taylors and The Body Shop cream. It compares favorably to Taylors. When you consider the price and that it's available locally, it becomes a better value. I like those Taylor's scents though!

 

[NMMB]

I use both Taylors and The Body Shop cream. It compares favorably to Taylors. When you consider the price and that it's available locally, it becomes a better value. I like those Taylor's scents though!

My thoughts exactly. I am especially fond of the floral scents.

 

[Ashe]

I have yet to try all of the high end creams (samples and a few creams have been ordered) but over the last 3 days I'm suffering the same "drying" with the Bodyshop cream.

Initially I thought the lather was good enough in my opinion however I will focus more on creating good lather during the weekend.

The weird thing is that when I tried it first last Sunday, the lather was of less quality than over the last few days but it didn't dry up so quickly on my face.

I'll try again while keeping my face maximum wet and add a few more water drops during the creation of the lather.

I think this cream needs a little more water than what I think the high end creams need but as said already I still have to try the high end creams.

 

[crackstar]

I think Body Shop cream lathers great, not only that, it gave me some of the best shaves I ever had, but I really didn't like the scent. Taylors creams smell a million times nicer, and give the same kind of lather and skincare as well as super shaves.

Jeff

 

[Birds]

I had better success today with The Body Shop cream. This cream seems to like water.

I left more water in both the brush (didn't shake or dribble the brush in the sink) and the bowl (let the brush dribble in the bowl) and boom!! More lather than you can shake a stick at. I had lots of lather before but this was lots of lather. The kind where you lose the brush in the bowl.

I should also mention that we have a water softener. Soft water typically results in much more lathering with soaps than with hard water. So the need to add more water was not the result of bad water quality.

I also made sure my face was very wet (almost dripping wet) before applying the lather. The result was that the lather on the face did not dry out as fast and the lather was still slick.

Of course none of this helps me to get the correct angle with the razor...

 

[Ashe]

Thanks for the tip Chris! I'll work on my lathering technique with this cream tomorrow and let this thread know the outcome with more water in both the brush and on my face.

 

[rafikz]

I ha the sae problem ; my first shaves with it were drying ; but with more water, I saw the difference
My favorite cream now

 

[Sam]

I ha the sae problem ; my first shaves with it were drying ; but with more water, I saw the difference
My favorite cream now

I am having that problem with Frasers, so more water

Sam

 

[moses]

Btw, I hear The Body Shop cream is one of the better options from using brushless, as well.

 

[Ashe]

Okay, tried again with The Body Shop shave cream with a little more water in a bigger bowl and in the brush and swirled like a maniac for a minute. Great amounts of rich lather!

Wet my face just a bit better and the lather didn't dry out a single time! I relathered a bit when I started on my chin and my upperlip to make it as wet as possible while shaving those areas and all went fine!

Even with a Mach 3 I have nearly BBS results with today's shave.

 

[Birds]

Good to hear Ashe!

Today I tried something different with excellent results (the best I've ever had)... I used straight extra virgin olive oil as a pre-shave oil under TBS cream. The resulting shave was simply amazing. And this with a Feather blade on either its fourth or fifth day!

I have read a lot of so-so stuff about pre-shave oils, but this worked wonders for my shave. It softened beard growth that is otherwise tough as nails. It also provided a great buffer to the blade around areas such as the chin as well as areas around the neck/underside of the jaw bone that require some odd angles. Lastly, it left the face smooth and comfortable without needing after shave astringents, creams, moisturizers, etc.

Again a very wet face using HOT water was required before putting on the oil, and using hot water to rinse off the DE regularly during the shave.

Enjoy.
Chris

 

[Ashe]

My apologies to bump this thread up again but I was wondering regarding something.

I've been playing a bit with creating lather with The Body Shop cream and while I - in my opinion - can create a nice "self supporting" lather, I'm wondering where to stop with adding water.

I just created some excellent lather with a simple brush (Edwin Jagger brush already sitting on the shelf but I will only start using it when my Merkur HD arrives) and with sufficient water. Now I added some extra drips of water and it kept on lathering great, still easily self supporting. I again added a few drops of water and kept on swirling and the amount of lather expanded even more but remained self supporting and of very good quality.

I assume that adding too much water will make your lather become too thin etc but is it normal that I can easily add 2 or 3 times bits of water with the same lather, yet it stays very well self supporting.

Does this simply means that my initial "good enough" lather was not good enough or do creams have the need for a specific amount of water for the "perfect" lather? Is it normal that there's so much room then for adding drops of water while not noticably affecting my lather quality?

My apologies for possible dumb questions but mastering lather creation seems to be a very important aspect of the wet shaving ritual, therefore I want to have it under control.

Thanks in advance for your responses!

 

[superfly]

I have only two shaving cremes, Taylor's Eton Colledge, and The Body Shop. They are comparable in quality of the shave, and true, The Body Shop does a bit better with some more water. I love the smell too. When you notice some drag on the razor, it is time to stop with the water. I use straight razor, and I don't like that feel at all...

Nenad